The woods and the trees: Catalytic diplomacy and Canada's trials as a ‘forestry superpower’

Abstract

The environmental agenda provides ample evidence of the growing complexity characterising much of contemporary policy‐making. But an understanding of the role of diplomacy within the policy processes has been constrained by assumptions rooted in debates about the nature of international relations and the appropriate focus for its analysis, leading to the usually unproductive debates about the ‘decline’ of diplomacy. What is needed is a re‐examination of diplomacy as an activity which has as a core function the linking of what are often portrayed as the separate environments of state and non‐state actors. Such linkage is necessitated by the interaction of autonomy and resource deficiencies in the pursuit of policy goals, resulting in a growing symbiosis between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ diplomacy. The emergence of what is termed ‘catalytic’ diplomacy is clearly demonstrated in the multilayered policy processes generated by the international campaign ‐involving several environmental NGOs led by Greenpeace ‐ concerning forest management practices employed by Canadian forest industry companies.