Flags in history and protocol E-Book

Jean-Claude Meyer

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 198

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The objective of this concise book is widder than just explaining the protocol of flags per se. A more basic question is often set aside, namely why should one pay any attention on how to place or how to treat flags? We all understand the attention paid to heads of States or governments in protocol. Flags however are basically nothing more than a piece of coloured tissue fixed to a pole. The book, after defining the term “flag”, summarizes the origin and the development of flags, as well as their possible subdivisions in order to be able address their emotional power which makes that they are more than just a piece of tissue fixed to staff poles in the eyes of the wider public. The basic rules regarding the protocol of flags are presented once their psychological importance established. The question of the protection given to flags - both regarding to their design and to their dignity - as well as the consequences of the violation of the latter is the closing chapter. The work is illustrated by pictures and stories selected randomly, mostly coming out of a European context, to underscore the everyday relevance of the points presented.

Leseprobe

Flags in history and protocol

by

Jean-Claude Meyer

Books on Demand

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to various lecturers at the International School of Protocol in Brussels, who inspired and supported my interest in the subject in 2010.

My thanks also go to my spouse, Mrs Fiona Meyer-Estrada, for her patience as well as for her critical but valuable support.

All opinions expressed, and errors, in this book are my own.

Preface

The aim of this book is wider than just explaining the protocol of flags per se. Carlos Fuente Lafuente and Louis Dussault explain the protocol of flags in detail in their books.1 The information given on governmental as well as various vexillology websites confirm their views.2

A more basic question is often set aside, namely why one should pay any attention to how flags are placed or are cared for? We all understand (by and large) the attention given to heads of states or governments. Apart from the general politeness every human being is entitled to, they are the representatives of a wider human assembly, i.e. a nation. Flags however are basically nothing more than a piece of coloured tissue fixed to a pole.

The book is structured in six chapters. After defining the term “flag” in chapter one, chapter two summarizes their origin and their development. Chapter three presents the possible subdivisions of public flags in order to be able to address in chapter four their emotional power, which makes that they are more than just a piece of tissue fixed to staff poles. Their psychological importance established, the basic rules regarding the protocol of flags are presented as well as some underlying general rules made more explicit in chapter five. The question of the protection given to flags as well as the consequences of the violation of their dignity is the closing chapter.

The work is illustrated by pictures and stories selected randomly, mostly coming out of a European context.

1   See FUENTE LAFUENTE Carlos, Event protocol. Techniques for Organising Events (I), Colección Área de formación, Edicions Protocole, Madrid, 2007, pp 231–277 / DUSSAULT Louis (1), Le Protocole. Instrument de communication, 2nd ed, Protos, Montréal, 2003, pp 447–491. This book has been translated into Chinese, Rumanian and Vietnamese. I am going to use extensively the illustrations for flag arrangements contained in both books.

2   See footnotes 9 and 11

Table of contents

Acknowledgement

Preface

Table of illustrations

Chapter I. Definitions of flags

Chapter II History of flags

II.1. First mention

II.2. The emergence of “national flags”

II.3. The emergence of “supra-national flags”

II.4. Conclusion

Chapter III Categorization of flags

III.1. Various kinds of flags

Private flags

Utilitarian flags

Public flags

III.2. How to categorize “public” flags?

Categorization according to the history

Categorization according to their designs

Categorization by symbols

Categorization by colours

Categorization according to their proportions

III.3. Basic rules for designing a flag

III.4. Conclusion

Chapter IV What makes a flag so powerful?

IV.1. Flags as a way of representing a nation

IV.2. Flags as a way of identifying a group

IV.3. Flags as a way of identifying with an idea

IV.4. What makes a flag powerful?

IV.5. The power of flags demonstrated by their desecration

IV.6. Conclusion

Chapter V Protocol of flags

V.1. General remarks

V.2. Rules for state flags

Precedence to the right, but which right?

