Diplomacy and Family Life: Co-Existence or Burden?
Diplomacy and Family Life: Co-Existence or Burden?

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with diplomatic families from a non-career diplomat perspective. It is based on author’s master’s thesis and it reflects her eleven years of experience living abroad, being non-career diplomat as well as accompanying spouse. Then there are also countless hours of conversations with people sharing the experiences of living abroad as diplomats, together with their families. Significant part of her life was dedicated to diplomacy, which caught interest ever since stepping in for the first time into Slovenian Foreign Ministry. Hence a deep respect towards diplomatic core and everyone involved in it. Among those, in accordance with firm believe, are not only diplomats but also all those, rather often overlooked persons, who are indirectly connected to a diplomacy and diplomats. These are diplomatic families who form the main research subject of this paper. Last but not least, by comparing personal observations and of the author’s peers with the foreign literature, the article depicts some authors, mainly from United States and England, where diplomacy has much deeper roots and experiences compared to her country. Working in foreign countries and with them related stories of diplomatic families, their experiences, their efforts for being recognised firstly abroad and later back in their home countries, facing with the new environments regardless of the country with many other challenges, all these are forming the basis of this paper. What is just listed here and is common among career diplomats and they demonstrate more adaptability, the same cannot be stated for non-career diplomats. For them it is a web of completely new experiences, which rather often dictate their destiny in private life as well as in professional. Therefore, it is no surprise that during times abroad, chances to meet families who have really grown into diplomacy, as well as to meet families who had rather bitter experiences, could be based on their false expectations together with the lack of preparedness for their new lives.

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