Diplomatic Corps Research Articles

México en el Cono Sur: asilo diplomático y lecciones de su práctica en los años setenta

For the traditional Mexican asylum policy, the 1970s proved significant by confrontation with other realities. They were also significant because of the challenges that diplomacy had to overcome with the existing instrument (Convention on Diplomatic Asylum of 1954). They were also significant because of the various perceptions of risk of the protection applicants, as well as for the particular interests of the Mexican State regarding its peers in Southern Latin America. An approach to the experiences of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay makes it possible to observe considerations and variables presented to the same asylum State, Mexico, from political realities that appeared similar and simultaneous but that were not so according to the facts.From writing the history of its distinctive aspects, the article observes some core issues of the norm regulated in 1954. From this observation, it will be possible to determine ways of interpretation and its application. This journey will lead to a possible explanation of the tensions between the norm and the facts of the asylum, highlighting that the former did not fit the circumstances in which it was applied. The final reflection is potentially useful in the light of a new and diverse present, where protagonists in the decision making are located, both in the (re)elaboration of the inter-American legal instruments as in the national ones. But these experiences should not be ignored in the formation of the diplomatic corps of the various chancelleries.

“Embassy without Government”: The Council of Ambassadors and the Persistence of Tsarist Diplomacy after the Russian Revolution

ABSTRACT This analysis addresses the Council of Ambassadors, a much-neglected body that was composed of Russia’s pre-Revolutionary diplomats following the October Revolution of 1917. Centred in Paris, at the heart of the Russian émigré community, the Council of Ambassadors attempted to assert its authority as the rightful representatives of Russia and engaged with foreign governments. It also took steps to block the recognition of the Bolshevik regime and enlist support for the Whites in the Russian Civil War. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the Council of Ambassadors did continue as the representative of Russia at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and until the Soviets were officially recognised by other Powers in the early 1920s. The study of the Council of Ambassadors raises important questions about the fate of a diplomatic corps following a revolution, and how personal identity within the émigrés tied to their former status. It also sheds light on how other Powers chose to deal with the representatives of a Russia that had been overthrown.

Формування соціально-інституційного конструкту цифрової дипломатії

Формування соціально-інституційного конструкту цифрової дипломатії

Place of the United States Secretary of States in the power system and formation of the country external course (XX - at the beginning of XXI century): historical backgraund

The article deals with the position of the head of the US Department of State - Secretary of State in the US government system and his role in shaping the country's foreign policy. The author emphasizes the lack of basic research on this topic and the availability of only factual material on the activities of the Secretaries of State in various historical periods of American history. It is noted that the Secretary of State's position is not quite similar to that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, since he serves in this country in two roles: as the President's foreign policy chief adviser and as the head of a vast diplomatic corps. The author points out that the role and status of the Secretary of State is not regulated at the constitutional level and provides a list of powers of the Secretary of State and notes their extension since the creation of such office in 1789. The author points out that, before the Second World War, in most cases, in the tandem, the President-Secretary of State was the second to formulate the foreign policy of the country and to initiate its implementation, and was able to do justice to the president. Secretaries of State such as R. Lansing, B. Colby, and C. Hughes have enjoyed the trust of their presidents and have had a significant influence on the conduct of American foreign policy. During the presidency of F. Roosevelt and G. Truman, these individuals were themselves Secretaries of State, maximally moving the heads of the State Department to the background, giving them the opportunity to "bring order" not in the foreign policy arena, but in the State Department. It was not positive for the role of the Secretary of State and his Office the adoption of the 1947 Act establishing the National Security Council and the separation of a separate position - the President's national security adviser. From this very moment, the leaders of the National Security Council began to popularize the idea that foreign policy is not just one of the activities of the state, but directly a component of national security. Of course, this has led to increased NNG involvement in the country's foreign policy, which has often led to conflicts between the President's National Security Advisor and the Secretary of State, and the US President himself has not always supported the latter. It is noted that the Secretaries of State under Presidents J. Kennedy, L. Johnson, and R. Nixon, J. Bush Jr. played a rather indirect role in the country's foreign exchange. In contrast, Presidents D. Eisenhower, R. Reagan, B. Clinton and B. Obama respected and acted in tandem with their secretaries of state.

