David Bruce and Diplomatic Practice: An American Ambassador in London, 1961-9 by John W. Young

Author:John W. Young [Young, John W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy, General, Biography & Autobiography, Political Process
ISBN: 9781441112019
Google: U8tgBwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17834476
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2014-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

6

The Diplomatic Corps

Hitherto, this study has focused on Bruce’s relations with his own government and that of the British. But he was also part of a much wider diplomatic network, not least thanks to the existence of the diplomatic corps. While the diplomatic system has been described as ‘the master institution of international relations’,1 the diplomatic corps has been called ‘the most tangible expression of international society that exists’.2 Wherever diplomats are posted they find themselves in a schizophrenic position, on the one hand defending their state’s interests, on the other forming a professional group with their fellows. As one former British ambassador put it, within the diplomatic corps ‘they are … colleagues, with certain interests in common. Together they protect the immunities and privileges necessary for their work more effectively than when they act alone’.3 As such, and particularly for those scholars in the ‘English School’ or for those who take a ‘constructivist’ view of international relations – believing that states forming a society, rather than ‘structural realists’ who see each state pursuing its own national interest in an anarchical world – the diplomatic corps is a living microcosm of that society. The corps simultaneously reveals both the diversity of states and their need to live together. Yet, surprisingly little detailed research has been done on it.4 A particular area of neglect is ‘the internal dialogue among diplomats, the informal part of their interaction, which is seldom recorded nor reported’.5 The aim of this chapter is to look into this ‘internal dialogue’ by surveying Bruce’s experience of both the ceremonial and social sides of the corps.

The diplomatic corps

The diplomatic corps may be defined as ‘The body of diplomats of all states … who are resident at one post’.6 In 1716 François de Callières advised that ‘when an ambassador arrives at a Court and has notified this to the Prince, he ought to give notice of it to all the ambassadors who are at the same Court … ’, so that they would exchange visits with him.7 By then, clearly, the concept of a ‘diplomatic corps’ was well understood even if the term itself was not used for some decades. The corps was itself a product of particular historical circumstances, emerging in the fifteenth century at the same time as resident embassies. Its first evidence has been traced to Rome, a city to which several permanent ambassadors were appointed because it lay at the centre of Italian politics. ‘The papal practice of addressing them collectively, of assigning them places together at all important ceremonies, and of issuing, from time to time, regulations for their common governance … ’ reinforced the esprit de corps among this group. In his seminal study of Renaissance diplomacy Garrett Mattingly saw this new feature of diplomacy as acting in a distinct way: ‘developing a rudimentary sense of professional solidarity, exchanging social courtesies, codifying their mutual relationships and even, in certain emergencies, acting together as a body.’8

G.R. Berridge has looked at another early example of a diplomatic corps at work, in Constantinople during the 1620s.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.