Renewing the U.S.-Russian Relationship
U.S. relations with Russia have been described as at their lowest point since the Cold War, but they’re still nowhere near the lows of the Cold War — in the midst of which an institute was formed to improve American understanding of the Soviet Union.
It was a daunting task during a far more difficult time, but since it began in December 1974, the Kennan Institute has provided a wealth of expertise and knowledge about the region that has had practical implications in the political, social and economic spheres of both countries.
The oldest program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Kennan Institute continues to chip away at the divisions between Washington and Moscow, especially as this historic relationship takes yet another nosedive.
So it was with this sense of history and cooperation that Russian and American leaders gathered for the institute’s second annual Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Awards Dinner to toast two people whose corporate and public service has helped to thaw what has almost always been a chilly relationship.
E. Neville Isdell, chairman of the Coca-Cola Co. and the U.S.-Russia Business Council, and Ludmila Verbitskaya, president of St. Petersburg State University, were honored at the Dec. 3 dinner at the Mayflower Renaissance hotel, which also included two of the three original founders of the Kennan Institute: Librarian of Congress James Billington and historian S. Frederick Starr, now with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
The third founder of the institute, George F. Kennan, was represented by his son Chris. A former ambassador to the Soviet Union who died in 2005, Kennan was the chief architect of America’s policy of containment during the Cold War, which he outlined in his famed “X” article in Foreign Affairs.
But the institute was actually named for another Kennan: “When my colleagues gave it a name, they had in mind both George Kennans,” the seminal diplomat once said, referring to his elder relative, a noted 19th-century American explorer of Russia and Siberia who shared both Kennan’s namesake and his birthday.
At the institute’s 25th anniversary in 1999, Kennan invoked the Russian fable of a fly who rode all day on the nose of an ox as it worked in the fields. At the end of the day, the ox heads back to the village as the fly, still perched on its nose, declares to the villagers, “We’ve been plowing.”
“That,” Kennan said, “is what I have been doing with the Kennan Institute.”
And as he plowed ahead, he earned respect along the way. Former Russian Ambassador Yuri Ushakov said, “George Kennan belongs to the future, not to the past” in video remarks broadcast at the dinner, which was attended by Ushakov’s successor, current Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Kennan, who died at the age of 101, lived long enough to see the Soviet Union’s demise and the emergence of modern-day Russia. Likewise, E. Neville Isdell was on the frontlines of that historic — and chaotic — transition as he tried to break into the new Russian marketplace, and tap into a whole new world of consumers for Coke.
But in the process, he developed a “real respect and genuine love affair with Russia and the Russian people,” Isdell told the audience as he accepted the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Award for corporate citizenship.
Making his first trip to Moscow in 1988 to ink a trade deal for Coke, Isdell recalled seeing streams of people waiting around the block to get into stores and buy scarce goods. Yet he also recalled talking to these people and realizing “how proud they were, the depth of their culture, how deeply and significantly educated they were, and how tough they were.”
 Fellow honoree Ludmila Verbitskaya certainly fits that mold. Like so many of her countrymen, Verbitskaya — whose father was killed when she was 13 for being an “enemy of the state” during the Soviet Union — has tackled adversity head on.
Elected in 1994 as the first female president of St. Petersburg State University, one of Russia’s oldest and most distinguished institutions of higher education, she enacted sweeping reforms and added faculties in medicine and international relations. Since then, she has become a nationally recognized figure of Russian educational reform and a leader in integrating Russian academics with the broader international community.
Verbitskaya even had Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a former employee of hers at the university. So it’s no surprise colleagues describe her as a brave, determined woman unafraid to challenge convention to improve the country she loves — and certainly not a shy person.
In fact, the outspoken pioneer, in accepting her award, proudly declared that “there is no better place than Russia in all the world.”
Not everyone of course may agree with that sentiment, but Russia’s gains are remarkable. Coca-Cola’s Isdell pointed out that since his first visit to the country in the late 1980s, Russia has slashed poverty rates from 40 percent to 16 percent today, with some 2 million Russians entering the middle class every year — progress he said cannot be discounted amid the current political disagreements.
On the political front, Isdell acknowledged that Russia’s evolution has been “an amazing but imperfect journey,” although he said Americans “should not forget our own long, tortuous road” to democracy.
