I completely agree with you Gordon, good points.

My strategy that I've really learned from others is to positively impact decisions through relationship building. I find it an effective one, and once a decision maker understands that the community's intentions are positive (or at least non-threatening), then perhaps they are more keen to listen. With that said, DiploFoundation, for instance, does a lot of work with diplomats and a lot of training with government.

In the end I think it's important to remember that, regardless of politics and power, the people making decisions -- the politicians, bureaucrats, etc. -- are still people. Just people.

-Michael

On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 5:01 PM, Gordon Lennox <gordon.lennox.13@gmail.com> wrote:

I agree.

One of the nice things about this community is that you ask a question and you get a response.

But when it comes to governments, both politicians and officials, it is not always about a lack of understanding. It can be about a very strong disagreement about values.

I would add though that often it is not even just about “governments”. Even in a government from a particular culture and of a certain flavour there can be very strong internal / inter-departmental disagreements. And it is not always the “good guys” who have clue.

Gordon

> On 23 Jun 2016, at 15:37, Johan Helsingius <julf@julf.com> wrote:
>
> The tricky ones are the ones where the views of the community
> and the views of (some) governments are in conflict, and
> activism, rather than education, is what is needed. In that
> case we need to be very clear about who represents whom.