The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (73 page)

 
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The principle that inequalities are acceptable only if they attach to positions open to all (
equal opportunity
) and are of benefit to the worst-off members of society. This principle was put forward by John Rawls , and first elaborated in his
A Theory of Justice
, to capture the requirements of social justice. It would, he asserts, be embraced by rational, prudential individuals asked to provide a standard of justice for their society, in ignorance of (among other things) their place in it. Although Rawls has varied the precise formulation of the principles of justice in more recent work, the key notion remains that stated above.
AR 

 
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Walter
Bagehot
, in
The English Constitution
, published in 1867, asserted that a constitution needed two parts, ‘one to excite and preserve the reverence of the population’ and the other to ‘employ that homage in the work of government’. The first he called ‘dignified’ and the second ‘efficient’. The monarch was the prime example of dignity in this sense and the cabinet of efficiency. Thus Queen Victoria, while lacking executive power, yet had an important constitutional role. The distinction has survived and has been often cited in the twentieth century in the development of systematic theories of politics (in which the parts of a system are seen as functional in respect of the whole) and in prescriptive debates about the merits of an executive presidency
vis-à-vis
those of monarchy and other forms of ‘symbolic’ head of state.
LA 

 
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See
economic man
.

 
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Diplomacy originated in the system of conducting relations between the states of classical Greece. It revived in medieval Europe and grew in importance in the relations between the city states of Renaissance Italy and the emerging states of post-Reformation Europe.
The Congress of Vienna, 1815, regularized a system of permanent diplomacy as a necessary and important aspect of relations between states. The great powers exchanged embassies and ambassadors, while relations involving smaller powers were conducted through legations and ministers. A recognized diplomatic profession developed, characterized by the aristocracy of its members and the secrecy of its methods. After the First World War more open or ‘democratic’ diplomacy flourished for a short while. At the end of the Second World War the distinction between embassies and legations were abandoned, and ambassadors proliferated, especially when new states were formed from the European colonies.
Some writers have identified distinct styles of diplomacy—the European style with its emphasis on diplomacy as a mere instrument, and American, revolutionary, and Third World styles which, in differing ways, give more emphasis to the morality of recognizing and dealing with other states. However, in practice, diplomacy reflects strongly the European tradition: diplomats represent to their home government and to their host government the views and interests of the other and, in negotiation, attempt to reconcile the two. The diplomat is thus always liable to be misunderstood; popularity at home spells unpopularity with the host or, the more frequent case, vice versa—a common problem for British diplomats during the Thatcher governments.
Improved communications are often cited as having rendered diplomats obsolete. However, diplomacy flourishes and capital cities host large diplomatic communities.
PBy 

 
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Democracy without representation, where those entitled to decide do so in sovereign assemblies, and where committees and executives are selected by lot rather than elected. Direct democracy was practised in ancient Athens, and was advocated by
Rousseau
. Rousseauvian ideals revived under the influence of the
New Left
in the 1960s and some argue that modern information technology now makes direct democracy possible even in populous places.