Diplomatie

The duties of the diplomat are synthesized in the classic formula: "inform, represent and negotiate." The diplomat must keep his (or her) country informed about international affairs, work constantly to mark the presence and spread the image of his country abroad, and be prepared to defend national interests in foreign negotiations of a bilateral or multilateral nature.

A fourth task must be added to this formula that places emphasis on the work of the diplomat overseas, namely, internal coordination. Identifying the interests of the nation lies at the base of the diplomat's work.

The diplomat must be permanently articulating with other government employees, members of the Congress, and organized sectors of civil society, in order to be able to define national interests and defend them in proper fashion abroad. Nothing could be more fallacious than to think - as some do - that this is a career where living abroad for lengthy periods creates a certain detachment of the civil servant with regard to his country.

As a rule, diplomats operate closely attuned to their own national reality. In the last few years, the diplomatic career has gone through radical changes. The agenda of matters dealt with and the approach given to them are constantly being adapted to new circumstances. In his introduction to Minister of Foreign Relations Luiz Felipe Lampreia's book Diplomacia brasileira - palavras, contextos e razões (Brazilian diplomacy - words, contexts and reasons), President Fernando Henrique Cardoso makes the following observation: "... some things are by their very nature bound to permanence, tradition and contact with the past. Diplomacy ... is certainly one of them. Foreign policy is fundamentally connected with national interests of a long-term, permanent nature. ... However, by no means is this to infer that diplomacy is immune to the effects of the passing of time. Countries change, societies are transformed, worldviews age, and diplomats face the challenge of answering the new times without losing the reference of tradition."

The diplomat is first and foremost an agent for communicating between sovereign States. This is his most traditional field of activity. Nonetheless, external interlocutors are becoming more and more diversified. Contacts between diplomatic agents and the civil society of the country where they are posted are growing more frequent and more intense. Diplomacy is no longer a function restricted to cabinets and bound by State secrets. To a large extent it has developed into the public exercise of defending the nation's interests overseas.In addition to diplomats, several other categories of public servants dedicate themselves to activities that further the foreign interests of a given State and society.

The diplomat, however, besides the matters entrusted to him, is responsible for synthesizing sectoral interests from the overall perspective of his country's international relations. In other words, it is incumbent on the diplomat to handle the general coordination and execution of specific points of national foreign policy.

Another characteristic that is peculiar to the diplomat and differentiates him from other civil servants concerned with international negotiations is the fact that he lives abroad. This aspect of residence was first instituted among the city-states of Renaissance Italy. Ever since then, the activity of diplomats has been indissolubly linked to the government agent's physical presence overseas.

The progress made in telecommunications (fax, Internet, e-mail) does not change this notion for at least two reasons: (a) relations of trust forged through regular personal contacts are still indispensable for the proper conduct of international relations, and (b) the first-hand knowledge of another society gathered on day-to-day contact with that different reality is without a doubt the best guarantee of accurate and solid views on how to conduct relations with other countries.Versatility and the capacity of adapting are two absolutely essential qualities for the performance of the profession.

Throughout their career, diplomats deal with a wide variety of matters of a political, economic and commercial, scientific and technological, cultural, consular or administrative nature. Some diplomatic services seek to foster specialization of the staff in the understanding that this is an indispensable condition for them to cope better with the challenge of the growing technological complexity of a whole series of matters that are part of the diplomat's routine. Trade negotiations -- in the WTO (World Trade Organization) or Mercosur, for example -- call for a minimum of specialization on the part of those in charge.In the case of Brazil's diplomatic service, formal specialization of staff has been avoided on account of the consideration that the diplomat should first and foremost be an agent equipped with an all-encompassing view of national interests.

In his book Diplomacia em Alto-Mar (Diplomacy at high sea), Vasco Leitão da Cunha, Brazil's Minister of Foreign Relations in 1964-65, makes the comment that the diplomat should be a generalist "because we can always hire a specialist." In practice, however, it is apparent that even in countries like Brazil, the increasingly more technical and complex dynamics of different international negotiations tends to encourage -- albeit informally -- some degree of specialization on the part of certain staff members.The requisite of versatility is illustrated in the fact that there are diplomats who come to enjoy prominence in the most varied fields, such as history, literature or economics.

In more recent times, Roberto Campos, Marcílio Marques Moreira and Rubens Ricupero have been ministers of the State in the area of economics. João Guimarães Rosa and João Cabral de Mello Neto, two of the leading names in the Brazilian literature of this century, were also diplomats, while Evaldo Cabral de Mello is held to be one of Brazil's most important historians of the moment.Versatility and the capacity to adapt will also enable the diplomat to face the different living conditions he is bound to go through during his career.

The reality of the diplomatic career is far removed from that other widespread cliché which claims that this is a professional option for those who want the chance to live in pleasant places overseas. In fact, the great majority of diplomats invariably undergo the experience of living in difficult countries that offer risks to the health and security of both themselves and their family. Furthermore, diplomats must often undergo situations of internal or external conflict in the country to which they are posted. At other times they themselves are the targets of violent actions for political motives. For these reasons, Brazil's diplomatic service is legally bound to endeavor to assign each civil servant to serve alternately in posts where life is agreeable and in others where living conditions are harsher.

Extracted from the CD Rom Brazilian Diplomacy: Past and Present by Mônica Hirst, Ambassador João Hermes Pereira de Araújo and Raul Mendes Silva, produced and distributed by Log On Informática. All Rights Reserved.