It has become almost conventional wisdom that foreign ministries and traditional diplomacy are 19th-century anachronisms. In a hyperconnected, globalised world, ambassadors and even foreign ministers may seem about as useful as a horse and carriage. But while the golden age of foreign ministers may have passed, foreign ministries remain vital departments of state.
It is true that nowadays there are many more ways of communicating and gathering information about the outside world. It is also true that prime ministers and presidents are increasingly centralising crucial elements of foreign policy in their own hands. In recent years, Japan, China and the UK have all set up national security councils — centred around the prime minister or president’s office. Foreign ministers are more outer than inner circle.
It is also easy to judge modern foreign ministers as lacking the stature of the “greats” that the 1815 Vienna Congress helped to create. We see no Charles de Talleyrand-Périgord for France, no Dean Acheson for the US, no Willy Brandt for Germany and no Lord Carrington for the UK.