A01=Douglas C. Nord
Author_Douglas C. Nord
Category=JP
Category=JPSD
Category=NHTW
citizen diplomacy
Cold War
community diplomacy
Duluth
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Karelia
Minnesota
people-to-people diplomacy
Petrozavodsk
postsocialism
sister cities
sister city
sister city program
sister city project
Soviet Union
United States
Product details
- ISBN 9780299352905
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jun 2025
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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In 1987, Duluth, Minnesota, in the Midwestern United States, and Petrozavodsk, in what is now Russia, officially joined hands as sister cities. Douglas C. Nord tells the stories of their collaboration in the context of the late Cold War. He covers in ethnographic detail the lived experiences of city officials, community leaders, academics, and average citizens who worked to bridge the divide between the United States and the Soviet Union. What circumstances supported or undermined efforts to conduct people-to-people diplomacy? What internal difficulties emerged, and how were they overcome? And what were the short-term effects and long-term consequences of the relationships forged in these postindustrial cities, across the East–West divide?
Sister City Diplomacy offers an historical account of citizen diplomacy set in a unique political and social environment. But in its theoretical grounding and informed arguments, this study speaks to much broader and contemporary concerns, both in terms of United States–Russian relations today and with regard to the challenges and opportunities of community-based diplomacy in general. Lessons learned along the shores of lakes Superior and Onega in the last days of the Cold War hold great value given the heightened tensions of current geopolitics.
Sister City Diplomacy offers an historical account of citizen diplomacy set in a unique political and social environment. But in its theoretical grounding and informed arguments, this study speaks to much broader and contemporary concerns, both in terms of United States–Russian relations today and with regard to the challenges and opportunities of community-based diplomacy in general. Lessons learned along the shores of lakes Superior and Onega in the last days of the Cold War hold great value given the heightened tensions of current geopolitics.
Douglas C. Nord is a visiting professor and research scholar at UmeÅ University, Sweden. He is the author of The Changing Arctic: Consensus Building and Governance in the Arctic Council and The Arctic Council: Governance within the Far North and the editor of Nordic Perspectives on the Responsible Development of the Arctic: Pathways to Action and Leadership for the North: The Influence and Impact of Arctic Council Chairs.
