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Until the early 19th Century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank. The relative ranks of diplomats from different nations had been a source of considerable dispute, made more so by the insistence of major nations to have their diplomats ranked higher than those of minor nations, to be reflected in such things as table seatings.
In an attempt to resolve the problem, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 formally established an international system of diplomatic ranks. The four ranks within the system were:
1. Ambassador, Extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary, or simply Ambassador, who is a representative of the head of state. Equivalent, and in some traditions primus inter pares, is the Papal nuncio. Amongst Commonwealth countries, the equivalent title High Commissioner (who represents the government rather than the head of state) is normally used instead.
A diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador would be known as an Embassy; one headed by a High Commissioner is called a High Commission. An ambassador and a high commissioner are entitled to use the title "His/Her Excellency" from the government and the people of the country they are appointed to. But if, for example, an ambassador or high commissioner are from Canada, they are addressed by Canadians not by Excellency, but are called ambassador or high commissioner.
2. Minister Plenipotentiary (in full Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary), or simply Envoy. Usually just referred to as a Minister, an envoy is a diplomatic representative with plenipotentiary powers (i.e. full authority to represent the head of state), but ranking below an Ambassador. Where Embassies are headed by Ambassadors, Legations are headed by Ministers.
3. Minister Resident or Resident Minister, or simply Minister, is the, now extremely rare, lowest rank of full diplomatic mission chief, only above Chargé d'affaires (who is considered an extraordinary substitute).
Note that both the Minister Plenipotentiary and the Minister Resident are diplomatic ministers, which are not the same thing as government ministers or religious ministers. A diplomatic mission headed by either type of Minister would be called a Legation. As they formally represent the head of state, they are entitled to use the title "His/Her Excellency", which originally was reserved for Ambassadors.
4. Chargé d'affaires, or simply Chargé. As the French title suggests, a chargé d'affaires would be in charge of an embassy's or a legation's affairs in the (usually temporary) absence of a more senior diplomat.
As it turned out, this system of diplomatic rank did nothing to solve the problem of the nations' precedence. The appropriate diplomatic ranks used would be determined by the precedence among the nations; thus the exchanges of ambassadors (the highest diplomatic rank) would be reserved among major nations, or close allies and related monarchies. In contrast, a major nation would probably send just an envoy to a minor nation, who in return would send an envoy to the major nation. As a result, the United States did not use the rank of ambassador until their emergence as a major world power at the end of the 19th Century. Indeed, until the mid-20th Century, the majority of diplomats in the world were of the rank of envoy.
In diplomatic parlance, all the diplomats that are assigned to a nation are known collectively as the diplomatic corps; one of these diplomats is recognized as the primus inter pares - in practice rather a protocolar honor - who acts as the spokesperson for all, known as the dean of the diplomatic corps (generally based on the date of arrival in country or presentation of credentials to the head of state, although in some Catholic nations it is held automatically by the Papal Nuncio).
After World War II, most legations were upgraded to embassies, and the use of the rank of Minister for diplomatic missions' highest-ranking officials gradually ceased. The last U.S. Legation, in Sofia, Bulgaria, was upgraded to an Embassy on November 28, 1966. Where those ranks still exist, their incumbents usually act as embassy section chiefs or Deputy Chief of Mission (deputy to the Ambassador).
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Modern diplomats
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Bilateral diplomacy
In modern diplomatic practice there are a number of diplomatic ranks below Ambassador. Since most missions are now headed by an Ambassador, these ranks now rarely indicate a mission's (or its host nation's) relative importance, but rather reflect the diplomat's individual seniority within their own nation's diplomatic career path and in the diplomatic corps in the host nation:
Ambassador
Minister
Minister-Counselor
Counselor
First Secretary
Second Secretary
Third Secretary
Attaché
Assistant Attaché
In the United States Foreign Service, a system of personal ranks is applied which roughly corresponds to these diplomatic ranks. Personal ranks are differentiated as "Senior Foreign Service" (SFS) or "Foreign Service Officer" (FSO). The SFS ranks, in descending order, are Career Ambassador, awarded to career diplomats with extensive and distinguished service; Career Minister, the highest regular senior rank; Minister-Counselor; and Counselor. In U.S. terms, these correspond to 4-, 3-, 2- and 1-star General and Flag officers in the military, respectively. Officers at these ranks may serve as Ambassadors and the most senior positions in diplomatic missions. FSO ranks descend from FS-1, equivalent to a full Colonel in the military, to FS-9, the lowest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service personnel system. (Most FSOs begin at the FS-5 or FS-6 level.) Personal rank is distinct from and should not be confused with the diplomatic or consular rank assigned at the time of appointment to a particular diplomatic or consular mission. In a large mission, several Senior Foreign Service Officers may serve under the Ambassador as Minister-Counselors, Counselors, First Secretaries, and Attaches; in a small mission, an FS-2 may serve as the lone Minister-Counselor of Embassy.
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Multilateral diplomacy
Furthermore, outside this traditional pattern of bilateral diplomacy, as a rule on a permanent residency basis (though sometimes doubling elsewhere), certain ranks and positions were created specifically for multilateral diplomacy:
A permanent representative is the equivalent of an ambassador, normally of that rank, but accredited to an international body (mainly by member - and possibly observer states), not to a head of state.
A resident representative (or sometimes simply representative) is the equivalent - in rank and privileges - of an ambassador, but accredited by an international organization (generally a United Nations Agency, or a Bretton Woods Institution) to a country's government. The resident representative typically heads the country office of that international organization within that country.
A special ambassador is a government's specialist diplomat in a particular field, not posted in residence, but often traveling around the globe.
The U.S. Trade Representative is a diplomat of cabinet rank, in charge of U.S. delegations in multilateral trade negotiations (since 1962).
The UN Secretary General personally mandates Special Envoys for a particular field, e.g. Africa's long-term AIDS-problem, or ad hoc as for a (civil) war zone; states, especially (regional) superpowers, may do the same, e.g.:
To help with the Northern Ireland peace process, the United States has appointed a Special Envoy to Northern Ireland with the diplomatic rank of Ambassador. As of 2006, the position was occupied by Mitchell Reiss.
During the 2006 democracy movement in Nepal, India sent Karan Singh, who is related to royalty in both predominantly Hindu countries, as Special Envoy to neighbouring Nepal.
In 2005, Belgium created a former cabinet member, Pierre Chevalier Special Envoy of the OSCE presidency - in fact ahead of its 2006 turn as rotatory Chairman-in-Office of the organisation - to mediate in the Gazprom natural gas-pipeline crisis involving Russia, Ukraine and the EU.
The EU appoints various Special Representatives (some regional, some thematic); e.g. in 2005 - as a response to events in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan - the Council of the EU appointed Jan Kubis as its "Special Representative for Central Asia".
A case sui generis is the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Consular counterpart
Formally the consular career (ranking in descending order: Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, Consular Agent; equivalents without any type of immunity include Honorary Consul General, Honorary Consul, and Honorary Vice Consul) forms a different hierarchy. (Other titles, including "Vice Consul-General", have existed in the past.) Consular titles may be used concurrently with diplomatic titles if the individual is assigned to the embassy. At a separate consular post, the official will have only a consular title.
Consular officers render a wide range of services to private citizens, enterprises, et cetera. They can be more numerous since diplomatic missions are posted only in a nation's capital, while consular officials are stationed in various other cities as well. However, it is not uncommon for individuals to be transferred from one hierarchy to the other, and for consular officials to serve in a capital carrying out strictly consular duties within the 'consular section' of a diplomatic post, e.g. within an embassy.
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