Jozef Bátora is Associate Professor, Director and Jean Monnet Chair at the Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Nik Hynek is Associate Professor at the Metropolitan University Prague, Comenius University in Bratislava and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Introduction 1. Social Scientific Conceptualizations of Diplomacy 2. Diplomacy as an Institution Embedded in Environments, Structures and Practices 3. Studying Liminality and Fringe Players in the Modern Diplomatic Order 4. The Holy See: Global Borderless Sovereignty and Double-Hatted Diplomats 5. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Extraordinary Resilience Meets the Chance 6. The European Union: Bending the Rules to Fit In 7. Conclusion - Liminality, Co-Existing Diplomatic Orders and the 'New' Diplomatic Heteronomy

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.