Paul Lachelier is a sociologist, and founder and director of Learning Life, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit lab devoted to innovating education and citizen engagement. Through Learning Life, Paul leads three programs: the Family Diplomacy Initiative, an International Mentoring Program, and Democracy Dinners. Before founding Learning Life in 2012, he taught at Stetson, Harvard, Tufts, and the University of Wisconsin. Paul holds a B.A. in sociology from Georgetown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His writing, research, and programmatic work focus on the intersection of democracy, culture, and education. His writings have appeared in academic journals as well as popular media including the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Albuquerque Journal, and truthout.org. More at
Paul’s Linkedin page and his website
paullachelier.info.
Interested in citizen diplomacy? Due to globalization, the internet, and long-term democratization trends, citizen diplomacy is likely to grow in the future, becoming a more important part of public diplomacy and international affairs. Citizen diplomacy entails citizen-to-citizen communication and collaboration across borders for political, economic, religious, cultural, educational, or other public purposes. Government funding and…