Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Advisor in international politics

(Disclaimer: I will not be discussing politics or go into identifying details for obvious reasons - this is about working in the field, not what we think about the wheat growing there, haha)

Hi! If you are writing on something with political intrige, tensions, or perhaps a royal court drama, I might be able to assist with some input.

I work as an advisor in international politics. I have tried a bit of everything by now, ranging from being sent off to another country to work there for a bit, travel a lot for big meetings among countries, to sneakily extract information about what kind of tea a particular head of state prefers for their afternoon treat (and then judging their choice of cool mint).

The topics and technical work itself are probably not super interesting, but if you wonder about things like - how do big international meetings take place? What's the mood in the room when negotiations go south? Do people actually like each other? Or simply just tidbits about everyday life in this field of work, then I am happy to help 🤠

Without getting into the politics of it, could you tell us a bit about a high stakes "mission" in your field that has stuck with you?

There are several that jump to mind, but perhaps these two:

1. We had to close a major piece of legislation that took years of prep, weeks and weeks of meetings, and we thought it had failed at first, before we managed to rally enough critical mass to continue negotiations. By the time the final round of talks were starting, we were negotiating for more than 24 hours with no interruptions. People were dozing off on the floors mid-phonecall or e-mail. A major stakeholder had to be told to go sleep, because they were under so much pressure that they couldn't keep it together and were shouting at people. Everyone thought it would collapse several times during the night. People couldn't remember where they were or what day it was.

Then at last! One of the key decision-makers burst out from a room and announced that they had resolved a major issue, which had (due to various alliances) made it impossible to go ahead. A big group had been stuck in a tiny room for hours, so they were all just rushing out to get fresh air lol. People were called in at 4 o'clock in the morning. High-level phone calls all around. And then we finally closed the agreement. Everyone slept for 10 hours I think - but it was a major milestone achieved that day, so worth it.

2. On a less formidable note: We had closed a key deal, where papers had to be signed and exchanged, etc etc. It was super formal, cars were going around, etc. The involved stakeholders were adamant that All Procedures Must Be Done. Cut to several hours later: I get a panicked phone call from one delegation. They'd accidentally signed the paper on the wrong paper. Like, the actual type of paper. And they had to get those papers sent back home ASAP. There were simply no time for formal arrangements and it was during rush hour, so I offered the best I could do in that moment: Get the correct papers printed and signed by the right person, and then hop on a bike to deliver in person. They got it just as they were leaving.

In both cases, it was super interesting to see, sort of, "the human spirit" in all this. How much people can relate to one another on a personal level, how all protocols and diplomacy are thrown out the moment it is game on. We've also had specific tasks relating to helping other countries implement XYZ, and Im always touched by how willing people are to share what they know in order to make things better for strangers.