This collection of essays, from leading scholars and serving diplomats, examines the diplomatic corps as an institution of international society. The central argument is that the diplomatic corps provides one of the few unambiguous ways by which an international society is constituted and finds expression.

The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy provides a detailed analysis of how post-apartheid South Africa has participated in multilateral diplomacy in a variety of sub-regional, regional and international settings during the last decade. The book will interest scholars interested in multilateralism and South African foreign policy.

The European Diplomatic Corps argues that diplomats comprise a transnational network of experts or 'epistemic community' which has been critical in determining co-operation or non-co-operation among European states. The cases considered are the congresses of Westphalia (1648), Berlin (1878), Paris (1919) and Maastricht (1992).

After 9/11, which triggered a global debate on public diplomacy, 'PD' has become an issue in most countries. This book joins the debate. Experts from different countries and from a variety of fields analyze the theory and practice of public diplomacy. They also evaluate how public diplomacy can be successfully used to support foreign policy.

Essence of Diplomacy explores the essential, timeless features of diplomacy, drawing on the historical record of over three millennia. In their effort at making international relations (IR) theory relevant to diplomacy, and diplomacy relevant to IR theory, the authors identify three essential dimensions of diplomacy: communication, representation and the reproduction of international society.

What role, if any, does the foreign ministry perform in contemporary world politics? Is the argument that it is in a state of terminal decline accurate or rooted in only partial understandings of its changing character? Foreign Ministries in the European Union explores this theme in the context of the EU where foreign ministry has played a key role in the development of integration but where its role is increasingly questioned. The contributors examine the foreign ministry in thirteen member states and draw conclusions that challenge some conventional wisdoms.

The International Thought of Herbert Butterfield brings together material from Butterfield's previously unpublished papers and a critical commentary from two leading Butterfield scholars: Paul Sharp and Karl Schweizer. They recover Butterfield's contribution to international thought.

While diplomacy is a well-established topic for study, global governance is a relatively new arrival to the conceptual landscape of international relations. At first glance the two exist in separate worlds. This book examines the relationship between these two concepts for the first time in a comprehensive manner.

This book analyzes ways how three fringe players of the modern diplomatic order - the Holy See, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and the EU - have been accommodated within that order, revealing that the modern diplomatic order is less state-centric than conventionally assumed and is instead better conceived of as a heteronomy.

Why is France so often relegated to the background in studies of international relations? This book seeks to redress this balance, exploring the relationship between the United States, United Kingdom and France, and its wider impact on the theory and practice of international relations.