Citizen Diplomacy | A Call to Action

Flikr photo by Jeff Bauche used under a Creative Commons license.  In keeping with key elements of the Smart Power Commission, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy yesterday released a letter to the President urging him to promote U.S. citizen diplomacy.  The Center’s Call to Action proposes increasing connectivity between U.S. citizens and the rest of the world fourfold by 2016, and invites the President to lead this initiative.  Citizen diplomacy is a tool for improving U.S. image in the world by promoting cultural exchange, awareness, and understanding.   Anne Olsen Schodde, President and CEO of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, recently visited Iraq and returned with some key impressions.  A consistent theme throughout her description in the Des Monies Register was the way cooperation between exceptional Americans and Iraqis has created a sense of progress and optimism under otherwise fragile circumstances.