In the late 1980s, two provincial cities on opposite side of the world built a unique cultural connection. Duluth in Minnesota and Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia became sister cities, linking their communities through educational and scientific exchanges, cultural programs, and tourism. After decades of superpower confrontation, there was a strong need for bridge building, and the atmosphere of rapprochement during perestroika provided fertile ground for such initiatives. This relationship is the focus of Douglas C. Nord’s book Sister City Diplomacy: Community Engagement in U.S.-Russian Relations from the Cold War to Today. Duluth and Petrozavodsk form an intriguing pair: both are industrial port cities and lakeside communities in provincial regions, sharing a heritage of Finnish migrant workers who left North America to build socialism in Soviet Karelia in the 1920s and 1930s. This shared history adds a compelling historical layer to the partnership and partly explains the connection between the two cities. The sister city relationship serves as a case study and the main empirical foundation of the book, through which Nord explores the broader phenomenon he conceptualizes as community-based diplomacy. By focusing on communities and local-level actors, Nord investigates how non-state actors contribute to international affairs. Following an approach that combines the analysis of non-state actors and high-level diplomacy, he also provides an extensive account of US-Russian relations from the early Cold War to the present, which helps to contextualize the Duluth-Petrozavodsk sister city connection and the limits imposed from the top. Pairing local activities with shifts in superpower politics demonstrates not only how grassroots initiatives can advance despite geopolitical turbulence but also how they can be constrained by it. The book draws on published sources and interviews with city officials, academics, and community leaders involved in sister city programs. In addition, Nord incorporates his own experiences with educational exchanges between the two cities. This insider perspective enriches the work, allowing the author convincingly portray everyday challenges and dynamics in educational exchanges. However, a lack of similar personal knowledge from the other side makes the story somewhat unbalanced. While Duluth—particularly the University of Minnesota Duluth—receives detailed treatment, Petrozavodsk remains more silent in the narrative. When Russian archives and fieldwork once again become more accessible, this would be an excellent topic for further research, especially in terms of local motivations, institutional limitations, and community experiences in Petrozavodsk. Nord’s book makes a welcome contribution to scholarship on diplomacy beyond formal interstate relations and the agency of non-state actors. Its strength lies in a fresh theoretical discussion that seeks to bring coherence to the conceptual muddle surrounding different types of diplomacy. Nord offers an analytical model in which community-based diplomacy is divided into three implementation styles—hierarchical, participatory, and grassroots—and sources of inspiration: state and community. Community-based diplomacy functions as an umbrella term, while these implementation levels are linked to public diplomacy, civic diplomacy, and citizen diplomacy. The model clarifies the interrelationships among these concepts and provides a lens through which to analyze the empirical material systematically. In the concluding chapter, Nord looks to the future and reflects on lessons learned from the Duluth-Petrozavodsk experience. He identifies a strong local desire to break from Cold War setting as a key factor in launching community-based diplomacy in Duluth. To sustain such connection, he emphasizes the importance of teaching the partner country’s language, history, and culture, and engaging diverse actors in the process. Finally, community-based diplomacy requires adequate organizational structure and resources to endure. In sum, Sister City Diplomacy is an engaging combination of theoretical ambition and practical guidance, supported by personal experience. It offers a clearly written and conceptually sophisticated study that serves both as a guide for practitioners and as a foundation for future scholarly inquiry. While current geopolitical realities—such as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—render the ideals of peace-building and mutual understanding increasingly fragile, the book persuasively argues for the enduring relevance of local-level diplomacy in fostering international dialogue. By illuminating the capacity of communities to act, it reminds us that stable international relationships are often built not only in ministries and embassies but also in classrooms, city halls, and cultural centers.
Pia Koivunen (Thu,) studied this question.