International Diplomacy and Ethics: Relevance for Commerce‪.‬

ABSTRACT Diplomats are not guided by any specifically designed code of ethics ratified by the international political community. While individual countries such as the United States include Foreign Service personnel within the scope of their generic rules of professional conduct for government employees, diplomats per se are not identified according to the uniqueness of the ethical challenges confronting them. Nor are diplomats distinguished by their categories; whether they are assigned to embassies or as ad hoc mediators in crisis situations, as delegates to conferences or as representatives in the negotiation of treaties and Conventions. It is the position of this author that residential diplomats, those serving in their countries' embassies abroad, constitute a population whose duties and role suggest ethical principles which could well become foundational for any future international code of ethics. Six such principles are proposed. The significance of each is applied to aspects of international commerce, for example, how ethical commitment might influence the nature of assistance provided by embassy staff to a business seeking to establish itself in the embassy's receiving State. Scholarly expertise from the disciplines of diplomacy and international business demonstrates that the inherent affinities between these disciplines are made most apparent when ethical issues are the subject of analysis. Contrary to the image often generated by the media and even by the White House, residential diplomacy should be recognized as a positive contributor to the betterment of order and stability throughout the contemporary world.