démarche

plural démarches · alternative demarche

1. A diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse.
2. A diplomatic note without a personal attribution conveying an official protest or request for support, less formal than a bout de papier or a note verbale but of similar status to an aide-mémoire.

   A less formal way of making diplomatic representations or protests is called a démarche. The following from the US Department of State handbook sets out the typical procedures and purposes of a démarche.

   2009, Ivor Roberts, Satow's Diplomatic Practice, 6th edition, page 54

   2 more examples

   He did not question the Communist Party's conformity to Moscow, but he thought that the impact of a démarche would be limited since the Portuguese Communists could not afford to tone down their policies lest they be outflanked from the left.

   2012, Sotiris Rizas, The Rise of the Left in Southern Europe: Anglo-American Responses, unnumbered page

   The EU made a démarche on 16 April 2003 calling for the continuation of discussions regarding this so-called “follow-up mechanism”, but beyond the one-off meeting, the mechanism never took off and was soon forgotten due to staff changes within the EU bureaucracy.

   2014, Katrin Kinzelbach, The EU's Human Rights Dialogue with China: Quiet Diplomacy and Its Limits, page 99