This paper analyzes the changing nature of diplomatic practices by looking at a new institution in this area: the European Union (EU). The EU is a rare case of a non-state actor endowed with a state-like diplomatic structure. Empirically, I focus on EU Delegations (diplomatic missions) in Canada and the US. The paper argues that in order to determine whether the EU contributes to redefining the boundaries of the diplomatic work, one should not focus on the practices of EU diplomats themselves, but rather, on the social representations held by other members of the diplomatic field: host country diplomats and civil servants, and those of European member states. Based on field interviews, the paper concludes that the EU functions as a second-order diplomacy, whose characteristics profoundly differ from state diplomacy. Hence it is not perceived as a challenge to the national monopoly over diplomatic practice.