To that end, he urged a more thoughtful — less dictating — American approach to this former adversary and fellow superpower. “As we advocate what we want from Russia, we really need to understand how those words are heard by Russians,” Isdell said. “Words have a very special place. If you don’t understand that, you will not break through.”
That doesn’t mean you compromise your principles or objectives, he added. “But we must never forget that the Russian people will decide their own future. They will do it on their own terms. They will do it on their own timeframe. But if we do it the right way, they'll do it with their ears open to us.”
E. Neville Isdell, chairman of the Coca-Cola Co. and the U.S.-Russia Business Council (top photo), and Ludmila Verbitskaya, president of St. Petersburg State University, were honored by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute for their corporate and public service in strengthening U.S.-Russian ties. Also in attendance werer (front page from left): Cultural Attaché and Counselor at the Russian Embassy Natalia P. Batova, former U.S. Representative to the U.N. Esther Coopersmith, and Sylvia Symington.
Photos: Thomas Coleman
New Egyptian Envoy Talks Economics
In his first public appearance since presenting his credentials to President Bush on Sept. 24, Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry highlighted the strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt at a Dec. 4 luncheon hosted by the National U.S.- Arab Chamber of Commerce.
 “The mutual interests and objectives of both countries will continue to motivate us to engage each other well into the future,” the new Egyptian envoy said, noting that his country intends to strengthen ties with the U.S. both economically and politically, although he focused exclusively on the latter at the business gathering sponsored by Boeing, ExxonMobil, Federal Express, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
To that end, Shoukry stressed that economic growth is especially critical to his nation of 80 million, which already experienced a growth rate of 7.2 percent last year. Still, the worldwide financial crisis means Egypt will have to stay on its toes.
“Egypt needs to create 750,000 new jobs a year, so it has become imperative to engage and interface with the world marketplace,” Shoukry told the 200 business leaders gathered at the Four Seasons hotel. “The United States is and will remain a major player in these areas. The U.S. is already the largest direct investor in petroleum in Egypt and the second largest non-petroleum, non-Arab direct investor.”
A proposed bilateral free trade agreement would have boosted the U.S. presence in Egypt, where the FTA was seen as an important vehicle to create value-added jobs, according to the ambassador. But the pact fizzled out several years ago. “All I can tell you is that it wasn’t for lack of interest or commitment on our part,” Shoukry said. “We attach importance to such an agreement — but we also strongly believe that contractual arrangements should be approached purely on their economic and trade merits,” he added, hinting that politics shouldn’t come into play.
But the U.S. government obviously felt differently, many observers say, sidelining the negotiations in late 2005 when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak — who’s ruled the country for the past 27 years — faced widespread criticism for clamping down on democracy activists challenging his authority.
“It is important that we have the right atmosphere for free trade agreements because they have to of course go through Congress, they have to be approved,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in early 2006. “But it is not a matter of punishment, it's just a matter of the timing being not quite right.”
When asked how the U.S. business community might help with that timing to get FTA talks back on track, Shoukry responded, tongue-in-cheek, “Call your congressman. If anyone is in a position to present a strong and effective economic argument, it is the business community. Egypt has many friends on Capitol Hill who recognize that a strong and prosperous Egypt — with this close relationship with the United States — can only be reinforced by this very practical dimension of trade and commerce.”
Even without an FTA, the ambassador pointed out that bilateral trade has expanded significantly, in part because of Egypt’s Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs). In fact, Egyptian exports to the United States have grown 387 percent over the past seven years, from $888 million in 2000 to $2.3 billion in 2007, with QIZ exports alone increasing from $266.3 million in 2005 to $688.9 million in 2007.
Conversely, foreign direct investment into Egypt from all over the world has also skyrocketed, surging from $400 million to $13 billion between 2003 and 2007. Likewise, domestic investments in Egypt increased from $37 billion to $135 billion during that same timeframe. Shoukry credits Egypt’s economic “open-door policy” started in 1974 with much of the success, as the government worked to convert what was once a largely public sector-based economy to one that is more private-sector friendly, anchored by export-oriented policies.
“The most important point about the economic reform process is that it’s about changing attitudes as well as institutions and legal frameworks,” he concluded. “This factor was embedded in our tax reform, the competition law, the new investment regulations and procedures, and many other areas — especially the successful privatization program that attempts to change the mindset of those operating the public sector.”
