WSC History 2018- The History of Diplomacy

embassy

The official residence or offices of an ambassador.

consulate

The building in which a consul's duties are carried out.

mission

An organization or institution involved in a long-term assignment abroad.

asylum

The protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee.

diplomatic immunity

The privilege of exemption from certain laws and taxes granted to diplomats by the state in which they are working.

diplomatic bag

A container in which official mail is sent to or from an embassy, which is not subject to customs inspection.

rezidentura/residentura

A group or organization of Russian intelligence agents in a foreign country.

ambassador

An accredited diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country.

envoy

A messenger or representative, especially one on a diplomatic mission.

minister

A diplomatic agent, usually ranking below an ambassador, representing a state or sovereign in a foreign country.

consul

An official appointed by a state to live in a foreign city and protect the state's citizens and interests there.

secretary

The principal assistant of a UK government minister or ambassador.

counselor

A senior officer in the diplomatic service.

charge d'affaire

An ambassador's deputy; a state's diplomatic representative in a minor country.

gunboat diplomacy

Foreign policy that is supported by the use or threat of military force.

coercive diplomacy

An attempt to get a target, a state, a group (or groups) within a state, or a nonstate actor-to change its objectionable behavior through either the threat to use force or the actual use of limited force

preventive diplomacy

Any action taken in vulnerable places and times to avoid the threat or use of armed force and related forms of coercion by states or groups to settle the political disputes that can arise from the destabilizing effects of economic, social, political, and international change.

appeasement

A diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid conflict.

paradiplomacy

International relations conducted by subnational or regional governments on their own, with a view to promoting their own interests.

soft power

The ability to attract and co-opt, rather than by coercion (hard power).

hard power

Using force or giving money as a means of persuasion (coercion).

nuclear deterrent

The idea that an inferior nuclear force, by virtue of its extreme destructive power, could deter a more powerful adversary, provided that this force could be protected against destruction by a surprise attack.

counterinsurgency

Comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes

public diplomacy

The communication with and dissemination of propaganda to the general public of foreign nations to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influence.

dollar diplomacy

A form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries.

cyber diplomacy

The evolution of public diplomacy to include and use the new platforms of communication in the 21st century.It recognizes that new communication technologies offer new opportunities to interact with a wider public by adopting a network approach and making the most of an increasingly multicentric global, interdependent system.

zero-sum thinking

A general belief system about the antagonistic nature of social relations, shared by people in a society or culture and based on the implicit assumption that a finite amount of goods exists in the world, in which one person's winning makes others the losers, and vice versa. It is a relatively permanent and general conviction that social relations are like a zero-sum game. People who share this conviction believe that success, especially economic success, is possible only at the expense of other people's failures.

third neighbour policy

A facet of foreign relations of Mongolia referring to its building relationships with countries other than Russia and China.

proxenos

An arrangement in ancient Greece whereby a citizen (chosen by the city) hosted foreign ambassadors at his own expense, in return for honorary titles from the state.

paiza

A tablet carried by Mongol officials and envoys to signify certain privileges and authority. They enabled Mongol nobles and officials to demand goods and services from civilian populations.

plenipotentiary

Commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent a government as a prerogative.

peacekeeper

Forces dedicated to the preservation of peace, especially the supervision by international forces of a truce between hostile nations.

non-state actors

Individuals and groups that hold influence and which are wholly or partly independent of state governments.

alliance

An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them.

summit

A summit meeting (or just summit) is an international meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security, and a prearranged agenda.

embargo

Commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted country, group, or individual.

persona non grata

A foreign person whose entering or remaining in a particular country is prohibited by that country's government.

extraterritoriality

The state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.

sanctions

Involving countries:Economic sanctions: typically a ban on trade, possibly limited to certain sectors (such as armaments), or with certain exceptions (such as food and medicine) like sanctions against IranInternational sanctions: coercive measures adopted by a country or a group of countries against another state or individual(s) in order to elicit a change in their behaviorPragmatic sanction: historically, a sovereign's solemn decree which addresses a matter of primary importance and which has the force of fundamental law

self-determination

States that a people, based on respect for the principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity, have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no interference.

polarity

Describes the nature of the international system at any given period of time.

realpolitik

Politics or diplomacy based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical premises.

ultimatum

A demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests.