Last updated: 21 July 2008
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A DICTIONARY OF DIPLOMACY

© G. R. Berridge and Alan James 2004

Entries beginning A, B and C.

A

accreditation. [elaborated] ... . (2) ... or as a member of a diplomatic mission or *delegation.

acte final. [corrected, with thanks to Philippe Rostaing, lexicographer] See final act.

activities incompatible with diplomatic status. [new] A euphemism for *espionage. The term is often used by the *receiving state when declaring a member of a *diplomatic mission *persona non grata.

agency. [new] The *mission (sense 1) of an *agent and consul-general.

agent and consul-general. [new] Sometimes termed 'commissioner and consul-general', the title given to some quasi-diplomatic representatives, usually those to *vassal states of a third state. Thus Britain was so represented in Serbia until 1879, Roumania until 1880, Tunis until 1881, Bulgaria until 1908, and Egypt until 1914, all of which were nominally subject to the Ottoman Empire until the dates mentioned. By and large, the other great powers followed the same practice. Formally speaking these representatives were consuls-general, but the word *'agent' (sense 1) was added to their title to indicate their quasi-diplomatic character. Accordingly they were informally regarded as constituting a fifth *diplomatic class. Since about the middle of the twentieth century the term has gone out of use. See also resident (sense 3).

alternate. [new] See alternative representative.

alternate representative. [elaborated] Often known simply as an 'alternate', a person formally accepted as a stand-in on a committee for a regular representative who may from time to time be unable to attend its meetings. Alternates are routinely nominated by *permanent missions (sense 1) to serve on organs of the *international organization to which they are accredited. Sometimes alternates are nominated as successors to a current representative and are allowed to accompany the latter to meetings, though they have no vote. Where this kind of alternate has been elected by a regional *caucus, the governing body is rendered in some degree more representative without its decision-making being overloaded. The experience also provides an education for the future full representative. See also troika (EU).

ambassador extraordinary. [new] Sometimes 'extraordinary ambassador', the most common term employed in the early modern period for a *special envoy.

ambassador in ordinary. [new] A term commonly used in the early modern period to describe the head of a *resident mission, or the mission itself. See also ambassador; ambassador extraordinary; extraordinary; lieger; resident.

ambassadress. [new] (1) The wife of an *ambassador (sense 1). The title in this sense, which was merely a courtesy since the wife possessed no *representative character in her own right, came in following the introduction of the *resident embassy in the mid-fifteenth century. Before this ambassadors had not generally taken their wives with them, their missions characteristically being short. In early English the term was sometimes rendered 'embassadrix'. (2) An informal term for an ambassador of female sex. This sense has crept in since about the mid-twentieth century. However, formally speaking the term 'ambassador' is sexless, in that it designates both male and female *heads of mission of the first *diplomatic class.

attaché. [elaborated] ... (3) ... others did not. Honorary attachés might also be appointed to *special missions. A small number of persons of more varied age and experience were appointed honorary attachés until well into the second half of the twentieth century.

B

baillie. [new] See bailo.

bailo. [elaborated] The Venetian representative at Constantinople until the end of the republic in 1797. ... During the late medieval period, when Venetian power was at its height, the republic had a baillie, as he was then more usually known, at other trading colonies in the *Byzantine empire.

breach of diplomatic relations. [new] See diplomatic relations

bubble. [elaborated, including a second sense of the term] ...The British term for a room serving the same purpose within a diplomatic mission is 'safe room'. (2) The ring of security staff constantly surrounding the US president on his travels.

bull. [new] See golden bull.

C

céder le pas. [new] To waive a right of *precedence on a specific occasion. It is likely to be accompanied by an emphasis that doing so is not to be taken as creating a precedent.

certificate of exhange. [new] Sometimes known as a protocol of exchange, the document that records the exchange of instruments of *ratification of a *treaty.

certificate of life. [new] Alternatively a 'life certificate', a document that proves that a person with an address abroad is still alive and thus entitled to continue receiving a pension, or perhaps an insurance payment, from home. Confirmation that the signatures on such certificates are genuine is a common task of *consular officers and diplomats (sense 1) exercising consular functions, and usually one permitted to *honorary ones as well.