David Hamod, president and chief executive officer of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, noted the chamber’s long tradition of introducing new ambassadors to the U.S. business community. “President-elect Barack Obama has highlighted the importance of what he calls ‘economic diplomats,’ and we are especially proud today to welcome someone who is precisely that,” said Hamod. “Egypt is one of the top three export destinations in the Arab world for U.S. goods, and the potential for growing the commercial, educational and cultural relationship is enormous.”
Newly appointed Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, left, and David Hamod, president and chief executive officer of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, talk economics at a luncheon with about 200 business leaders.
Photos: National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce
Banner Year for Books in 2008
Looking back at 2008, even seasoned international observers could hardly keep up with all the developments on the world stage — developments that are only going to spill over into 2009. From Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to China, India and Russia, to Zimbabwe, Sudan and Somalia — not to mention a new occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — the world keeps spinning, and appropriately enough experts keep spinning their theories on all the different twists and turns.
So what better gift this holiday season for foreign policy buffs than one of the many books dissecting the year’s top international stories? The list of course is long, but here are a few highlights the Diplomatic Pouch has selected among the top tomes of the past year — covering U.S. foreign policy, international politics and relations, and diplomacy — to help you get a better read on what lies ahead in 2009:
 Foreign Affairs magazine regularly ranks the top-selling hardcover books dealing with U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. The top 10 from the latest January/February 2009 list are: “Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America” by Thomas Friedman; “The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008” by Bob Woodward; “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism” by Andrew J. Bacevich; “The Post-American World” by Fareed Zakaria; “The Devil We Know: Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower” by Robert Baer; “The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America” by James Bamford; “America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy” by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft with David Ignatius; “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran” by Hooman Majd; “The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq” by Bing West; “From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776” by George C. Herring; “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism” by Ron Suskind; “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals” by Jane Mayer; “The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril” by Eugene Jarecki; “Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq” by Linda Robinson; and “Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism” by Bernard-Henri Lévy.
Among these, Zakaria’s “Post-American World” offers a clear, well-written, engaging account of globalization and the so-called “rise of the rest,” i.e. China, India and pretty much everyone else other than the United States, which — although it will remain a superpower — will no longer dominate the global discussion.
That sentiment is echoed in “America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy,” in which foreign policy wise men Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft argue that America’s status as a world leader and the nature of power itself are at historic turning points.
 Likewise, New York Times columnist Friedman contends that the United States is at a decisive moment in how it responds to key 21st century challenges in “Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America,” which is currently number 10 on the New York Times Best Sellers List for hardcover nonfiction, where it’s sat for 13 weeks. In his latest book, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of “The World Is Flat” analyzes the crises of destabilizing climate change, rising competition for energy, and rapid population growth, offering an optimistic yet urgent appeal for American leadership and multilateralism to tackle what he calls the “Energy-Climate Era.”
Also on the current New York Times Best Sellers List (for paperback nonfiction) are: “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (#4), the inspiring account of a former climber building schools in villages and Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as “A Long Way Gone” (#16), Ishmael Beah’s sobering memoir of slaughter as a child soldier in Sierra Leone.
Neighboring Liberia has endured its own share of strife, which is vividly detailed in New York Times journalist Helene Cooper’s “The House at Sugar Beach,” in which she recounts the story of her privileged Liberian childhood cut brutally short by a bloody 1980 coup, her family’s subsequent escape and survival, and, 23 years later, her return to find the foster sister her family left behind.
Gareth Evans, meanwhile, amplifies the message of preventing conflicts — spurred by Rwanda and the Balkans in the 1990s — in his new book, “The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All.” Evans, head of the International Crisis Group, outlines a lucid case for why states bear the primary responsibility to prevent mass atrocities, but when they are unwilling or unable to stop such crimes, the wider international community then has a collective responsibility to take appropriate action — a landmark shift in the concept of humanitarian intervention with relevance for many of today’s African conflicts.
“Africa in World Politics: Reforming Political Order,” edited by John W. Harbeson and Donald Rothchild, is another good primer on the continent. “This collection of essays by many of the leading Africanists working in the United States today provides a compelling introduction to African politics and international relations,” according to Cornell’s Nicolas Van de Walle.