One flag

Two flags

Three flags

Four flags and more

Other arrangements than linear ones

V.3. Rules for international organizations

Preliminary remarks

United Nations

European Union

Some other international organizations

V.4. Rules of precedence

Amongst states

Within states

Amongst international organizations

V.5. Some selected additional considerations

Flags and media

Two separate group of countries

Non-public flags

V.6. Conclusion

Chapter VI The responsibility of states

VI.1. Protection of the designs of flags

VI.2. The consequences of not respecting flag protocol

VI.3. Conclusion

Chapter VII Conclusions

Annexe I - Parts of a flag

Annexe II - Basic vocabulary of flags

Annexe III - Designs of flags

Annexe IV - National flags of the world

Bibliography

Table of illustrations

Figure 1 - Changes in national flags

Figure 2 - Flags as colour pie charts

Figure 3 - Comparative flag sizes

Figure 4 - Flag burning

Figure 5 - Flag insult

Figure 6 - New draft Iraqi flag

Figure 7 - Flag arrangements inside the EU Council building (a)

Figure 8 - Flags at half-staff

Figure 9 - Latvian flag with incorrect proportions

Figure 10 - Wrong Chinese flags

Figure 11 - United Kingdom flag upside-down (a)

Figure 12 - United Kingdom flag upside-down (b)

Figure 13 - European Union flags upside-down

Figure 14 - Flags in the Secretariat of the Western European Union

Figure 15 - Placement arrangements for one flag

Figure 16 - Various possible flag arrangements within a room

Figure 17 - Horizontal arrangements for one flag

Figure 18 - Hanging a flag over a street

Figure 19 - Portuguese flag displayed

Figure 20 - Arrangements for two flags (a)

Figure 21 - Arrangements for two flags (b)

Figure 22 - Arrangements for two flags plus

Figure 23 - Rules of precedence flags versus persons (a)

Figure 24 - Rules of precedence flags versus persons (b)

Figure 25 - Arrangements for two flags (c)

Figure 26 - Balanced/unbalanced flag arrangement (a)

Figure 27 - Balanced/unbalanced flag arrangement (b)

Figure 28 - Exceptional flag arrangement for a bilateral meeting

Figure 29 - Arrangements for two

Figure 30 - Arrangements for three flags (a)

Figure 31 - Arrangements for three flags (b)

Figure 32 - Arrangements for three flags, including the EU flag (a)

Figure 33 - Arrangements for three flags, including the EU flag (b)

Figure 34 - Arrangement for four flags (a)

Figure 35 - Arrangement for five flags

Figure 36 - Arrangement for six flags

Figure 37 - Arrangement for four flags (b)

Figure 38 - Arrangement for four flags (c)

Figure 39 - Flags in semicircles

Figure 40 - Flags in V-shape

Figure 41 - Flags in square or circle formation

Figure 42 - Flags in linear formations

Figure 43 - Arrangements for the UN flag (a)

Figure 44 - Arrangements for the UN flag (b)

Figure 45 - Arrangements for the UN flag (c)

Figure 46 - National flag arrangement with EU flag

Figure 47 - Flag arrangement in Hingene (BE)

Figure 48 - Media considerations in flag arrangements (a)

Figure 49 - Media considerations in flag arrangements (b)

Figure 50 - Media considerations in flag arrangements (c)

Figure 51 - Two separate groups of flags (a)

Figure 52 - Two separate groups of flags (b)

Figure 53 - Flag arrangement in Saint-Vith (BE)

Figure 54 - Flag arrangement inside the EU Council building (b)

Chapter I. Definitions of flags

The political science dictionaries I consulted did not mention the word “flag”3 strangely enough. One exception was the dictionary edited by Jean-Paul Ancracio, who however, instead of defining what a flag is, just establishes a distinction with regard to the “pavilion”.4 The only book I found in the social science section of the university library at the Université Libre de Bruxelles entirely dedicated to flags5 was placed in the subsection dealing with nationalism/nation states.

However, one has more chances to find the mentioning of “flags” in international public law books. The Dictionnaire de droit international public edited by Professor Jean Salmon distinguishes between two types of flags, namely:

A. Roll of tissue attached to a pole, carrying the colours, the emblems of a state, a nation, an international organization or a grouping, and adopted like their distinctive sign. It is carried by the weapons, raised on the public buildings of the state, its embassies, its permanent missions, consulates and representations to the international organizations. For the ships, it takes usually the name of pavilion (…).

B. Piece of tissue attached to a pole with certain characteristics or without any signs at all and employed to make signals or to distinguish a special mission. One speaks thus about a white flag (…).6 (my translation)

Another definition is the following:

FLAG(or "Flagge," a common Teutonic word in this sense, but apparently first recorded in English), a piece of bunting or similar material, admitting of various shapes and colours, and waved in the wind from a staff or cord for use in display as a standard, ensign or signal. The word may simply be derived onomatopoeically, or transferred from the botanical "flag"; or an original meaning of "a piece of cloth" may be connected with the 12th-century English "flage," meaning a baby's garment; the verb "to flag," i.e. droop, may have originated in the idea of a pendulous piece of bunting, or may be connected with the O. Fr. flaguir, to become flaccid.7

A similar word is “emblem”, in the sense that state emblems are

symbolic figures or signs which are reproduced on the flag or on a badge like a characteristic sign of the state (my translation).8

Many international organizations also adopt an emblem and a flag, both being mostly identical. See for example the signs/emblems of the United Nations or the European Union, which one finds on their publications as well as on their flags.

Law books contain often articles dealing directly or indirectly with flags as protected emblems, or mentioned within a specific context, for example jus in belli or methods of warfare, maritime law, armed forces etc. (see chapter VI).

One can also find a lot of information about flags on the Internet, either by finding electronic copies of printed articles or through information contained on various vexillology websites.9 The quality of information contained therein can however vary, depending on the sites.10 Some governmental and nongovernmental websites may give detailed information.11

3   McLEAN Iain, McMILLAN Alistair, Oxford concise dictionary of politics, 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, 2009, 599p / MOKHTAR Lakehal, Dictionnaire de science politique, 2nd ed, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2005, 422p / SANDHAL Pierre, de BEA Louise, Dictionnaire politique et diplomatique, Librairie technique, without a date, Paris, 193p

4   PANCRACIO Jean-Paul, Dictionnaire de la Diplomatie, Editions Micro Buss, 1998, p 232

5   ERIKSEN Thomas Hylland, JENKINS Richard (ed), Flag, nation and symbolism in Europe and America, Routledge, London and New York, 2007, 193p

6   SALMON Jean (Ed) (1), Dictionnaire de droit international public, Bruylant, Bruxelles, 2001, “A. Pièce d’étoffe attachée à une hampe et portant les couleurs, les emblèmes d’un Etat, d’une nation, d’une organisation internationale ou d’un groupement et adoptée comme leur signe distinctif. Il est porté par les armes, arboré sur les bâtiments publics de l’Etat, de ses ambassades, de ses missions permanentes, consulats et représentations auprès des organisations internationales. Pour les navires, il prend habituellement le nom de pavillon (…) B. Pièce d’étoffe attachée à une hampe avec certains signes distinctifs ou sans signe du tout et employée pour faire des signaux ou pour distinguer une mission spéciale. On parle ainsi de drapeau blanc (…) “, p 367

7   “Flag” (1) quoted in http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Flag

8   SALMON Jean (ed) (1), op cit., p 421

9   Such as: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags / http://www.ralfstelter.de / http://www.fiav.org/FIAV.html / http://www.flaggenlexikon.de/ http://www.flaggenkunde.de/

10  See the warnings on the quality of the information’s found in NELSON Philip L, “The Cybervexillology problem” in Articles from NAVA News and RAVEN, North American Vexillological Association, 2001

11  Such as: http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/honours/7125.aspx#how / http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia/national_flag.php / http://www.chinaflagfoundation.org/en/about.htm / http://www.flagaustnat.asn.au/default.php / http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/etiqtt/index-eng.cfm, http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html

Chapter II History of flags

II.1. First mention

If a “flag” is considered by its purpose, namely being a rallying sign or a sign of identification, some authors go back in history as far as the Egyptians, the Assyrians or the first Jews to trace its origin. However, one is then mostly talking of symbols or objects.12 The oldest flag or symbol that is known seems to be a metallic standard found in what is now Iran, and dating back 5.000 years.13

The first reference to the use of objects for identifying an assembly, a military unit, notable persons, or goods, seems to date back to 550 BC in the Ancient Egypt.14 The symbol for the Pharaoh was the hawk, an allusion to the good Horus. Assyrian soldiers carried representations of a bullock. Roman military units carried first representations of an Eagle as their symbol.15

