A Minister is a true diplomat (not merely consular) accredited by one sovereign state to another who ranks below an ambassador. This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ... This article discusses states as sovereign political entities. ... For other uses, see Ambassador (disambiguation). ...
A Minister Plenipotentiary (usually just referred to as a Minister) is a diplomatic representative with plenipotentiary powers (i.e. full authority to represent the ruler of his state), but ranking below an ambassador. At one time (until well into the 20th century), full ambassadors were only sent by powerful states to other powerful states and most diplomatic representatives to and from less powerful states were Ministers Plenipotentiary. The term plenipotentiary (from the Latin, plenus + potens, full + power) refers to a person who has full powers. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
As most legations are now embassies, reflecting the post-imperialist (UN) doctrine of equality of sovereign states, contemporary Ministers nearly only act as Embassy section chiefs
Of the four diplomatic ranks, only the ambassador represents the head of state (rather than the government as is the case for the other ranks); originally only the ambassador was entitled to use the honorary title "His/Her Excellency".
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.
Consequently the use of the ranks of envoy and minister resident gradually ceased, and for all intents and purposes the only permanent diplomatic rank used today is that of the ambassador.
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