Abstract
Special missions are missions sent abroad to conduct diplomacy with a limited purpose and usually for a limited time. Led by special envoys working under a permissive legal regime, they are a feature of normal diplomatic relationships but are particularly valuable to diplomacy between hostile states. This chapter begins by discussing their general advantages in such circumstances, and then breaks down the analysis via a classification based on their political weight and nature of appointment: high- and low-level unofficial envoys, and high- and low-level official envoys. In the account of official envoys, a special word is said about the employment of intelligence officers in this capacity. The chapter concludes by considering when it is advisable to dispatch special envoys in secret and when in public.
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Berridge, G.R. (2022). Special Missions. In: Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85931-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85931-2_15
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