Diplomacy of Non-State Armed Actors: A New Reality in International Relations?

Abstract

The current international system finds itself in a phase where foreign relations are shaped not only by the official governments of individual states but also by other, often diverse, actors. In particular and far more than ever, non-state actors have begun to establish foreign contacts through the same foreign policy tools and activities to increase their political, military, economic and ideological positions. However, despite this trend, the academic field lacks conceptualisation and research into the international activities of non-state armed actors in the current academic field. Hence, this study has the ambition to present a new conceptual approach to the ‘diplomacy’ of non-state armed actors; and initiate a debate in the field of International Relations in the context of the research question of whether we can consider the international activities of non-state armed actors as a new branch of diplomacy.