Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Paul-André Ramseyer: une vie d'Ambassadeur

Paul-André Ramseyer, Etre et paraître : Une vie d'ambassadeur, Editions Slatkine, Paris, 2017, pp. 328, 29.00 CHF

"Il dit avoir trouvé son chemin de Damas en embrassant la diplomatie. Tant mieux pour lui et aussi pour nous qui pouvons nous régaler de ce livre.
Finesse, souplesse, capable d’humer la politique et d’observer les petits riens qui la font et la défont, le diplomate doit être un homme orchestre. Et notre Genevois Paul-André Ramseyer sait jouer de tous les instruments.
On sent, derrière le sang-froid de l’homme cultivé et affable, les sentiments qui brûlent, ses amis sont innombrables. Quant aux célébrités qu’il a rencontrées, elles rempliraient un annuaire. S’y côtoient des personnages aussi dissemblables que le Dalaï-Lama à l’éternel sourire, le trouble et cruel dictateur syrien Hafez el-Assad, le Prix Nobel mexicain Octavio Paz, poète aux styles inclassables, notre philosophe nationale au chignon serré Jeanne Hersch… tant d’autres encore.
L’Allemagne, l’Inde, l’Angleterre, le Mexique ; le Liban en 1984, sa première nomination au poste d’Ambassadeur ; le Liban des jours noirs au cours desquels il fut menacé de mort par le Hezbollah. Vinrent ensuite la Turquie, la Suède et la Pologne, son dernier poste, de 1999 à 2002.
L’Ambassadeur Paul-André Ramseyer est un homme qui aime le monde et surtout, qui aime son pays. C’est un citoyen au-dessus de tout soupçon. Délicieusement pistachées d’humour, ses Mémoires sont un vrai roman. (by Laurence Deonna)"

Monday, November 03, 2008

Jacques Rial's Book on Publications of Swiss diplomats


Jacques Rial, a retired Swiss diplomat, has published (in French) the book titled "Le Bicorne et la Plume: Les publications de diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours", which contains all data concerning publications of Swiss diplomats since 1848.

It is an extensive research that the author has conducted consulting catalogues of the main Swiss libraries and that has led to some surprising discoveries. For each author, Rial has provided a short biography of each author and the list of publications (both books and short essays). The book covers the editorial activities of 233 Swiss diplomats, with around 2000 bibliographical entries.

This book is included in the series "Diplomats as writers" by Diplofoundation. The first book has been "Through the Diplomatic Looking Glass", by S. Baldi and P. Baldocci, concerning books written by Italian diplomats.
Similar research has now been announced in other countries, especially in Latin America.

Jacques Rial was born in 1932 and Graduated in Literature in Geneva. From 1962-1967 he was a member of the UN Civil Operation in Congo. Rial enters the Swiss diplomacy in 1967 as head of Information in the Development Cooperation.
Secretary General of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO (1970-76). He has served in London and in The Hague. Ambassador in Yaoundé (1983), Montevideo (1988) and Zagreb (1992). Ambassador in charge for migration issues in Berne (1993).


Jacques Rial, Le Bicorne et la Plume: Les publications de diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours. (preface by Bénédict de Tscharner)
2008, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and DiploFoundation
Paperback, 240 pages. ISBN: 978-99932-53-19-8
Price: 20 Euros

For more information or to order this publication you can visit the Diplo Publications website:
(http://www.diplomacy.edu/Publications/display.asp?Topic=Books/LeBicorne)