Many sources quote different dates when the first description was recorded of a fabric flag. One source puts the first description of flags as having been done by Greek authors at the end of the 5th century BC.16 Another source quotes a painting on a wall in a Samnite colony in Southern Italy dating 400 BC.17 It seems that devices and ornaments figured already on the sails of Egyptian or Assyrian ships.18 The Old Testament contains various references to flags. When Moses assembled and brought the twelve tribes out of Egypt, each of the twelve gathered under its flag, on which an image was painted, mostly images of animal deities.19

The Romans used also symbols for their army units, the legions. Their cavalry units carried a rectangular banner, the vexillum, hanging from a piece of wood fixed cross-wise.20 From this word derives the word “Vexillology”, namely the study of flags.21 Fabric flags were later also used by the Christian Roman emperors,22 sometimes just suspended, as modern flags are, on a staff to one side.23

The habit of carrying standards or ensign seems to have travelled from the Middle East via India to China where however their design was transformed. The Chinese flags, made out of silk, were easier to colour and they waved more in the wind than the heavy tissue of the Vexillum, therefore making a bigger impression on the observer.24 The first cloth flags, light, large, coloured, enduring and fixed to a stick, seem to have originated from China starting at 100 BC, where they were used for military but also for religious purposes.25 The colours used were associated with philosophical or religious concepts.26

However, it is questionable if one can speak at that time already of flags in the modern meaning of the word.

Although similar in some functions to modern flags, these devices were all portable devices and not flown from flagpoles. In consequence, flags in their modern sense were still to be invented.27

The use of flags really seems to have taken off around the 11th century with the Crusades.28 One reads that the Prophet Mohammed used first a black flag before the colour green took over. However, the Arabs also adapted the design - colours and inscriptions - of their flags to specific individuals or dynasties, while at the same time trying to establish a link through association with the Prophet Mohammed.29

The Arab world contributed significantly to the modern flag tradition by inventing cloth flags with greater adaptability. (…) Associating colours with dynasties and/or individual leaders reinforced the particular ethos of a political identity and later became the basis for all modern flags.30

Flags were often used to identify soldiers on the battlefield. The first sign used by the crusaders was a cross, whose heritage can still be seen in some contemporary flags such as the flags of the Nordic countries. Once the crusaders became familiar with the use of flags in the Arab world, they brought them back with them to Europe where they started adorning the tops of their castles.31

The emergence of the “heraldry” during the Middle Ages in order to identify persons and family lines also led to the inclusion of the coats of arms onto the flags.32 Some state flag designs still bear witness of this. The ecclesiastics helped in the change in the 12th century of seals from being signs of identification of individuals to becoming signs of identification of entities. Afterwards the heraldic coats of arms became linked to specific territories.33 One can therefore trace back various national or state flags in Europe to the armorial or coloured flags used by the former ruling dynasties.

Flags also had throughout history an important function as rallying points around which military units could organize. This was particular important at times where there did not exist any standardised uniforms, which would have allowed to distinguish friend from foe. Consequently, one does not speak in these cases of flags, but of “colours”.34

In the 16th century, the need for signal systems at sea, as well as the organization of larger armies, brought with it the emergence of two types of flags, the ones with simpler designs and the ones with more elaborated designs with armorial bearings.35

II.2. The emergence of “national flags”

Flags, besides representing states, were used more often to identify the reigning houses, as monarchies dominated largely as the form of state organization until the end of the First World War. However, some flags already started to emerge as a means of identification of nations. One thinks of the French tricolour, reduced and popularised via the ‘tricolour cockade’ adopted during the French Revolution of 1789, the flag of the United States of America or the German tricolour at end of the 18th, early 19th century.36

Thus, if we understand the ‘nation’ as having developed after 1789 we must conclude that ‘national’ symbols as such did not exist in earlier times. This does not mean that pre-modern communalities had no need to employ symbols in order to represent their societies. On the contrary, symbols that indicate belonging to a community constitute a ubiquitous feature of social life and are not exclusive to nations. However, early symbolic devices were not indicative of nationality in its modern sense, and, even if pre-modern loyalties did exist, it is premature to talk about nations in the middle Ages.37

