Persuasion --- I don't think the difference lies in the use of persuasion. Persuasion is not a goal, is a means to an end (leading someone to the conclusion you wish them to arrive to).

I think that the main difference between a politician and a diplomat is the agenda: a politician serves a given government, a given party; whereas a diplomat serves his country, notwithstanding political parties/governments. Of course their goals may cross and do cross, sometimes more often than others, but what mainly differentiates them is the agenda, not the tools they use to attain those goals.

Source author: Liliana Oliva Bernal loliva@sre.gob.mx