Career diplomats" and political appointees[edit]
Though any person can be appointed by a state's national Government to conduct said state's relations with other state(s) or international organization(s), a number of states maintain an institutionalized group of career diplomats—that is, public servants with a steady professional connection to the country's foreign ministry. The term "career diplomat" is used world-widely[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] in opposition to political appointees (that is, people from any other professional backgrounds who may equally be designated by an official government to act as a diplomat abroad).[10][11] While officially posted to an embassy or delegation in a foreign country or accredited to an international organization, both career diplomats and political appointees enjoy the same diplomatic immunities.