Thus the national flag appears as a statement of the ‘modern’ mass-participant nation of citizens, illustrating people’s desire to express a new kind of ‘sameness’, nationhood and citizenship. More correctly, national flags emerge after having been selected and established by nation-states, nations without states and states without nations. Elites in pursuit of state power play an essential role in this process. However, many flags survived over time and only managed to do so because of their support from and resonance with the people.38

If flags are linked to the nation they represent, they are not necessarily everlasting. Flags of countries can change over time. As it can happen when countries undergo profound changes, such as revolutions, see the changes to the Libyan flag in August 2011, or internal changes, see the changes to the flag of Myanmar in October 2012.39 The fact that some flags have been changed over time by the states which they represent confirms the view that flags are linked to an identity (see chapter IV) and change with it. The same holds true regarding the flags of newly created countries, either through decolonisation or through secession, see the birth of South Sudan in July 2011, or from dismemberment of a multi-ethnic state, and who need to create themselves a new identity.

As an illustration, I choose at random some examples of flags from all continents from M Stelter’s website.40

Figure 1 - Changes in national flags

Remarkably, once new states are created and adopt a new flag, they often make use of old symbols or emblems.

All people want to feel their flags are ancient, (says Whitney Smith) even though the country may not be all that old.41

More unusual are the changes in the flag designs of international organizations after they undergo substantial changes. So it happened for example when the Organisation of African Unity became the African Union in 2002.42

This shows the need for event organizers to verify the flags of the countries that they are hosting, especially after revolutions or important constitutional changes, in order to avoid embarrassing the guests. One such awkward example took place in the White House, when the chief of protocol under President Bush sent:

a limousine to pick up the Benin ambassador with the Benin flag flying upside-down. That African country had just had a revolution and the flag was new. "We weren't sure which side it was. But he (the Ambassador) didn't mind," said Mr Ree”. 43

Other states, however, show a remarkable stability in their flag designs, which have not been changed since their independence or over the last centuries, as in the case of Denmark, whose flag design, despite going back to the 13th century, was only fixed as the national flag by law in 1854.44

For other states, the present colours of their flags go back to armorial flags, as in the case of Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, Sweden and Poland.45

II.3. The emergence of “supra-national flags”

With the emergence of international organizations, one assists also to the emergence of what I would qualify as “supranational” flags. Some are famous enough to identify an international organization worldwide, such as the flag of the United Nations. Other supranational flags are questioned, such as the flag of the European Union, which some quarter’s link to the emergence of a new European super-state.

The European Union flag traces its origins back to the flag adopted by the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France.46 The circle of 12 yellow stars on blue was drawn in 1955 for the Council of Europe, each star being in the position of a number on a clock-face.47 The design was adopted as the official flag of the European Community, as they were called then, by the European Council of Milan in 1985, and raised for the first time on May 29, 1986 in the Berlaymont building, the seat of the European Commission. It was the same year the European Communities reached by coincidence 12 member states.48 (see also chapter III.3, symbols). The number of stars remains unaltered in both organizations, despite expanding memberships. Nothing alerts you from confusing the European Union flag with the one of the Council of Europe and vice versa as they are identical (see chapter V.3, EU).

II.4. Conclusion

Flags, or tissues fixed to a pole or to a staff, as a means of identification are not a recent invention. The emergence of the nation state, based on the principal of popular sovereignty, versus the monarchy, based on the principal of personal sovereignty, helped to make flags more popular.

The novelty these last hundred years is the emergence of flags for international or supranational organizations. If these flags help the organization to be identified by the outside world, they do not have (yet?) the same power of emotional identification as national flags have.

Before discussing the subject of flags and its linked identity, the next chapter will first try to develop a classification of flags, and underline the diversity one finds when it comes to their designs and colours. However, this diversity always inextricably links the flag to the history of the state it represents.

12  “Flag” (1), op.cit.

13  “Drapeau” in http://www.eurodrapeau.com/drapeau/drapeau.php

14  Gabriella Elgenius in ERIKSEN Thomas Hylland, JENKINS Richard (ed), op cit, p 15

15  REICHARDT Hans, SCHURDEL Harry, Fahnen und Flaggen, Was ist Was, Band 75, Tessloff Verlag, 1998, p 4–5

16  “Drapeau”, op.cit.

17