On Homo-Diplomacy

Abstract

This article explores alternative cultures of diplomacy that have been neglected in diplomatic studies and global politics. It is concerned firstly with the human dimension of diplomacy, that is to say, the interpersonal dealings of the homo sapiens, or the experimental and experiential diplomacy of everyday life. It is concerned secondly with the spiritual and transformative potential of diplomacy, a form of diplomacy that engages in heterology to revisit and rearticulate homology, whose mission is not only, not just, the knowledge and control of the Other but fundamentally the knowledge of the Self and this knowledge of the Self as a more reflective means of dealing with and transforming relations with Others. The article examines three specific functions of homo-diplomacy: reverse accreditation, introspective negotiation, and gnostic discourse.