bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1991) — Summer 1991 // Été 1991, p. 16
As one of bout de papier’s supporters and contributors, from time to time I am asked why PAFSO’s quarterly was given its distinctive name.
The first PAFSO reference to bout appears to be a statement in the President’s Report to PAFSO’s Annual General Meeting held in December 1972. It said: “Communication with the membership evidently needs to be intensified and the Executive recently decided to supplement Aide Memoire (to be henceforth reserved for the more elaborate type of article) with a bout de papier in the form of a monthly newsletter conveying to members, particularly those abroad, information about current developments in the public service bargaining field and in the activities of the Association…”
The first issue of bout came out in March 1973, and it bore little resemblance to the handsome publication we know today. It began with the following statement on page 1: “This issue of bout de papier is the first of what will hopefully become a monthly publication. It will contain regular reports on PAFSO activities, including highlights of Executive Committee meetings and progress accounts from the various subcommittees…. It is also intended that there be an exchange of ideas and members are urged to make a contribution in the form of articles or suggestions…
PAFSO’s pre-existing publication, Aide Memoire, was later incorporated into bout de papier, and bout subsequently began to be published quarterly, as it is today. Somewhere along the line, the upper case B of bout and P of papier were lowered and, for the past eight years, we have had bout de papier.
But why the title?
The English translation, “a scrap of paper”, provides little guide. In earlier years in External, that phrase, a “bout de papier”, was commonplace, as it may well be today. Your Head of Division might ask you to prepare a short, informal paper outlining, say, the pros and cons of Canada joining the Organization of American States. You would set forth the factors for and against, but without regard — at that stage — to what form your paper might ultimately take. It might become a Memorandum for the Under- Secretary, or for the Minister, or for Cabinet. It might become a Circular Despatch to posts, seeking their comments, or simply a memorandum to headquarters divisions. It might become an internal discussion paper, or end up as a Green Paper or a White Paper, or even an Aide Memoire or a Note Verbale. But at the preliminary drafting stage it was just a modest thing, a “scrap of paper.”
The phrase, bout de papier, has acquired a rather special and different meaning. It may be, for example, an unofficial or personal adjunct to an oral diplomatic communication with a representative of another government. When, say, an embassy official arranges an interview at the local foreign ministry, that individual may have typed a brief note on a plain piece of paper to assist his memory in covering the required points. At the end of the meeting, as a courtesy, the officer may leave this paper — which is much more informal than an Aide Memoire and bears no attribution – with the interlocutor to ensure that there will be no doubt about the points made. It is thus both a personal courtesy and a practical convenience, although neither side can claim it has any official status.
Satow’s Guide to Diplomatic Practice gives the example of a conference about to founder on the apparent inability of either side to move towards a mutually agreeable formula. One side may have worked out a proposition which it cannot officially propose, but which it could agree to recommend for its government’s consideration if the other side were to advance it. An anonymous bout de papier might say “If you felt able to propose … I should then be prepared to try it on my Government”
Thus, a bout de papier clearly is not a formal diplomatic document. It is likely to be written in a friendly and probably more intimate style in which the author feels free to outline possible views quite frankly. It can be a vehicle for trying out an idea on the representative of another government, in a quite informal way, and without commitment. As the title for a publication, bout de papier implies that its readers are members of an extended family, who can talk frankly with one another. It is not quite the same as a non-paper, in which a diplomat might float an idea which if unacceptable, could then subsequently be disclaimed, or in which informal thoughts are conveyed with a wink and a nudge, so to speak.
In choosing the elusive title, bout de papier nearly two decades ago, PAFSO’s directors and bout’s editors provided the flexibility needed to write about the arcane world of diplomacy both from the point of view of its practitioners as well as of its critics and historians. This has enabled bout to develop into the magnificent prize-winning quarterly it has become today.
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1991) — Summer 1991 // Été 1991, p. 16. Read the rest of this issue →
