Who has more power: an ambassador or a consul?

Question

Hierarchy, government.

Answer 1

according to vienna convetion 1945 for diplomatic and cunsolate relations the ambassador is the cheif of mission , so

the consul is one of the staff working under the supervision of the ambassador,

Answer 2

Political Power: Ambassadors, because they represent their Presidents, Prime Ministers, etc. overseas, and they are the "speakers" of their governments.

A consul: has "power" if you want to see in that way, to legalize documents, permissions and other papers that would have effect to their citizens out of their countries

Answer 3

an ambassador, is the head of the embassy and all consulates;

Answer 4

Just a bit of peripheral historical background -- from a lay person, so none of this is gospel. I think the US consular and diplomatic services were separate until about World War Two. Now they aren't and as everyone has pointed out, the ambassador is superior to the consul and they are in the same service.

While formally the more powerful, where the ambassador is appointed in gratitude for political contributions or suchlike and knows little about the country he/she is posted to (do they still do that) and only cares for the prestige and the partying, then informally, the consuls may have more power than shows from looking at the organization chart. I seem to remember a certain ambassador in an Iberian country a bit over half a century ago who fit this mold. I understand the last straw was that he liked flipping spoons, and one day at a banquet flipped one into the décolletage of some posh minor royalty or suchlike, sitting opposite. This would not have been totally fatal, though it was not exactly elegant, but it was his attempted retrieval of the spoon with his bare hands that really tore it with the host country. In contrast the consular side of the mission at that time was performing very well, and dealt direct with the (none too savory-- you know the history of the peninsula!) chief of state on matters of substance.

So who had more power. I'd say the consuls (or more precisely the professional lower level diplomatic staff), and they got the ambassador sacked to boot, I believe, though this was never formally given as the reason for his precipitate departure.

Answer 5

Depends on whether you're applying for a visa, or not.