ABSTRACT
This chapter helps readers understand supranational and subnational challenges to traditional forms of diplomatic representation. It explains the main sources of diplomatic influence, describes their application in practice, and discusses their advantages and shortcomings. The chapter also discusses the opportunities and challenges that digital diplomacy creates for Ministries of Foreign Affairs. It examines why supranational and subnational challenges are gaining increased diplomatic relevance and what needs to be done to address them. The chapter probes how diplomatic training currently takes place and what aspects diplomatic curricula need to take into account in order to prepare diplomats for service in the twenty-first century. While raison de systeme challenges the substance of state-centric principles of diplomatic representation, paradiplomacy questions the type of agency to provide diplomatic representation. The key feature to distinguish paradiplomacy from traditional forms of diplomatic intercourse is the notion of non-central yet governmental agency of diplomatic representation.
