Worth Noting, by Bill Wanlund: Bringing States and Cities into Diplomacy

It slipped by a lot of us – and by “a lot of us” I mean me and maybe some others – that the State Department, hoping to take advantage of the talent and energy in states and local communities, last year created a “Unit of Subnational Diplomacy, [USD]” and lodged it in the Office of Global Partnerships.  And, it would seem to offer plenty of opportunities for PD practitioners working in state and city governments as well as the State Department.
 
USD is headed by Special Representative Ambassador Nina Hachigian, who served in State and at the NSC in previous administrations, and who most recently had been the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles. 
 
Speaking earlier this month before the US Council of Mayors, Secretary Blinken noted that, “foreign and domestic policy are…inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing,” particularly in areas such as jobs, supply chain security, the push for a global minimum tax for large corporations, education and infrastructure.  And don’t forget exchanges:  Blinken also urged mayors to “keep welcoming people from around the world to travel, to study, to work, to live in your cities, which is foundational to our own economic growth.”  The text of the Secretary’s speech is here.
 
An ambitious early outline for such an entity as USD was presented in February 2021, just weeks after President Biden took office, in a report by two Brookings Institution experts, Anthony Pipa and Max Bouchet, who saw it as a means to repair the State Department’s sagging morale and influence which they say had been the product of the previous administration. During the initial response to COVID-19, they wrote, in the “absence of clear guidance and robust support” from Washington, cities and states acted decisively and nimbly” to develop safety protocols, scrounge medical supplies, and keep health services functioning.  On another global issue, Pipa and Bouchet wrote, the day after President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accord, “more than 450 U.S. cities—including the 10 largest ones—committed to uphold the Agreement goals.”
 
Pipa and Bouchet are nostalgic for the Pearson Fellowships in their original form, under which selected FSOs were made available to state and local governments, schools and other public organizations, the idea being that the diplomats would learn firsthand about “local realities” while helping the states and communities establish international connections.  The authors lament, however, that “the fellowship evolved…away from this original intent: Today Pearson Fellows are almost exclusively seconded to the United States Congress, to serve in a legislator’s personal office or staff a Congressional committee.”  In addition, they would like to see selection for the revived fellowships be a mandatory step for getting into the senior foreign service as the original program intended.
 
The Brookings authors’ idea didn’t come out of nowhere.  They recalled that Secretary Hillary Clinton named Reta Jo Lewis as special representative for global intergovernmental affairs, where she “negotiated agreements with cities in geopolitically important countries such as China, and worked to enhance relationships between state and local officials with the State Department and support interactions with their foreign counterparts.”  After Clinton left, Secretary John Kerry appointed Ian Klaus senior advisor for global cities on the Policy Planning staff, making the job an advisory rather than an operational one.
 
You can read Pipa and Bouchet’s 2021 proposal here.
 
There is also international interest in tapping community resources to advance foreign policies.  The German Marshall Fund is promoting the idea of a Global Declaration of Mayors for Democracy, which stems from an initiative of the mayors of former Soviet Bloc capitals Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.  GMF says these mayors want their counterparts to join them in reaffirming “their unwavering commitment to rebuilding and reinforcing democracy” by supporting free and fair elections at home and abroad, defending the rule of law, and “addressing urban challenges through the lens of democracy and democratic values.”  The mayors of some 100 cities have signed, including at least 13 from the US.  Here’s the list as of January 18th and here’s the declaration.
 
Bill Wanlund is a PDCA Board Member, retired Foreign Service Officer, and freelance writer in the Washington, DC area. His column, Worth Noting, appears in the PDCA Weekly Update and addresses topics hopefully of interest to PDCA members.