ABSTRACT
The 'paradiplomacy' neologism first appeared within the field of comparative political analysis of federated states' international involvement. Since then, the term has experienced a strange detour through empirical literature, 'post-modern' critical deconstruction of diplomacy, and finally recent theoretical dismissal. Meanwhile, the word paradiplomacy was enriched by the intertextuality which grew around it, becoming a polysemic concept. Nevertheless, if words still matter, the international involvement of non-central governments, in structurally complex modern states, should be more properly labelled 'post-diplomatic'. This is one more consequence of non-central governmental response to the contemporary process of the localization of international relations.
