What is a Diplomat's Job Description?

I'm working on materials for my course at George Washington University this year. One of the fundamental questions that I keep wrestling with is the distinction between foreign policy and diplomacy. I think too often the two get conflated, positioning diplomats to do both policymaking and policy execution. So what is the actual role of a diplomat?

It turns out that diplomats have roles prescribed by treaty in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. While most practitioners associate the Vienna Convention with establishing diplomatic immunity, protocol, and diplomatic pouch regulations, it does much more. The Vienna Convention's Article 3 has five short clauses that neatly describe what diplomatic missions actually do, and in doing so, it highlights the distinction between diplomacy and foreign policy. Under the Vienna Convention, those on a diplomatic mission have five functions.

Representing the sending State. The first function is the simplest, albeit also the hardest to fully define. Representation means showing up: a mission stands in for its country and government by being present at official events, communicating on behalf of a capital, and more.

Protecting the interests of the sending State and its nationals. Protection covers both the state's interests and its citizens. As a result, this clause covers both advocating for the resolution of policy disagreements and providing citizen services. Article 3 is clear that diplomats can perform consular functions, and consequently this clause is why consular emergencies like detained citizens fall within the scope of diplomats, not just consular officials. State interests often extend economically as well; this is how a threat to a national company's contract becomes a bilateral, government-to-government issue. (Economic advocacy isn't new!) Notably, this clause includes a boundary: a mission's protection activities must operate "within the limits permitted by international law."

Negotiating with the Government of the receiving State. The public often envisions negotiation over war and peace as the whole job. But as most practitioners know, negotiation goes far beyond that to cover the myriad political, military, economic, and other issues that need resolution between states. Visa processes, trade agreements, joint military exercises, landing rights, and so much more require extensive, regular negotiation and discussion. This also includes negotiations with other countries on multilateral issues, like co-sponsoring a resolution at the United Nations.

Ascertaining conditions and reporting to the sending State. This is the foundation of the reporting officer's work (which I'd argue is more important today, not less, given the ease with which states can manipulate digital media environments). Reading the press, meeting with contacts, traveling the country to see conditions on the ground, and sitting through parliamentary debates are all protected under this clause. Elsewhere, the Vienna Convention obliges receiving states to allow diplomats freedom of movement and to protect diplomatic missions' communications precisely to allow this function to operate. But like the prior clause, this carries a condition: "by all lawful means," separating diplomatic reporting from espionage.

Promoting friendly relations and developing economic, cultural and scientific ties. This is the foundation of public diplomacy, trade promotion, and government-to-government scientific cooperation. The clause encompasses both friendly relations between governments and, critically, society-to-society or people-to-people ties. This parallels the ideas in the Fulbright-Hays Act, the UNESCO Constitution, and a number of other roughly contemporaneous documents that aim to sustain international peace by broadening friendly ties beyond the government.

Beyond these five functions, there are two other features of the Vienna Convention that prescribe and proscribe what diplomats can do.

First, the functions come paired with limitations and duties. Article 41 obliges every diplomatic mission to respect the laws of the receiving state and, pointedly, not to interfere in its internal affairs. While diplomats can protect interests and report, they have no license to meddle. This is a fine line, especially when one state may see another country's domestic policy negatively impacting its own interests. Receiving states can police that line with the Vienna Convention's tools, up to declaring an officer persona non grata without explanation.

Second, the list of functions is introduced with "inter alia" — among other things. The drafters knew the job would evolve and they left the door open to that. That said, this list has aged incredibly well, providing an enduring description of what diplomats do and, critically, what they do not.

There is one thing that all five of the clause share: every one is about carrying out foreign policy, not making it. Diplomats represent, protect, negotiate, report, and build the ties that support inform foreign policy decisions and bring those decisions to life. But it remains the home government's decision on what the policy actually is. So when you want to know whether a task is core to the profession, the five clauses in the Vienna Convention are a good first test, and policymaking is not on the list.