Olympic Truce during the Nagano Olympics: Between Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy of the International Olympic Committee

The activities undertaken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to realize the Olympic Truce initiative during the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998 offer a great opportunity to analyze how the IOC leadership communicated with the UN officials and political leaders of states. These endeavors included an attempt to secure vast support for the Olympic Truce resolution during the Nagano Olympics in the UN General Assembly (GA) and an attempt to secure the observance of the Olympic Truce in the light of the situation in Iraq and its conflict with the UN over the weapon of mass destruction inspections. In reference to both goals, specific patterns included communication through the intermediation of Olympic officials and communication directly by the IOC leadership. The Olympic Truce exemplifies how an international non-governmental organization, in pursuit of realizing its public diplomacy goals, engages in activities typical for traditional diplomacy.