chargé d'affaires en titre. [elaborated] A *head of mission of the third class. Unlike a *chargé d'affaires ad interim this type of c.d.a. is appointed on a permanent basis, that is to say, to be in charge of the mission in his or her own right. In consequence, the mission which the officer heads is neither an *embassy (sense 1) nor a *legation. It may perhaps be called 'The Office of the Chargé d'Affaires en titre', as was the mission to Britain of the People's Republic of China between 1954 and 1972. Unlike other *letters of credence, those of a chargé d'affaires en titre are sent by the foreign minister of the *sending state to his or her counterpart in the *receiving state. During the latter part of the twentieth century this class of head of mission became increasingly rare, notwithstanding reference being made to it in Article 14.1 of the Vienna Convention on *Diplomatic Relations (1961).

The chargé d'affaires en titre is in direct line of descent from the simple 'chargé d'affaires' of the early modern period, when it was one of a variety of titles for a diplomat of inferior rank. The distinction between this kind of chargé d'affaires and the chargé d'affaires ad interim became clear in the nineteenth century.

chrysobull. [new] See golden bull.

circular embassy. [new] See roving ambassador.

coalition. [new] In international politics, a broad grouping of often very diverse states temporarily united for a specific purpose, notably military action. See also alliance; entente. [with thanks to Dominic Jewell for suggesting we should have an entry on this term; Dominic is following the course on Diplomacy taught by Professor J. E. Spence on the MA in International Peace and Security at Kings' College London]

co-location. [new] The sharing of the same *diplomatic premises by the *missions (sense 1) of states enjoying close and well-established relationships, for example the Nordic countries and those within the *European Union.

commissioner and consul-general. [new] See agent and consul-general.

common but differentiated responsibility, principle of. [elaborated] ...differing economic circumstances. It appears - either explicitly or implicitly - in some environmental instruments and in one or two other multilateral agreements as well. However, it is not (yet) a principle ...

compensation. [new] A term applied to the granting of territory to a state in order to reconcile it to a similar acquisition by a rival. This was a well-established means of regulating the *balance of power (sense 3) in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Confidential Print. [new] Copies of important papers (*despatches, memoranda, reports, etc.) produced for circulation within the British *Foreign Office, as well as to the monarch, the prime minister, the cabinet, other government departments, and diplomatic missions abroad. Confidential Prints, which were printed on the Foreign Office's own press, were first used in 1829 but did not appear in large numbers until 1850. They could consist, for example, of a copy of a single document or of copies of a large number of them on the same theme printed end-to-end. They were still being circulated after the Second World War. See also Blue Book; calendar.

Congress System. [new] The early manifestation of the *Concert of Europe, in the shape of *congresses held between 1818 and 1822 at Aix-la-Chapelle, Troppau (now Opava), Laibach (now Ljubljana), and Verona.

consulate. [amended] (1) Strictly, a *consular post headed by a *consul. (2) In general usage, any consular post.

constructive ambiguity. [elaborated] A term widely attributed to Henry *Kissinger and also known as 'fudging', the deliberate use of ambiguous language on a sensitive issue in order to advance some political purpose. In a negotiation, for example, constructive ambiguity might be employed not only to disguise an inability to resolve a question on which the parties remain far apart but to do so in a manner that enables each to claim that some concession on it has actually been obtained. (The UN Security Council's Resolution 242 of November 1967 regarding the withdrawal of Israel from territory she had occupied in the recent *Six Day War was such a case.) It may also be hoped that, having thereby shelved this particular point in a way that causes neither side excessive discomfort, they will be able to make real progress on other matters. If this should prove to be the case, the ground might be prepared for a return to the unresolved question at a later date; time might even see it dissolve altogether. Of course, such hopes often prove ill-founded, and ambiguity in *agreements can also generate subsequent controversy. Whether on balance, therefore, its employment proves 'constructive' in relation to any further attempts to negotiate the point in question is for historians to determine. See also step-by-step diplomacy.

consular agent. [corrected] See consular rank ...

consular association. [new] See consular corps.

consular corps. [elaborated] ... A particular consular corps is sometimes known as a 'consular association', as in the case of the Manchester Consular Association, which was founded in 1882 and claims to be the oldest in the UK and one of the oldest in the world.

Cotonou Agreement (2000). [new] See Lomé Convention (1975).

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