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9 September 2009 CHAPTER 4 International Organizations (IO’s) o Often created by states b/c states realize they need help with diplomacy o Thus, states and international organizations must work together and with other states o Become “international actors,” working alongside states o IO’s have a structure similar to states Bureaucracy carries out its mandate Most employees are not trained diplomats, but have diplomatic potential o Multi-national Decisions by IO’s which are not binding, but recommended o Supra-national Binding decisions made by an IO (e.g. the EU) European Union (EU) o 27 member states o One rep at the UN who speaks for 27 Rep. rotates state to state Private Sector or Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s) o Used to be only domestic businesses o Now reach across borders International businesses Universities International students Study abroad o E.g. environmental organizations pressuring states into dealing with environmental issues now o Some NGO’s have forced states to create treaties. E.g. treaty created to clean up landmines after wars o World Bank invited NGO’s to its deliberations to sit at the same discussion table with heads of state or diplomats from states o Trans-national relations NGO’s act independently of their state Escalation of international actors o World affairs used to be controlled by 5 or 6 states o One organization contains 60 non-represented states Unifies otherwise forgettable or unimportant states o UN contains 192 states, plus a handful of observers (e.g. the Vatican) o Number of states playing a role in international affairs makes diplomacy more complex More issues on the diplomatic agenda o Education, Health, Social Security, Human rights Used to be solely a domestic issue International interdependence made domestic issues international Disease doesn’t respect international borders Recovering from the recession Controlling worldwide capital
o $1T-$2T changes hands globally daily Several G8 summits States working together to solve the problem o During Great Depression, states stonewalled themselves in; that didn’t work o The number of issues forces diplomats to have knowledge of specific issues Normally, diplomats are very general and broad Therefore, they hire experts to act as diplomats E.g. World Bank hires financial experts to advise them E.g. WHO is made up of medical experts from the member states You have to know something about what you’re negotiating 11 September 2009 Trans-governmental relations o Department to Department relations, rather than State Dept. to State Dept. Aren’t trained, formal diplomats, but are diplomats in all things, but title o Prepare treaties, etc. Technology o Don’t have to meet in person to maintain relations Less proficient than meeting in person, but saves money o Security is an issue o Information overload o People at home state may tend to micro-manage their diplomats abroad o “CNN effect” Global, instant news Before, it took time for news an event, even a crisis, to reach the people who have to make a decision on it Furthermore, any news watchers know about it, too People pressure the decision makers to decide quickly Doesn’t allow deciders time to reflect on the event, think it over CHAPTER 5 Qualities of a good diplomat o Personal traits can allow someone to be diplomatic w/o the title Interpersonal skills Openness to other cultures Importance of time to people of other countries (think “mañana”) Adaptability o Professional skills Ability to act as intermediaries Don’t act on their own Good administrative skills Language skills Creates a more congenial climate with counterparts Proficiency for social obligations o Following protocol
16 September 2009 o Main role is to maintain contact between your sending state and the host state o If you are a representative to an IO, like the U.N., you will be expected to maintain some level of contact with all 191 of the other member-states o It depends whether you are an agent of the state or an employee of an NGO or an IO o Your work will be conditioned by the group that hires you o Living conditions are affected if tension exists between sending and host states History of resident representation o 1450: Italians “discovered” permanent representation Prior to that, diplomacy was all by special mission o 95 states have no more than 5 foreign embassies (see table on p. 191) Embassy duties o Influencing both the sending and host states 18 September 2009 o Influencing public opinion It is protocol for sending states not to meddle in the domestic affairs (e.g. elections) through the embassy An embassy sending a message through public opinion rather than to the government will break protocol and probably diplomatic relations Publicizing general messages like democracy are usually acceptable, but in a totalitarian state, pro-democracy messages might be considered meddling o Direct communication E.g. telephone, internet, etc. Diplomatic communication is preferential to this “direct communication” o Information “Observe and Report” How much espionage between embassies is there? Someone from the CIA goes to the embassy to coordinate espionage in the host state It is illegal though, so they must be very careful It can severely damage P.R. and diplomatic relations Even Israel has been caught spying on the U.S., one of their only allies Embassies ought to maintain open contact with enemy states o Negotiation Not so much real negotiation, but rather “consultation” However, the terms are often used interchangeably by diplomats Embassies send a negotiating specialist or team of specialists which may not include the ambassador o Symbolic/Ceremonial Large amount of formality Embassy building represents the sending state I.e. make embassies big and fancy for P.R. Consulate offices Provide recommendations to diplomats in foreign states, e.g. starting a private business, seeking legal counsel, getting married
