Foreign Service - by James Dobbins (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><b>A behind the scenes look at 50 years of US diplomacy.</b></p> <p>From Vietnam in the 1960s to Afghanistan in this decade, James Dobbins was on the frontlines of American diplomacy and worked to advance U.S. national interests in some of the world's most difficult and troubled arenas.</p> <p>In <i>Foreign Service</i>, Dobbins takes the reader behind the scenes at the Vietnam peace talks, the darkest days of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. military interventions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and Somalia. He provides a thoughtful insider's account of all these ventures, analyzes the sources of both success and failure, and provides incisive portraits of many of the chief actors.</p> <p>Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama turned repeatedly to Dobbins as a diplomatic trouble-shooter with the right instincts and experience to help find solutions for seemingly irresolvable problems. <i>Foreign Service</i> vividly captures why they did.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br><p>A behind-the-scenes look at fifty years of U.S. diplomacy</p> <p>From Vietnam in the 1960s to Afghanistan this decade, James Dobbins was on the frontlines of American diplomacy. In some of the world's most difficult and troubled arenas, he worked to seek cooperation and mutual security with America's allies and partners.</p> <p>Here this seasoned diplomat takes the reader behind the scenes at the Vietnam peace talks, the darkest days of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. military interventions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and Somalia. He provides a thoughtful insider's account of these ventures, examines the causes of both success and failure, and provides unforgettable portraits of many of the chief actors.</p> <p>Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama turned repeatedly to Dobbins as a diplomatic troubleshooter with the right instincts and experience to help find solutions for seemingly irresolvable problems. Foreign Service vividly captures why they did.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>"Dobbins's inside stories of policy debates over Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan are insightful and illuminating."--<i>Survival</i></p><br><br><p>Critics of the State Department often cite an inability to learn from mistakes. Dobbins, reflecting on his career, laments a refusal to learn from success--in nation-building, coalition warfare, democracy promotion and other lately unpopular ideas.</p><p>A lack of persistence, he suggests, is fatal to American efforts: "Insanity [is] doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results; but in diplomacy, if one does not keep trying to solve intractable problems, there is zero chance of success." That is a lesson worth learning.--Harry Kopp, <i>The Foreign Service Journal</i></p><br><br><p>This fascinating, well-written account of Cold War and post-Cold War diplomacy will be of special interest to undergraduate and graduate international relations students, US foreign policy scholars, and especially to persons considering a diplomatic career. This memoir is accessible at all readership levels and is enthusiastically recommended. Highly Recommended.--<i>CHOICE</i></p><br><br><p>A truly fascinating tour through the inner policy process in some of the most challenging diplomatic and conflict situations the United States has faced in modern times. Jim Dobbins was there and now deploys his analytical mind to look back. Indispensable.<br> --Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden</p><br><br><p>It's hard to imagine anyone better than Jim Dobbins to address America's role in shaping a peaceful international order. That often requires helping troubled countries achieve peace, democracy, and prosperity--a task that has often been called nation-building. The phrase and mission have, in recent years, fallen out of favor because of hard cases that Ambassador Dobbins knows intimately from his distinguished career on the frontlines of diplomacy. This compact book tells a big and important story. It has the virtues of narrative verve, authentic personal experience (some literally under fire), and gimlet-eyed judgment on how and when U.S. policies succeed, why they sometimes fail, and why Americans must keep trying.<br> --Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and former deputy secretary of state</p><br><br><p>Jim Dobbins has taken on a remarkable array of complex diplomatic challenges. As his book explains, he has succeeded with an unmatched commitment to the lessons of history, the importance of facts, and the power of analysis. His career demonstrates what's possible when rigor is combined with persistence, and his memoir illuminates the richness of a life dedicated to service.<br> --Michael Rich, president of the RAND Corporation</p><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><p><b>James Dobbins</b> served as Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, Special Assistant to the President for the Western Hemisphere, Special Adviser to the President and Secretary of State for the Balkans, Ambassador to the European Community, and special envoy for Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and Afghanistan. He holds the Distinguished Chair for Diplomacy and Security at the RAND Corporation.</p>
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