April 2025, Newsletter

Letter from the Director

A big thank you to all who attended our 2024 Annual General Meeting, we loved seeing you, and thank you for your vital support!!!

And a big shout out to long-time GTABQ member, former foreign service officer, and PeacePal volunteer, David Campbell, who gave a very pertinent and spot-on talk about the value of “Personal Relationships: Where Diplomacy Begins”. Here is a copy of his talk: (Link)

So, spring is now officially in the air, and so far, we’re still welcoming groups! We just said goodbye to a great delegation from Japan visiting the U.S. under the theme of Economic Opportunity Through Regional Tourism. Albuquerque was a targeted destination with the group meeting with key resources in our state such as VisitABQ, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC), the New Mexico History Museum /Palace of Governors, and traveling to Acoma Pueblo. Also, a big shout out to GTABQ members Mark Walch, Nancy Kilpatrick, and Anne Callaghan for hosting a splendid New Mexican “Diplomacy Dinner” for the delegation, thank you!!

We’ve got lots of groups coming in this month and May, so members, please keep a look-out for “Diplomacy Dinner” opportunities. Plus, we’ll be holding a picnic with a BIG group of 20 visitors, on Sunday, May 4, see more below!

Not a member yet, we’d love for you to be! Learn more and join here:

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment. - Mahatma Gandhi

Thank you to our members and guests who joined us for our 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Hardwood Art Center!

A big shoutout to our 2024 Outstanding Resources:

Dr. Shelle Van Etten de Sanchez, PhD, Director, Arts & Culture, City of Albuquerque, and Patrick M. Brenner, President of the Southwest Public Policy Institute. And, our 2024 Citizen Diplomat Award winner Dr. Deborah Blank. Deb has been a longtime member and staunch supporter of GTABQ programs. She and her husband, Larry, have hosted numerous (could be in the 3 digits 😊!) IVLP and other program visitors for dinners and even homestays. She was the chair of the Membership Committee for many years and did a stellar job in organizing GTABQ’s hosting of the State Department’s Career Connections alumni event in 2022. GTABQ extends its heartfelt and deep appreciation for Deb’s stellar role as a longstanding Citizen Diplomat, thank you!!!

The Department of State outlined several key objectives for this project focused on rural tourism. These included investigating strategies and policies to promote rural tourism at local, regional, and national levels, emphasizing marketing, infrastructure, public safety, and customer service. The project also aimed to assess the link between rural tourism and local economic development while exploring trends in various forms of rural tourism, such as adventure, culture, food, family, heritage, and eco-tourism.

We have been awarded a special delegation under the Congressional Office of International Leadership (COIL) – Open World program. This will be a group of 5 highly placed officials coming in under the theme, “Ukrainian Judicial/Legal Delegation on Processing Cultural Heritage Crime”.

They will be here from June 6-14, 2025 when we will need homestay hosts. The delegate would stay in your home with the host providing breakfasts and travel to our offices each morning.

Hosting opportunities are assigned on a first-come/first-serve basis so, please let us know if you are interested! We will forward bios and more info as we get closer to the date.

Why we do what we do

April 8-12: Enhancing Ukraine’s Technical Education in the Energy Sector

Project objectives:

• Explore collaborative approaches among U.S. universities, state institutions, and businesses to modernize STEM education and curricula to meet current and future energy industry needs.
• Discuss approaches and challenges related to adapting existing curricula to the fast-evolving needs of the energy sector.
• Connect Ukrainian and U.S. counterparts to facilitate the development of networks and partnerships to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

There will be no Diplomatic Dinner hosting for this group, but members, if the subject interests you and you’d like to meet the group and/or attend any meetings, let us know at info@globaltiesabq.org.

May 1 – 7: Transparency and Accountability in Government - A Regional Project for Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina

May 7 – 16: Youth Entrepreneurship - A Sub-Regional Project for Central Asia

March 12 – 16; Integrated Fire Management - A Project for Brazil

We do not yet know dinner hosting opportunities for this group but will send out requests as soon as we do!

Do you have questions on how home hosting works?

Do you not know what to expect?

use this link below to learn more

FAQ

Bring blankets, yard games, and food. See you guys there!

Hard Power vs Soft Power by Chris Drew, PhD

The concepts of hard power and soft power were proposed by Joseph Nye (1991) to explain two ways in which nations attempt to exert their will in international affairs.

In Bound to Lead (1991), Nye argued that the United States of America’s power isn’t just a result of its hard power. America’s great strength is that it combined hard and soft power very effectively in the 20th Century.

We see American soft power in their cultural exports – Hollywood, Hip Hop, fashion, and so on. America’s ability to export its culture through media and technology has been highly beneficial to its international brand and ‘public diplomacy’ – the ability to ingratiate itself with the world. Its push toward establishing international norms was, for decades, a powerful influence on the world.

But we also see American power in its hard power – its enormous economic strength and influence, its ability to coerce nations into embracing a globalized economic posture, and of course, its awesome military power.

