What diplomats do: The Life and Work of Diplomats.

• Author: McGhie, Gerald
• Position: Book review

WHAT DIPLOMATS DO: The Life and Work of Diplomats

Author: Brian Bader

Published by: Rowan and Litdefield, London, 2014, 232pp, US$44.

Sir Brian Bader has given us a readable and honest account of what British diplomats do. It is neither a manual nor a memoir and it is certainly not a novel even though it shows diplomatic life through the experience of a fictional couple, Adam and Eve. Bader takes Adam from new recruit to first overseas post to head of mission. Throughout he juxtaposes relevant segments of his own experience. His comments are marked by common sense and well-targeted insights which though reflecting life in the British foreign service have broad relevance for New Zealand.

The discussion covers economic and consular work as well as trade promotion and trade policy matters with special reference to the areas of environmental, humanitarian and conference diplomacy. Bader has a good sense of humour, regrettably a dying commodity. For his first formal dinner party he had to wear a borrowed dinner jacket several sizes too large for him. He sat in some discomfort between two Spanish women who could not speak English. I felt for him. At my first official dinner I sat at the centre of a large table where neither to my right nor left were people who were at all interested in such a junior officer. Directly in front of me was a flower arrangement which would have required a machete to see through, let alone talk through.

Fortunately diplomatic life has become less formal, especially in terms of representational work. He suggests that 60 per cent of contacts made in diplomacy are wasted; the private sector in my experience would encounter similar losses. Nevertheless, as Bader points out, exchanges at such functions as national day receptions can provide useful information while informal contact is an essential element of establishing vital personal relations. Even in the new management-speak environment that would not--and should not--have changed.

In acknowledging the changes that have occurred in his time, Bader refers particularly to the expansion of business and economic work. As he rightly saw it, what businessmen wanted most from a British representative was not how to conduct their business. They know more about that than any diplomat. Rather they wanted frank analysis of the political scene and how it was likely to develop, a guide to business generally as well as identification of local decision-makers and help in gaining...