ABSTRACT
Evaluating the nature and role of diplomacy in the evolving patterns of world politics presents us with problems of conceptualization in the context of a transformational international environment. On the one hand diplomacy remains a relatively ignored and under-researched area of world politics whilst the demands for the key functions associated with it, such as communication and negotiation, have never been greater. In part this apparent paradox relates to the ways in which diplomacy is approached. Long regarded as a key institution of the states system (Bull 1977, Sharp 2009), diplomatic structures and processes have come to be associated with a state-centric image of world order whilst the demands posed by globalization, regionalization and localization favour alternative conceptualizations, notably that of global governance. Consequently diplomacy has either been ignored or, alternatively, redefined quite loosely in terms of activities associated with a broader range of actors (for example business diplomacy, NGO diplomacy, celebrity diplomacy etc.). As a result the character of diplomacy, where it occurs and who is engaged in it have become increasingly unclear.
