State of The Art Para-Diplomacy: A Systematic Mapping Studies and a Bibliometric Analysis VOS Viewer in Scopus Database

Abstract

Purpose: This article examines state of the art or the most recent achievements of Para-diplomacy research in international relations. For this reason, the systematic mapping studies (SMS) and the bibliometric analysis VOS Viewer carried out stared at articles from 1984 to 2020, as comparison bibliographic articles from countries in the Scopus database. Methods: Preliminary analysis was conducted from systematic mapping studies followed by bibliometrics of publication content in the Scopus database. A total of 175 documents met the criteria for inclusion, starting in 1984, and the dominant author from Europe in journal Scopus Q1 and other well-known international journals. The data from the search results are then descriptively analyzed based on the journal-title, author, co-author, year of publication country, affiliation, keywords, journal /publication name. Results: Researchers from American countries were more productive than Europe and fewer in Asia from 1984 to 2021. As far as paper European document quality is concerned, American governments have significantly more author quality than Asian countries. Conclusion: Although fewer Para-diplomacy articles are published by researchers from Asian countries than Europe and America, this is a challenge for Asian researchers. The increase in the number of publications over the last ten years has shown that the turmoil of sub-state actors in Asian countries has begun to consider implementing regional Para-diplomacy. This is due to a strong push for regional progress to open wide-ranging cooperation, either directly or indirectly, with other countries/regions to strengthen the objectives of state sovereignty.

Received: 16 June 2021 / Accepted: 20 January 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022