Behind the Iron Curtain in Poland – A Personal Memoir

ABSTRACT This memoir outlines the experience and observations of Nigel Thorpe, a British diplomat in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s, in a Cold War context. It touches unrest in Gdansk, Szczecin, and Łódz, changes in the leadership and policy of the Communist Party, and unexpected changes in relations with West Germany. After 13 years, Thorpe returned to a Poland changed by martial law and Solidarity and a people at odds with their rulers. He relates his first meeting with Lech Wałęsa and the steady development of contacts with Solidarity, with the role of the BBC, the Catholic Church, and the alternative underground society. Although the Warsaw Diplomatic Corps wondered if Solidarity was finished, the British view differed. He discusses the historic visit of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1988, highlighting her advice that Wałęsa should take part in the proposed Round Table talks. The finale involved the repatriation of the remains of Marshal Władysław Sikorski to a free and democratic Poland in 1993.

Role of Benazir Bhutto in Restoration of Democracy in Pakistan (1977-1988

Benazir Bhutto has the distinction of being the first popularly elected female prime minister in any Muslim country in the world. But this distinction was preceded by her more than a decade long struggle against dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq. Aspiring to join diplomatic corps or media as a journalist, she entered in politics under the force of circumstances in 1977 after the government of her father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was toppled in a coup. Gradually, she occupied the center stage in the politics of Pakistan through her sheer struggle against dictatorship and for restoration of democracy in the country. In the process, she was subjected to repeated detentions, intimidation, coercion as well as physical and mental hardships to abandon her struggle. However, she was able to sustain those hardships and finally paved the way towards restoration of democracy in Pakistan in 1988.

De-westernization, democratization, disconnection: the emergence of Brazil’s post-diplomatic foreign policy

ABSTRACT For some time, foreign policy as an expression was perfectly interchangeable with diplomacy, given the degree of leverage enjoyed by diplomatic corps in Brazil's political system. However, there has arguably been some degree of discontinuity in this trajectory, which is noticeable from a couple of trends: Brazil's strategy toward Western powers vis-à-vis the rise of Asia,on the one hand, and democratization of foreign policymaking and the resulting tumultuous relationship between the foreign ministry and the presidency of the country, on the other. I posit that, from Fernando Henrique Cardoso to Jair Bolsonaro, this combination of factors prompted an epochal shift in Brazil's external relations, whose bottom line might be Itamaraty's demise as chief formulator while other governmental bureaucracies, political parties and individuals take over as the gravity centre, turning the contents of Brazil's foreign policy more responsive to social inputs, however less predictable and coherent over time.

Engaging science diplomacy for nanotechnology development in Africa

The concept of science diplomacy is gaining ground as a global strategy in addressing global concerns such as global peace, insecurity, climate change and environmental impact. This study reduces science diplomacy to an effective means for the strategic development of nanotechnology in Africa. African nations are currently not encouragingly close to the leading nations in nanotechnology, yet there seem to be extant diplomatic relationship with many of these forefront nations. African diplomats are state actors in science diplomacy to propose foreign policies that will meet the domestic demand for science and technology development in Africa, especially for emerging technologies like nanotechnology. The necessity of inclusion of competent scientists with diplomatic skills as members of the diplomatic corps is recommended here as one of the ways to develop nanotechnology in Africa. The scientist diplomats will function to foster international scientific collaborations, drive platforms for national research facility development and for non-state actors to thrive in their domestic nano-research. Scientifically informed foreign policies are presented here to have potentials to significantly assist Africa in developing nanotechnology and provide pathways for overcoming the numerous constraints to nanotechnology development in Africa. Critical areas of intervention include human capacity development, national nano-research laboratory facilities, platforms for institutional collaborations, post-graduate student training and robust exchange programs. These machineries also benefit independent individual researchers by leveraging on the international networks created by science attachés through science diplomacy.

