The New Diplomacy: Evolution of a
Revolution
The continued rise of the non-state actor in
twenty-first century international politics issues a
potent challenge to state primacy in the area of
diplomacy. Diplomacy y’s statist tradition, once
the bedrock organizing institution for pursuing
international politics,is ceding influence to nonstate actors—the “new” diplomats—who have
displayed impressive skill at shaping policy
through means that foreign ministries fail to
grasp. To the chagrin of established scholars and
practitioners, this paper claims that nothing has
transpired to suggest the diplomatic profession is
doing anything but pluralizing. Furthermore, the
process by which the foreign ministry opens itself
to the public increasingly resides with the latter.
Does this revolution mean the evolution of the
“new diplomacy” has materialized? The contents
in the following pages suggest so, and the main
reason for this is built upon a radical view of
agency: the age of diplomacy as an
institution is giving way to an age of diplomacy
as behavior. Yet despite who dominates in the
art of influence, caveats remain and it appears
likely that each side will need the other to
achieve successful statecraft in the years to
come.