What are Diplomats Made of?
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Author | Charles Ritchie |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207503000102 |
| Subject Matter | Diplomatic Method |
CHARLES
RITCHIE
What
are
diplomats
made of?
'I
think
the
whole
concept
of diplomacy
today
... is
a
little
out-
moded.'
The
words
are
those
of
Mr
Trudeau
and
are
quoted
by
Mr
Eric
Clark
at
the
beginning
of
his book,
Corps
Diplomatique.
The
authors
of
these
three
books
are
all
in
their
different
ways
concerned with
the
impact
of
changing
conditions
on
the
tradi-
tional
craft
of
diplomacy and
its
practitioners
-
the diplomats.
All
deal with
the
apparatus
of
diplomacy
rather
than
the
analysis
of
international
relations.
Their
books
are
none
the
worse
for this.
It
is
a
change
from
the
flood
of
writing
about
foreign
policy to
come
to
a
realistic
and
informed
discussion of
its
practical
implementation.
Mr Clark
and
Mr
McDermott
are
journalists
(though Mr McDermott
has
a
diplomatic
background),
Lord
Trevelyan
is
a
retired
British
diplomat. Although
all
three
authors
are
English they
have
drawn
widely
on
the
experience
of
other
foreign
services.
Lord
Trevelyan's
Diplomatic
Channels
is
written
from
the
inside
by
a
professional
about
the profession
in
which
he
has
spent
his
life
but
it
has
none
of
the
stuffiness
or
pretension
of
the
The
author
retired
from
Canada's
foreign
service
in
1971
after
a
distinguished
career
which
included appointments
as
deputy
under-secretary
of state
for
external
affairs,
ambassador
to
the
United
States,
and
high
commissioner
to
the
United
Kingdom.
His
book,
The
Siren
Years:
A
Canadian Diplomat
Abroad,
was
published
in
November
1974.
Corps
Diplomatique
by
Eric Clark
(London:
Allen
Lane [Toronto:
Longmans],
1973,
276pp,
$13-75).
The
New
Diplomacy
and
Its Apparatus
by
Geoffrey
McDermott (London:
Plume
Press
[Toronto:
Saunders],
1973,
208
pp,
$11.OO).
Diplomatic
Channels
by
Humphrey
Trevelyan
(London and
Toronto:
Macmillan,
1973,
157PP,
$8.95).
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