Government agencies carry out public diplomacy increasingly in tandem with non-governmental organizations and trans-national institutions. These organizations also have their own agendas for domestic and world affairs. They might partner with a government agency at one time, and, in other times, oppose or pressure their own and other governments.
With our own vigorous domestic discourse and the ongoing belief in paying a “… decent respect to the opinions of mankind …,” the United States has long sought to understand and work with publics abroad, directly through U.S. Government-sponsored or facilitated activities and increasingly with non-governmental organizations.