The Functioning of Ambassadors under Louis XIV

In centuries since states and princes began sending representatives to one another, kinds of activities in which diplomats engaged have varied according to time and place. Some diplomats were little more than postmen who took a message and were expected to return with an answer. Others in effect controlled government to which they were accredited. Yet, despite many studies which have been made of early modern diplomacy, relatively little is known about working methods, duties, and responsibilities of diplomats examined from perspective of diplomats themselves.l Furthermore, those scholars who have taken up topic have too often been content to assume that generalizations given in contemporary theoretical manuals on diplomacy described actual behavior rather than just ideal or desirable situations.2 Others have examined diplomatic institutions in way which Philippe Sagnac called sec et froid, souvent inintelligible. Officers such as the secretary of state for foreign affairs or the ambassador are pictured as having certain powers and duties without recognition of personal differences of officeholders which frequently changed characteristics of office.3 Thus our under

Political science · European Political History Analysis · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History

• The Social Sources of Geopolitical Power

  Open Access•Jonah Stuart Brundage•American Sociological Review•2018

  Add to list