THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2025 33 not had the bandwidth to really capitalize on it. But I think there’s a lot of potential there. If you’re retired Foreign Service, I would encourage you to make contact. You can email our office at subnational@state.gov. AFSA: Does your office also engage with other subnational actors such as universities and civil society organizations? NH: We do definitely engage with civil society and universities when we visit new places. But there are other parts of the State Department that more directly engage with civil society and universities, so I would say yes and no. We engage with organizations that work with local leaders. For example, the Strong City Network works on polarization and violence, and there’s an organization that works on gender equity for cities. There are a few that work on climate. We work with all those organizations as well as membership organizations for local elected leaders in the United States, like the National Governors Association, the Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, or the U.S. Conference of Mayors. AFSA: How would you like to see city and state diplomacy grow in the next five years? NH: The big challenge is just the resources at the local level. The other barrier is mayors and governors being concerned that they will be criticized for going overseas. They are concerned about the political backlash. I think what we’ve been able to do is show that this is part of their job and why. I want that stigma to go away. The United States in some ways is really at the beginning of this journey. I just want to see it continue to grow. AFSA: What have been some of the surprises in your tenure, and what does success look like in this space? NH: I did not expect the level of interest by mayors and governors, honestly. Everyone’s interested. Mayors and governors are really interested in serving their residents through international engagement. And in terms of what success looks like, it just looks like more subnational diplomatic action by cities, counties, and states, for all the reasons that we’ve talked about, because of all the ways it can benefit those places. n In some countries, ties at the national level are frozen: In those cases, subnational diplomacy is the most active bilateral interaction that we have. Special Representative Nina Hachigian greets guests at the Symposium on Strategic Subnational Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. OSKAR DAP PHOTOGRAPHY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=