by Charles A. Ray
At a recent event to launch Diplomatic Tradecraft, a book that discusses the day-to-day aspects of diplomacy, a colleague took me to task for saying that “diplomatic receptions are for work, not for fun” to illustrate that the public doesn’t understand what diplomats really do. My colleague said that he “looked forward to these events for the networking opportunities they gave him.” I didn’t make a point of it at the time, but he and I said essentially the same thing, just from different perspectives.
To be perfectly transparent, I probably could have stated my position with much more clarity. I am one of those people who does not enjoy attending crowded functions and listening to long, boring speeches on the off chance that something of importance might inadvertently (or deliberately) be said, while at the same time making nice, often with people who would not be on my A-list for socializing. My long-time colleague, on the other hand, is a much more gregarious and outgoing type.
The Tradecraft of Cookie Pushing
But both of us do agree on one thing. The receptions and other social functions that diplomats are required to attend have an important function. They enable us to do one of the things that is a sine qua non of diplomacy, establishing networks and contacts in furtherance of our mission to implement our nation’s foreign policy. In diplomatic parlance, receptions, dinners, and other social activities are called representation events because at these a diplomat is ‘representing’ his or her nation. In actual fact, though, what they are is networking. This is where a diplomat makes and maintains the contacts necessary to get the work of diplomacy done. Contrary to what the popular myth might be, this is not just a bunch of dilettantes in pin stripes rubbing elbows with the local notables. This is where hard working diplomats are doing one of their most important jobs—representing their nations’ interests by getting and giving information in furtherance of those interests.
In the words of Diplomatic Tradecraft:
As a diplomat, you will attend many receptions, dinners, conferences and other official functions, along with representatives of other countries. You will receive such invitations as part of your official responsibilities. This does not mean that you cannot have a good time and look forward to attending. It does mean that you should use these opportunities to engage with diplomats from other embassies, host country officials and citizens, and build relationships to advance your country’s goals (pp.250-251).
In a thirty-year career as an American diplomat, I participated in hundreds of national day celebrations, dinners, lunches, and other (on the surface) social events, and, while some were enjoyable, all had the goal of furthering American foreign policy goals.
Cambodia: Golf and Extradition
When I was ambassador to Cambodia, for example, I played golf with the prime minister two or three times a month, the first American ambassador (and as far as I know the last) to do so. To the average American, this might seem like a complete waste of four hours on a Saturday or Sunday (the only days that either of us ever played), but that would be completely mistaken. Those games, during which time the prime minister and I, in addition to getting to know each other personally, discussed often weighty issues in an easy-going manner away from the stuffy confines of his official office or the glare of media cameras. What US policy interests were advanced? Well, this was shortly after passage of the PROTECT Act, a law enacted on April 30, 2003, that allowed prosecution in the United States of US citizens who committed crimes against children abroad. Prior to passage of this legislation, it had been necessary to prove that an American had traveled abroad with the express purpose of committing such crimes, an almost impossible task, but under the new law it was only necessary to prove that the crime was committed. Around this time, an American had been arrested for sexually abusing a twelve-year-old, and our concern at the embassy was that the perpetrator would buy his way out of the Cambodian court system. During a golf game with the prime minister, I mentioned this and pointed out that in the US court system this wouldn’t happen, and the individual would get a fair trial and if found guilty punished.
The complicating factor was that the US and Cambodia do not have an extradition treaty, so we couldn’t ask for the person to be extradited. The prime minister, though, directed that his justice ministry work with my embassy regional security officer (RSO) to find a legal way to get the alleged perpetrator into the hands of the US justice system. A perfectly legitimate procedure was worked out which got the individual into the territory of a country with which we did have an extradition treaty, where he was arrested by a US federal law enforcement official and subsequently extradited to the US, where he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. The prosecution was affirmed by the US Supreme Court and was one of two out of Cambodia that went through the US court system before the first one from a country with which we had an extradition treaty. This achievement would have in all likelihood been impossible had I not established the kind of working relationship with a local decision maker (in this case, the number one) that allowed such actions.
Sierra Leone: Cooperation on Evacuation
In another case of social networking creating an environment that helped further US policy goals, from 1993 to 1996, when I was deputy chief of mission (DCM) at our embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone, I often had lunch with a retired UN employee, Ahmed Tejan Kabba, who became the country’s first truly democratically elected president in 1996.
That, unfortunately, was also the year when the security situation in neighboring Liberia deteriorated to the point that the decision was made to conduct a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) of Americans from the country. Despite the civil war going on in Sierra Leone at the time, it was decided that Freetown’s Lungi Airport would be an intermediate staging base to process evacuees. The only suitable facility at the airport at the time was the presidential guest house compound, and, thanks to the working and personal relationship that I’d established beginning in 1993, President Kabba offered the guest house as headquarters for the military unit conducting the NEO. Again, without the network established through what on the surface looked like routine social events, it is unlikely that this would have happened.
It is important to understand this aspect of diplomacy in order to have a better understanding of what diplomats do, and how and why they do their jobs. So, the next time you see a movie or TV show that portrays a crowd of stuffy diplomats at a fancy dress reception, keep in mind that most of them are not having fun because they’re too busy doing their jobs.
About the author: Charles A. Ray was a member of the US Foreign Service from 1982 to 2012, with assignments in China, Thailand, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Zimbabwe. He was the first US consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and served as ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Zimbabwe. From 2006 to 2009, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs. Before joining the Foreign Service, he served in the US army from 1962 to 1982, including two tours in Vietnam during the war.