Caterina Carta is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

This book is the first to comprehensively examine the institutional dynamics that characterize the diplomatic system set up by the European Communities and the European Union - currently the foremost experiment in non-state diplomacy. It analyses European Union Diplomatic Service's work on foreign policy and external economic relations, both in Brussels and in the Commission's Delegations across the world.

Introduction: The Puzzle of Non-State Diplomatic Representation Part 1: Conceptualizing the EU Diplomatic System 1. The Diplomatic System of a Non-State Actor 2. The Commission: At the Heart of the External Service Part 2: A Diplomatic Service in the Making 3. Institution-Building: The Engineering of Diplomacy 4. Anatomy of the Commission's Diplomatic Service Part 3: The Actors in European Diplomacy 5. The Actors in the Commission's Diplomacy: Bureaucratic and Political Views 6. Who are 'We' in the International Arena? Part 4: Prospects for the Near Future 7. The European External Action Service: The Puzzle of a New Kind of Service. Conclusions: Sailing the Diplomatic Sea - A Journey towards the Future