City Diplomacy as Noncoercive Statecraft

At a time when so much of the word is suffering from the application of hard power by nation states Sohaela Amiri offers us an alternative. Her concept of city diplomacy through attraction opens possibilities for new solutions and fresh alignments at the sub- national level. A well-argued and ultimately a helpful book.

Nicholas J Cull, author of Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous Age.

Cities are increasingly important participants in diplomacy, and so city diplomacy merits more thorough analysis and evaluation than it tends to receive. In this volume, Sohaela Amiri provides an intellectually solid appraisal of cities’ role in the broader field of public diplomacy. Major cities throughout the world have much to contribute to the practice of statecraft, and her findings encourage valuing cities (especially as alternatives to armies) in reaching a nation’s diplomatic goals.

Philip Seib, Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California

In articulating a broad interpretive framework for the study and practice of city diplomacy, this study will validate the role of cities as influential actors in the realm of foreign policy. In treating city diplomacy as a form of noncoercive statecraft, this work will also offer an assessment of the global role of city diplomacy while redefining the boundaries between city and national level diplomacy.. In an era defined by hard power competition in the global information space, this exploration of a new and rapidly evolving soft power resource will be a welcome addition to the study of diplomacy's public dimension.

Vivian S. Walker, Practitioner in Residence, Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and former Executive Director, the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy at the Department of State.

Sohaela Amiri has written an outstanding book that significantly advances our conceptual and practical thinking about how the diplomatic practices of cities can enhance a nation’s global appeal and therefore its non-threatening influence. The book’s transdisciplinary approach adds substantial ballast to the much-discussed soft power concept.

Geoffrey Wiseman, Professor and Endowed Chair in Applied Diplomacy, The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy, DePaul University

This important, multidisciplinary book provides a much-needed framework for understanding and operationalizing city diplomacy by a pioneering scholar in the field. Sohaela Amiri’s original contribution is to connect analytical concepts and practitioners’ strategies through the lens of noncoercive influence.

Bruce Gregory, Visiting scholar, George Washington University

In practice, city diplomacy is creative, mission-driven, but also ad hoc. More scholarship is needed to develop an understanding of how city diplomacy fits into international order and diplomacy more generally, and Amiri has delivered just that. Practitioners and scholars alike will benefit from her work.

Ian Klaus, Founding Director, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace California