Editing Diplomat (section)

== Function ==
Diplomats in posts collect and report information that could affect national interests, often with advice about how the home-country government should respond. Then, once any policy response has been decided in the home country's capital, posts bear major responsibility for implementing it. Diplomats have the job of conveying, in the most persuasive way possible, the views of the home government to the governments to which they are accredited and, in doing so, of trying to convince those governments to act in ways that suit home-country interests. In this way, diplomats are part of the beginning and the end of each loop in the continuous process through which [[foreign policy]] develops.

In general, it has become harder for diplomats to act autonomously. Diplomats use secure communication systems, such as emails, and mobile telephones that allow reaching even the most reclusive head of mission. This technology also gives diplomats the capacity for more immediate input about the policy-making processes in the home capital.

[[Email encryption|Secure email]] has transformed the contact between diplomats and the ministry. It is less likely to leak, and enables more personal contact than the formal [[Telegraphy|cablegram]], with its wide distribution and impersonal style.

=== Advocacy ===
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The home country will usually send instructions to a diplomatic post on what foreign policy goals to pursue, but decisions on tactics – who needs to be influenced, what will best persuade them, who are potential allies and adversaries, and how it can be done – are for the diplomats overseas to make.

In this operation, the intelligence, integrity, cultural understanding, and energy of individual diplomats become critical. If competent, they will have developed relationships grounded in trust and mutual understanding with influential members of the country in which they are accredited. They will have worked hard to understand the motives, thought patterns and [[culture]] of the other side.