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Introduction: Non-state Diplomacy from Non-Western Perspectives
The primary ambition of this special issue of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy1
is to approach a certain segment of the diplomatic universe that has been heretofore
overlooked, and yet one could argue it is also more than ever pertinent to the effort to understand geopolitical and cultural impacts on governance in
contemporary diplomacy.2 The articles that form ‘Non-State Diplomacy from
Non-Western Perspectives’ are foremost joined by their challenge to two prevailing
tendencies in diplomatic studies scholarship: first, the interpretation of
non-Western practices through a predominantly Western lens; and, following
from this, that diplomatic action in these contexts is largely confined to state
institutions.
Each of the articles in this special issue applies exploratory lenses of ‘contextual
discovery’ to recalibrate foundational developments in the current diplomacy
scholarship through an empirical research conducted in non-Western
countries.3 Each article offers fresh findings from non-Western contexts to enrich
a growing body of literature that takes a ‘post-globalist’ approach to the
study of diplomacy.4 In doing so, the scholarship embraces complexities of
challenging co-existence among state and non-state actors in the field of international
relations. Two years in the making, this special issue expresses our
hope that — by drawing these perspectives into the light — we will be in a
much better position to meet this non-state/non-Western phenomenon with a
fuller appreciation of its manifestations.