Diplomatic illness

Diplomatic illness is the practice amongst diplomats and government ministers of feigning illness, or another debilitating condition, to avoid engaging in diplomatic or social engagements.[1] The excuse of ill-health is designed to avoid formally offending the host or other parties.[2][3] The term also refers to the period during which the "diplomatic illness" is claimed to persist.

## Examples

* General John J. Pershing, on his return in 1926 from unsuccessful negotiations between Peru, Bolivia and Chile and suffering from ill-health, was stated by his critics to have a "diplomatic illness".[4]
* During the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948, foreign minister Jan Masaryk was thought to have a "diplomatic illness", as he stayed out of touch with many of his former foreign contacts.[5]
* A temporary absence of Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic, at a time in 1995 when Bosnian Serb forces were withdrawing near Sarajevo under an agreement with NATO, was ascribed by some sources to "diplomatic illness".[6]
* Boris Yeltsin, the then leader of the Russian Federation, was sometimes claimed to be invoking "diplomatic illness". One occasion was in 1994 on the outbreak of the First Chechen War;[7] another coincided with a 1998 summit meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States,[8] and another was in 1999 when he was due to sign a treaty with Belarus ian leader Alexander Lukashenko.[9] The allegations were dubious, as Yeltsin suffered from repeated genuine bouts of ill-health.[9]
* Polish leader Lech Kaczyński cited illness to avoid a Weimar Triangle meeting in the wake of a diplomatic dispute with Germany in 2006.[10]

## Related terms

* William Gladstone referred to a "diplomatic cold" as an alternative to declining a social engagement outright.[7]
* Neville Chamberlain is reported to have contracted "diplomatic gout" in 1938.[7]
* Polite fiction

## Footnotes

1. ↑ G. Berridge; L. Lloyd (25 January 2012). The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-137-01761-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=jvarq4iy5MoC&pg=PT79.
2. ↑ Definition in The Legal Dictionary
3. ↑ Glossary of Diplomatic Terms. eDiplomat. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
4. ↑ Don M. Coerver; Linda Biesele Hall (1999). Tangled Destinies: Latin America and the United States. UNM Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8263-2117-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=-VeZK81tlZcC&pg=PA75.
5. ↑ Slovak studies. Slovak Institute. 1981. p. 207. https://books.google.com/books?id=2u4PAQAAMAAJ.
6. ↑ ADRIAN BROWN. "Bosnian Serb forces withdraw heavy artillery from Sarajevo." The Irish Times. September 20, 1995.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 R. W. Holder (25 September 2008). Dictionary of Euphemisms. OUP Oxford. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-19-923517-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=_tSNa4kBx2IC&pg=PA152.
8. ↑ MITCHELL LANDSBERG. "Yeltsin regains voice, resumes work at suburban residence." AP Online. Press Association, Inc. March 18, 1998.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Goble, Paul (November 9, 1999). "Russia: Analysis From Washington -- A Diplomatic Illness?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1092764.html.
10. ↑ Kolosowska, Krysia (January 5, 2007). "A diplomatic illness?". Polskie Radio. http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/dokument.aspx?iid=38728.

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