Hard Power Examples

Hard power, is defined in terms of being able to apply ‘carrots and sticks’ through intervention, aggression, sanctions, and threats in the military and economic arenas. Examples of hard power can include:

• Military Intervention
• Sanctions
• Trade Tariffs
• Diplomatic Expulsion
• Coercive Diplomacy
• Soft Power Examples

Soft power is defined by Joseph Nye as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments” (Nye, 2009, p. 2). Nye (2011, 2021) emphasizes the importance of ‘attraction’ over ‘carrots and sticks’ in the soft power mode. Examples of soft power can include:

• Cultural Influence
• Diplomatic Relations and Negotiations
• Educational Exchanges
• Moral Authority
• Humanitarian Aid

Benefits and Limitations of Hard and Soft Power

A nation that has great hard power is formidable. It can get its way through simply ‘pushing others around’. But at the same time, we ideally would live in a world of cooperation, where powerful nations didn’t coerce less powerful nations, which would in turn lead to exacerbated global inequalities (Lemke, 2016).

A nation with a great soft power that can get its way without war or economic conflict may end up better off in the end. Their positive relations with their neighbors can engender goodwill and peace (Lebedeva, 2017). But soft power is sometimes unrealistic. It doesn’t get you far when money or land is on the line. When a nation really wants power, it will roll over soft power nations with its hard power.

A Middle Ground: Smart Power

Nye had already proposed that great nations exert both smart and hard power. Following this proposition. Suzanne Nossel (2009) proposed the term ‘smart power’ to explain this combination of hard power and soft power strategies.

Smart power is the ability to strategically use diplomacy, persuasion, capacity building, and the influence of business, political, and civil society actors in addition to economic coercion and military intervention (Volten, 2016; Wagner, 2014; Whiton, 2013).

This sort of nation appeals (soft power) when possible but includes compelling (hard power) when necessary (Volten, 2016; Whiton, 2013).

The idea of smart power acknowledges the fact that neither soft nor hard power alone is sufficient in maintaining a country’s national security or global influence – the optimal strategy often involves the right combination of both forms of power, hence ‘smarter’ power (Nossel. 2009).

Your paragra The World Affairs Council of Albuquerque is a non-partisan organization dedicated to informing its members about the broad range of foreign policy choices facing the United States. We do that by bringing nationally recognized experts to Albuquerque to speak to and engage with our members and guests.

75th Program Year

Wednesday, April 9th, 2025, 6:00 PM, Tanoan Country Club, 10801 Academy Blvd NE

The Program: Service and Volunteering Do Make a Difference.

Drawing on my international experience, I will share how service and volunteering build needed trust, partnerships, and respect across communities, states, and nations. Social interactions sustain our well-being and make successfully managing crises and emergencies possible. I will use the COVID emergency of successfully bringing home 7,000 Volunteers as a case example of trust and respectful partnerships.

Presenter: Josephine (Jody) Olsen served as Peace Corps Director, 2018 – 2021. In March, 2020, because of the COVID pandemic, she led the successful nine-day evacuation of all 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers from 61 countries to the US, never done before.

Jody was a Peace Corps Volunteer, in Tunisia, 1966-1968, and has served the agency in five other senior positions, including Country Director (Togo), Regional Director (Europe and Asia), and Deputy Director. Her memoir about her decades of Peace Corps service, A Million Miles, My Peace Corps Journey, is available through the U of U Press and Amazon.

For a decade, Jody was a Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore and director of the Center for Global Engagement. In the 90’s, she was Director of the organization that manages the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program. Today she co-chairs Women of Peace Corps Legacy (WPCL), and is chair of the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation Park Advisory Committee and the Univ. of MD, College of Education Board of Visitors, and is on the Maryland Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism.

GTABQ Members can attend at WACA member prices, click here to register

Jody received a BS from the University of Utah, and a Master’s and PhD from the University of Maryland. Her many awards include the University of Maryland President’s Award, the University of Utah’s Alumni of the Year award, and two honorary doctorates. She has also been a Resident Fellow at the IOP Harvard Kennedy School.

Get involved and support Citizen Diplomacy!!

GTABQ is seeking members to join our Membership Committee. Being a committee member means you help organize visitor/member events (ex. Our upcoming May IVLP/Member Picnic, Pub Quizzes, and other fun events).

We meet once a month, on the 1st Tuesday of every month from 11 am to 12 pm via Zoom.

If you’d like to join, please write us at info@globaltiesabq.org.

Big Thanks, to

Mark Walch

Nancy Kilpatrick

Anne Callaghan

Mark Aspelin

for hosting our diplomacy dinners for our Japanese IVLP group

MEMBERSHIP

Being a GTABQ member means being a Citizen Diplomat,

join us and meet the world!!

We Offer Four Membership Levels:

Member - $60 / Supporter - $120 / Benefactor - $120+ / Student free

Our Mission is to contribute to world peace by creating global connections among the people of New Mexico and emerging leaders from around the world. We do this through international exchange programs, local educational programs, and international community-building activities.

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Nuestra misión es contribuir a la paz mundial mediante la creación de conexiones globales entre la gente de Nuevo México y los líderes emergentes de todas partes del mundo. Hacemos esto a través de programas de intercambio internacional, programas educativos locales y actividades internacionales para el desarrollo de nuestra comunidad.

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Notre mission est de contribuer à la paix dans le monde en créant des liens mondiaux entre la population du Nouveau-Mexique et les leaders émergents du monde entier. Nous le faisons par le biais de programmes d’échange internationaux, de programmes éducatifs locaux et d’activités internationales de renforcement de la communauté.