ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND ITS IMPACT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

International developments are driven by an impact on a number of economic, social, cultural and political factors - none more so than those relating to the processes and structures of the world economy. To what extent, if any, does the study of diplomacy have the analytical tools to highlight and explain major global economic developments such as regionalization, globalization, and economic development? This is a question often ignored by scholars of diplomacy but one which those who study International Relations (IR) are constantly confronting. Mainstream studies of diplomacy have traditionally approached international relations using realist and neorealist frameworks (see Lee and Hudson 2004) and this has determined both focus and approach, resulting in state-centric analyses of mainly political agendas. In recent years, however, there have been significant ontological and conceptual shifts in the study of diplomacy. Scholars have highlighted the necessity of understanding international relations outside the narrow state-centric security nexus