Citizen diplomacy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Citizen diplomacy is the political concept of average citizens engaging as representatives of a country or cause either inadvertently or by design. Citizen diplomacy may take place when official channels are not reliable or desirable; for instance if two countries do not formally recognize each others governments— citizen diplomacy may be an ideal tool of statecraft. Citizen diplomacy does not have to be direct negotiations between two parties, but can take the form of: scientific exchanges, cultural exchanges, and international athletic events.
Citizen diplomacy can complement official diplomacy or subvert it. Some nations ban track two efforts like this when they run counter to official foreign policy.
Anti-nuclear groups like Clamshell Alliance and ECOLOGIA have sought to thwart US policy through "grassroots" initiatives with Soviet and (later) former Soviet groups.
John Kerry and anti-war groups he was associated with engaged in track two diplomacy aimed at ending the Vietnam War on terms favorable to North Vietnam. Whether this constituted treachery (or treason) is still hotly debated to this day.
