Diplomat

A diplomat is someone involved in diplomacy between two countries; the collective term for a group of diplomats from a single country is a diplomatic mission.

Since the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats have had diplomatic immunity which protects them from being persecuted or prosecuted while on a diplomatic mission.

In times of hostility diplomats are often withdrawn for reasons of personal safety, and in some cases diplomats are withdrawn when the host country is friendly but there is a threat from internal dissidents. Ambassadors and other diplomats are also sometimes recalled by their home countries as a statement of displeasure with the country they have been serving in.

Famous diplomats include:

History

Formerly, diplomats were sent only for specific negotiations, and would return immediately after their mission concluded. One notable exception involved the relationship between the Pope and the Byzantine Emperor; papal agents, called apocrisiarii, were permanently resident in Constantinople. After the 8th century, however, conflicts between the Pope and Emperor (such as the Iconoclastic controversy) led to the breaking of close ties.

Modern diplomacy's origins may be traced to the fifteenth century. During the fifteenth century, however, numerous states of Italy began to send permanent representatives to each other, and later to other European nations. The practice was later adopted by the great European powers. Spain was the first power to send a permanent representative; it appointed an ambassador to the Court of England in 1487. By the late sixteenth century, permanent missions became customary. The Holy Roman Emperor, however, did not regularly send permanent legates, as they could not represent the interests of all the German princes (who were in theory subordinate to the Emperor, but were in practice independent).