Економізація зовнішньої політики незалежної України

The article reveals the essential characteristics of the economization of Ukraine’s foreign policy, the stages of its formation. It turns out that the world’s leading countries have a long history of foreign policy economization, which is based on the postulate of ensuring economic growth and promoting prosperity as its main goal. The formation of the principles of economic policy of foreign institutions of Ukraine is a combination of Soviet traditions and patterns of world practice. Emphasis is placed on the negative impact of the multi-vector foreign policy of Ukraine’s main actors on its economization. It is argued that economic diplomacy is in a constant process of reform, which is not always consistent, which negatively affects its effectiveness. Attention is focused on the importance of Ukraine’s cooperation with international organizations in the context of the armed conflict in the East and the sharp reduction of export-import operations with Russia. The problems of functioning of the institute of economic diplomacy are covered: the presence of competition of foreign policy and foreign economic departments of Ukraine, the absence of diplomats – qualified managers of foreign economic activity, lack of funding, staff reduction.It is concluded that in the context of globalization the role of the social function of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and its diplomatic corps, which is to provide information and legal protection of Ukrainian citizens abroad, is growing. It is necessary to actively create the institution of "non-state diplomacy". Foreign economic institutions need to provide maximum assistance to exporters of high valueadded products. The pro-government circles of Ukraine do not always have the understanding or desire to understand that the powerful economic component of our state’s foreign policy and the effective economic diplomacy that embodies it are a significant contribution to the power of Ukraine’s economy and its national security. The issue of the separation of functions of pro-government institutions remains largely unresolved, primarily with regard to the powers of the administration / office of the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ukraine’s successful export expansion should be based on more fundamental systemic tools than the adopted Export Strategy. There is an urgent need not only to preserve but also to improve the overall foreign policy strategy, to strengthen its priorities and basic principles. &nbsp

A política nas políticas de acesso à informação brasileiras: trajetória e coalizões

Resumo Como as diversas iniciativas legislativas sobre acesso à informação no Brasil culminaram na aprovação da Lei n. 12.527 (Lei de Acesso à Informação [LAI], 2011)? A partir da abordagem de coalizões de defesa (advocacy coalitions framework - ACF), este artigo analisa a formação de agenda e a atuação de diferentes coalizões, por meio da análise de amplo clipping de notícias, entrevistas, leis e documentos publicados entre 2001 e 2012. Foram identificadas duas coalizões: a) uma a favor de mudanças na legislação, composta por setores do Poder Executivo, do Poder Legislativo, da mídia e da sociedade civil; e b) outra a favor da manutenção de regras restritivas de acesso à informação, composta por Forças Armadas, Itamaraty e Comissão de Relações Exteriores e Defesa Nacional (CRE) do Senado. Identificou-se, também, a superposição de dois subsistemas de políticas públicas: a) o de transparência; e b) o de reconciliação. Este último monopolizou o debate público sobre o tema, contribuindo para a morosidade na aprovação da LAI (2011). O Itamaraty também emerge como autor de forte lobby contra modificações nas regras de classificação de documentos, por motivos ainda a explorar em profundidade.

Alonso S. Perales: In Defense of My People

Alonso S. Perales:In Defense of My People Emilio Zamora (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Alonso S. Perales is among the members of the Nicaraguan delegation at the signing of the United Nations Charter, June 26, 1945. Perales is the third man standing from the left. UN Photo/McClain. [End Page 110] Introduction On June 26, 1945, the last day of the inaugural United Nations (UN) conference, Nicaragua's delegation waited behind stage at the stately Herbst Theater of the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. On cue, Mariano Argüello Vargas, Nicaragua's minister for Foreign Affairs, led his delegates past a grand display of national flags and to a large, round table at center stage where the Central American nation took its turn to sign the United Nations Charter.1 Argüello Vargas took a seat while his fellow delegates stood behind him in symbolic concurrence of the Nicaraguan people.2 [End Page 111] The ceremony was like all the other forty-nine, except for one detail. A non-Nicaraguan named Alonso S. Perales stood with the delegation. The presence of Perales, a Mexican American attorney and notable civil rights leader from Texas, may have looked unusual to some, but it did not surprise members of the assembly who had seen him participate in the deliberations of the two-month conference.3 This also made sense to persons who knew of Perales's longtime membership in the U.S. diplomatic corps and his appointment as the Nicaraguan general consul in San Antonio. Perales served with the U.S. State Department in Central America and the Caribbean during a highly contentious era. President Theodore Roosevelt had affirmed the Monroe Doctrine and the United States' role "as an international police power" in Nicaragua. Subsequent administrations intervened militarily to prop up weak regimes and suppress anti-government insurgencies. The U.S. military occupied Nicaragua intermittently between 1912 and 1933, a time that coincided with Perales's diplomatic assignments in the region.4 Perales began serving as Nicaragua's U.S. consul in 1930. During that time, he had established close ties with Nicaragua's political elite, which he maintained after his diplomatic career ended. While still serving as consul, Perales secured the appointment to serve at the UN meeting. Serving the Nicaraguan nation in San Francisco was especially gratifying for Perales because it allowed him to connect the local and regional claims for equal rights for Mexicans in the United States with the global, postwar cause for peace, freedom, and justice. As a participant in the twelve UN committees [End Page 112] charged with drafting the UN Charter, Perales used the minority experiences of Mexicans in the United States to give added weight to the global cause for human rights and to call on the world organization to require member nations to enact the legislation necessary to guarantee these rights. The most influential nations, such as the United States and the Soviet Union, hypocritically blocked the "interventionist" idea. Perales, however, could return to Texas with news that he had played a part in formulating the global statement of equal rights that the Mexican civil rights movement had been advancing at home.5 This article addresses the salient moments in the extraordinary life of Perales that led to his participation in the UN meeting of 1945. Its main purpose is to bring about greater appreciation for his transformative role as a diplomat, civil rights leader, and author and to underscore how little the public knows about him and the civil rights movement that he helped to lead.6 It shifts our attention away from ideology as a monolithic and strict category of analysis for understanding Perales and the Mexican American civil rights cause of his generation. Historians who have studied Perales and this movement have mostly employed ideology as a point of theoretical departure rather than a provisional category that incorporates the defining ideas, beliefs, and actions as well as the uncertainties and inconsistencies in a broad and complex political context. Perales and many of his civil rights associates were generally conservative, but they were also subjects and actors involved in...

