The Chancery https://thechancery.report/ Event-driven reporting and analysis on diplomacy, statecraft and geopolitics. Daily briefings, weekly analysis, and long-form investigations. en-gb What a démarche is, and why the word keeps appearing https://thechancery.report/briefings/what-a-demarche-is/ https://thechancery.report/briefings/what-a-demarche-is/ Sun, 20 Sep 2026 08:15:00 +0100 Briefings The most-used and least-explained instrument in the diplomatic toolkit. The quiet architecture of the minilateral age https://thechancery.report/long-reads/architecture-of-the-minilateral-age/ https://thechancery.report/long-reads/architecture-of-the-minilateral-age/ Sun, 20 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100 Long Reads The great institutions of the post-war order are still standing. The work has moved somewhere else. How to read a joint communiqué https://thechancery.report/briefings/reading-a-communique/ https://thechancery.report/briefings/reading-a-communique/ Sat, 19 Sep 2026 17:40:00 +0100 Briefings The disagreements are visible if you know which words were fought over. Sanctions are judged on the wrong scoreboard https://thechancery.report/analysis/sanctions-two-scoreboards/ https://thechancery.report/analysis/sanctions-two-scoreboards/ Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:30:00 +0100 Analysis Coercive economic measures rarely change a government's mind. That is not the same as saying they fail. Persona non grata: the expulsion mechanism explained https://thechancery.report/briefings/persona-non-grata/ https://thechancery.report/briefings/persona-non-grata/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:05:00 +0100 Briefings Article 9 of the Vienna Convention lets a state remove a diplomat without giving any reason at all. The resident ambassador was supposed to be obsolete https://thechancery.report/analysis/resident-ambassador/ https://thechancery.report/analysis/resident-ambassador/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100 Analysis Leaders can call each other directly. Embassies kept growing anyway — and the reason is not sentiment. Minilateral: the word that explains the last decade https://thechancery.report/briefings/minilateral/ https://thechancery.report/briefings/minilateral/ Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Briefings Small, purpose-built groupings have quietly become the default unit of international cooperation. Chokepoints are a form of foreign policy https://thechancery.report/analysis/chokepoints/ https://thechancery.report/analysis/chokepoints/ Thu, 17 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100 Analysis Control of a narrow passage — physical or financial — increasingly does the work that alliances used to do. Memorandum, agreement, treaty: what actually binds https://thechancery.report/briefings/mou-vs-treaty/ https://thechancery.report/briefings/mou-vs-treaty/ Wed, 16 Sep 2026 14:20:00 +0100 Briefings The title on the cover page tells you almost nothing. The verbs inside tell you everything. What deterrence actually asks of a state https://thechancery.report/long-reads/what-deterrence-asks-of-you/ https://thechancery.report/long-reads/what-deterrence-asks-of-you/ Mon, 14 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100 Long Reads It is not a posture or a budget line. It is a claim about someone else's reasoning — and it can be true or false.