Like it or Not, You Are a Diplomat for Something
Learn how to listen, and how to represent
Global relations are forged locally, as well. The most important part of any diplomatic journey is the last foot — the one that brings the two parties face to face. For it is there in the live encounter that potential adversaries are forced to recognize each other’s humanity.
This is the theory of diplomacy that led to the famous Oslo Accords between the warring parties of the Middle East — an agreement that failed only because one of the signatories was assassinated by an extremist among his own people. Such sociopathic behavior is not limited to religious fanatics. Anyone who has become so distanced from other people that they see humans as less important than their ideology will act in anti-human ways.
Citizen diplomacy — just tourism, really, where a nation’s people represent its values abroad — has long been recognized as the most productive tool for improving international relations. Propaganda is manipulative. It begets competition between those who seek to dominate public opinion. Citizen diplomacy, on the other hand, is behavioral: showing by example, live and in person. Instead of leading to confrontation, it engenders interdependence.