Decides who to give visas to Important to note that the consulate offices are empowered by Congress, not the embassy, so the ambassador cannot order the consulate officer to do something, but he has strong influence of them In smaller countries, the ambassador may function as the consulate officer as well 21 September 2009 U.S. has “American Presence Hosts” Similar to a consulate office, but it is more limited to the care of a visiting dignitary Almost entirely for P.R. o Shows the American flag in more places in foreign countries o Cultural promotion Can be done with libraries U.S. has one attached to most of its foreign embassies Courses at a local university It’s a form of P.R. o Administrative duties o Others Monitoring military development of the host state 60% of the embassy workers are not subject to the orders of the Secy. of State Many workers come from different departments (e.g. health, education, agriculture) Foreign service (see p. 187) o Vienna Convention identified three ranks
- Ambassador (includes the Papal Nuncio)
- Envoys, ministers, internuncio
- Chargé d’Affaires En titre: official rank of a representative, head of mission with no foreseeable replacement Ad interim: interim head of mission o One-third of ambassadors are political appointments by the President o DCM=Deputy Chief of Mission 2 nd^ in command This person will often run an embassy if the Chief of Mission (ambassador) is only a political appointment with no diplomatic skills and/or experience o Learning to be diplomat Know American history very well Learn about other areas of life Read NY Times cover to cover for 3 mos. Read a weekly magazine (e.g. Time, Newsweek) Improve your English Reading, writing, and speaking skills 23 September 2009 o Education of diplomats Some states have special institutions to teach diplomacy
Used when states must break diplomatic relations, but don’t want to o E.g. Mao Zedong’s communist China and Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist China (Taiwan) At first U.S. only recognized Taiwan After Nixon’s visit to communist China, U.S. switched recognition to communist China because U.S. still maintained unofficial diplomatic contact with Taiwan Didn’t even close the embassy, but renamed it CHAPTER 8 International Organization diplomacy o Creates and develops IO’s to deal with multinational issues (e.g. United Postal Union) o The beginning of multilateral relations/negotiations o States were concerned with maintaining sovereignty, so were hesitant to join IO’s o WWI forced states to work multilaterally to maintain peace (League of Nations) Didn’t do enough to prevent WWII 28 September 2009 o States have become increasingly interdependent Lead to the creation of numerous IO’s dealing with specific issues (e.g. climate change) Most states would prefer to solve problems alone, but some issues are unconquerable by one state Requires collective means to solve problems o European states joining in the EU Smaller European states work together to be on level playing field with USA, Russia, China, etc. Represents 450M people Functions of IO diplomacy o Representation of states Different than regular embassy representation Maintain multilateral relations with the other states in the IO E.g., in the UN a state must influence the other 191 member-states when seeking votes o Diplomats influence host state in regard to the specific issue with which his IO deals Often utilize the press for this function o Communication o Information Gathering info is the basis for diplomatic relations o Negotiations Occurs daily at IO’s To pass a resolution, member-states must negotiate to get votes Bloc voting groups several states together who vote together, takes much negotiating o Symbolic/ceremonial o Consular Does not exist at IO’s; only present at the embassy o Cultural Importance varies depending on the IO
Almost meaningless at UN, but some IO’s focus on culture as a part of its mission o Administrative o Specialized work At specialized conferences (e.g. WHO), most of the delegates will not be from the State Dept., but HHS and other health related agencies & organizations Two broad categories for IO’s o IO as a diplomatic forum Multilateral work UN General Assembly elects a president (separate from a member-state’s representative) to make sure the agenda is covered o Secretaries are used to assist the Pres. of the Gen. Assembly o Interpersonal skills are key to getting assistance Forum allows smaller states to play a larger, international role Very different from 19th^ century diplomacy IO’s give smaller states the same stage as larger states Many states still choose isolation from international politics Because all states have equal representation in the UN General Assembly, larger states are forced to talk with smaller states to get their votes, can’t just push them around like before Problem solving Right now the UN is dealing with Iran’s nuclear force o Larger powers (i.e. US, China, Russia) may work together to combat Iran o Israel could take matter into their own hands and use nuclear force If you can’t solve them, manage them o Public policy making o Must enact policy Most states don’t know how to do this well o Third party states try diplomatically to get other states to work together o States often take actions to improve their diplomatic importance e.g. Iran’s nuclear proliferation o Create programs Acts as a plan of action for the governing IO to deal with an issue A board of directors of member states is elected Creation of Laws Guidance for member states Rules are important even if they aren’t binding o If one member state doesn’t follow the rule, and everyone else does, that one member state looks bad o It is in the member states’ self-interest to follow the rules/guidelines Rules on human rights o Universal Declaration on Human Rights Passed unanimously o Can be difficult to govern human rights due to the number of different cultures Legitimating (making legitimate) IO’s have to prove their legitimacy as an authority
