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Embassies

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Diplomacy
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Abstract

Formally accredited resident embassies are the normal means of conducting bilateral diplomacy between any two states. The British scholar-diplomat Harold Nicolson called this the ‘French system of diplomacy’, because of the dominant influence of France on its evolution and the gradual replacement of Latin by French as its working language (Nicolson 1954). This chapter will commence with a discussion of this system as it evolved from the early modern period to the twentieth century. It will then proceed to an examination of the working of the resident embassy today, in the course of which it will be seen that this institution has proved remarkably resilient.

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© 2010 G. R. Berridge

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Berridge, G.R. (2010). Embassies. In: Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379275_8

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