ABSTRACT
This final chapter examines diplomacy and bad diplomats. The first section begins by looking at the ways in which diplomats can be thought of as bad: bad in terms of the moral content of their character, bad in terms of their competence, and bad in terms of the consequences of what they do for others. It notes how most people do not think about diplomats at all. When they do their views are largely shaped by their attitude to the state the diplomat is serving or the policies they are carrying out. People rarely see diplomats as agents in their own right. Diplomats, in contrast, make evaluations of their colleagues both individually and collectively. They do so primarily in terms of professional competence, occasionally in terms of moral content, and almost never in terms of policy consequences. Bad diplomats for them are primarily those who damage relations and cause unwanted conflict in the pursuit of what those they represent want. The second section looks at what happens to diplomats in times of uncertainty when relations themselves become a source of tension and conflict. It suggests how diplomats may be viewed as bad in diplomatic terms and examines the obstacles which make it difficult for diplomats to be good. The challenges, it argues, are not much different from those which face the members of other professions, or indeed, people generally. The opportunities for doing good, in contrast, especially in terms of re-focusing diplomacy on relations rather than the diplomacy of problems, are worth taking some personal risks to achieve. The final section reviews what people can do to help themselves and the professionals be good diplomats.