Początki działalności Konsulatu Generalnego RP w Kijowie po II wojnie światowej (1947−1949)

The article is about first period of diplomatic operation of Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Kyiv after the end of the Second World War. The Consulate, which has been set in 1946, was able to start its work at the beginning of ‘1948 (even though the first Polish diplomatic corps appeared in Kyiv in September the year before). That case shows fully dependence of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on their Moscow principals. In the article has been described questions of setting-by the Consulate, constructing its staff and their first tasks. What is more, on the grounds of documents of the secret Soviet services’ it has been shown some methods of invigilation the Staff ’s of the Consulate. The Author also described in short the relationships between the Consulate’s personnel and specific of everyday life.

La quinta columna y el cuerpo diplomático en la Guerra Civil española

El presente trabajo aborda uno de los aspectos menos estudiados de la Guerra Civil española, como es la relación entre la quinta columna y el cuerpo diplomático. Sobre la base del estudio de la documentación original custodiada en distintos archivos, se pone de manifiesto cómo en muchas ocasiones esa relación traspasó los límites propios de la actividad diplomática y su labor humanitaria, convirtiendo a distintos diplomáticos en colaboradores, no siempre de manera consciente, de la causa franquista. Asimismo, se hace referencia a cómo tales actuaciones dificultaron las relaciones del Gobierno de la República con las distintas representaciones internacionales.

The Policy-Making Capacity of Foreign Ministries in Presidential Regimes: A Study of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, 1946–2015

This article investigates the sources of foreign ministries’ policy-making capacity in presidential regimes. Using the concept of family resemblance, we argue that professionalization of the diplomatic corps is a necessary condition, whereas the institutional attributions of the ministry and the degree of presidential delegation are relevant but substitutable elements. The higher the scores on either of the latter dimensions, the stronger is the capacity of the foreign ministry to influence the chief executive and to contest other players’ policy preferences. To empirically validate our concept, we measure the three dimensions in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico between 1946 and 2015 using data on diplomats’ recruitment and career paths, influence of diplomatic schools and doctrines, appointment patterns of foreign ministers, and relevance of presidential diplomacy, with an emphasis on travels abroad. Our analysis indicates that Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico enjoy a high level of professionalization of their diplomatic corps; however, differences—both across countries and over time—remain regarding institutional attributions and presidential delegation.

On the Social Status of the European Union

AbstractIn this article I analyse the EU's social status in world politics. I argue that recognition grants the EU both club and positional status. Drawing on existing literature on status in international relations, I conceptualize the diplomatic corps of various polities as the embodied recognition of their positional status in world politics. To indicate and measure the positional status of the EU, I applied social network analysis to data on the exchange of embassies from 1960 to 2010. This methodology allows for consistent longitudinal comparisons of standing between heterogeneous polities in world politics. The results indicate that the EU's rise in the status hierarchy has been meteoric since 1960. However, fear of status congestion and status dilution among countries has thwarted the EU's full inclusion into the various status clubs of nation‐states. I show that due to its lack of full club status the EU struggles to convert its high positional status into influence.

Weapons, words, politics: the three seasons of the post-unification exile of the Bourbon Monarchy (1860–1866)

ABSTRACTThis article reconstructs the ‘three seasons’ of the exile of the Bourbon rulers of southern Italy after 1860. Unlike the previous periods of exile suffered by the dynasty (in 1799 and between 1806 and 1815), the Bourbon exile after Unification took the form of a ‘hierarchical’ emigration government, ruler and diplomatic corps, and numerous foreign volunteers ready to fight for the monarchy. Between 1860 and 1866 this ‘control centre’ organized armed expeditions against the Kingdom of Italy, while deploying a variety of political strategies that through propaganda offered the promise of modernization in the shape of the concession of a constitution for the Mezzogiorno and the ‘nationalization’ of southern Italy. This propaganda campaign was combined with diplomatic pressures on the European powers. Sicily played a crucial role in these projects and became the principal Mediterranean platform for the attempts to restore the Bourbon monarchy. But although the war of 1866 between Italy and Austria brought these strategies to an end, many of the arguments set out by the Bourbons in exile would later be absorbed into the debates on the ‘Southern Question’.

Luis Jiménez de Asúa y la gestación de la política de No Intervención en la Guerra Civil Española.

El 27 de julio de 1936 Luis Jiménez de Asúa llegó precipitadamente a París. Allí le esperaba Fernando de los Ríos. Tras el golpe militar del día 18, ambos dirigentes socialistas debían encabezar las gestiones diplomáticas conducentes a conseguir el auxilio de las democracias europeas en forma de venta de material bélico y suministros. Para entonces había comenzado la defección escalonada y calculada del cuerpo diplomático español parisino. Con epicentro en el Quai d’Orsay, la sucesión de acontecimientos en las semanas siguientes adelantaron dos circunstancias sustanciales del conflicto: la trascendencia desde primera hora del vector internacional y el abandono que sufrió la República por parte de las democracias occidentales. Este artículo ensaya la vía interpretativa de un actor –y testigo– de primer orden en la gestación del sistema de No Intervención. Su testimonio constituye una introducción privilegiada en la reconstrucción de este capítulo tan relevante de la Guerra Civil Española.

American Diplomatic Personnel in Austria, 1945–1955: Oral Histories from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training

Abstract During the Allied occupation of Austria from 1945 to 1955, hundreds of officials from the US Army, State Department, and various suborganizations worked in Vienna, Salzburg, and Washington, DC, on Austrian affairs. Their first-hand memories were recorded by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST), which continues to interview members of the US Diplomatic Corps. The oral histories are preserved on the ADST website as well as the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress. Highlights from the interviews specifically from the critical decade after World War II speak to both familiar and more novel facets of the US occupation and the Austrian State Treaty: Rot-Weiss-Rot radio, Voice of America, the United States Information Service (USIA), the American High Commission, trade, Llewellyn Thompson, the effects in Europe of the outbreak of the Korean War, and rivalry with the Soviet Union in the early Cold War. Included in this selection are oral histories with Walter Roberts, Halvor C. Ekern, Denise Abbey, William Lloyd Stearman, Arthur A. Bardos, Mary Seymour Olmsted, Robert J. Martens, Lloyd Jonnes, Hendrik Van Oss, and Alfred Puhan.

"Public Relations Work in the Diplomatic Corps" Case Study the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"Public Relations Work in the Diplomatic Corps" Case Study the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Flexible Diplomacy: Scholars as Key Players in Track II Diplomacy

IntroductionThe field of traditional diplomacy has changed very little since the Congress of Vienna in the 19thcentury. Globalization, non-traditional security threats, and a changing global landscape require a more flexible diplomacy that includes a wider range of stakeholders such as NGOs, community leaders, and most importantly scholars/academics.ObjectiveThe academic freedom enjoyed by scholars allows them to explore policy questions from a scientific perspective Materials and methods the present study follows the grounded theory approach to model development while adopting a largely constructivist paradigm in terms of the nature of diplomacy Resultthe academic freedom enjoyed by scholars allows them to explore policy questions from a scientific perspective. Thus, scholars have the freedom to explore controversial topics in an environment of respect and professionalism. Discussion Scholars have historically served as the conscience of their generation and also as the keepers and creators of civilization and therefore it is only natural for them to play important roles in public policy Conclusions The integration of the scholarly community into the diplomatic corps of developing countries can reduce the intrinsic asymmetry between the expertise and skills of the ministries of foreign