Switching gears to another troubled region of the world, a number of widely praised books examine the Middle East and its political and economic prospects, as well as America’s role in shaping those prospects. One of the most recent is “Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President,” written by a powerhouse of 15 think tank experts from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, with an overview by Richard Haass of CFR and Martin Indyk of the Saban Center.
An eighteen-month-long project, “Restoring the Balance” proposes a nonpartisan strategy drawing on the lessons of past failures to pursue a new strategic framework for advancing American interests in the Middle East — from Iran’s nuclear ambitions, to failing Palestinian and Lebanese governments, to a dormant peace process. It also addresses President Bush’s model of regime change and democratization, President Clinton’s model of peacemaking and containment, and makes recommendations for President-elect Obama.
Another compelling Middle East account came earlier this year from Robin Wright. “Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East” draws on 35 years of reporting — through wars, revolutions and uprisings, as well as the birth of new democracy movements and a new generation of activists — in two dozen countries. The New York Times called it a “fluent and intelligent book about the future of the Middle East, that it is not solely concerned with the war in Iraq and its consequences.”
Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes are specifically concerned with Iraq — and how much it’s cost. “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict” is an eye-opening analysis into the eye-popping expenditures of the conflict that have been largely hidden from taxpayers, including the costs of caring for thousands of wounded veterans — for the rest of their lives — and the interest we have to pay on the money borrowed to fund the war.
Kenneth Pollack argues for funneling more money into the region but rather as part of a broader shift in U.S. policy in “A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East,” which posits that the greatest danger to America’s peace and is political repression, economic stagnation and cultural conflict in Arab and Muslim nations. Appropriate to the book’s title, Pollack proposes a truly grand, ambitious agenda that would include offering as much as $10 billion annually in grants to poor Middle Eastern states and patient, sustained partnerships with them to bring about reform and democratization.
To a degree, that’s what the Bush administration has tried to do with its controversial democratization experiment in the Middle East, the subject of a number of recent books. In “Freedom’s Unsteady March: America’s Role in Building Arab Democracy,” Tamara Cofman Wittes writes that, despite early stumbles, democracy promotion in the Arab world remains an essential component of any strategy to achieve long-term U.S. goals in the region.
James Traub has a more negative assessment of Bush’s democracy policies, though he doesn’t give up on the idea of democracy promotion either. “The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did)” offers a blunt, fast-paced, realistic approach to promoting democracy abroad in a “more honest, more modest, more generous” way, minus the hubris and alienation that the author says characterized Bush’s efforts.
Turning to the other end of democracy promotion, “Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World” by Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso looks at the specific experiences of 10 Arab countries whose governments have taken some steps toward political reform, offering insights into the process, problems, conflicting internal interests, and limitations of external actors, while drawing lessons on how to make international democracy promotion more effective.
Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher’s 312-page memoir “The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation” also looks at Arab reform from the perspective of a pragmatic diplomat who’s been intimately involved in Middle East peace negotiations (also see profile in October 2008 issue of The Washington Diplomat). His basic message: Time is rapidly running out for a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, as he offers keen observations — and criticisms — of both Arabs and Jews in what the Economist called a “painstakingly fair-minded and sensible memoir.”
At the other end of Arab moderation and negotiating peace with Israel are Islamic fanatics, notably al-Qaeda. Bruce Riedel traces how that network has evolved since 9/11 in “The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future.” According to Riedel, al Qaeda’s ultimate goals are to drive America from the Muslim world, destroy Israel, and create a jihadist caliphate along the lines of the Ottoman Empire at its height.
Marc Sageman, a former CIA officer, offers a very different perspective of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda in “Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century.” According to David Ignatius of the Washington Post, what distinguishes the book “is that it peels away the emotional, reflexive responses to terrorism that have grown up since Sept. 11, 2001, and looks instead at scientific data Sageman has collected on more than 500 Islamic terrorists — to understand who they are, why they attack and how to stop them.”
The result: We’ve been exaggerating the terrorist threat and actually making it worse with bad policies such as the Iraq war, according to Sageman. Though there are terrorists out there, he says it’s not as many as you think, they don’t pose an existential threat to the West, and many of today’s jihadists are “terrorist wannabes” looking for thrills. His advice: “take the glory and thrill out of terrorism.”
But in “The Age of the Warrior,” Robert Fisk uses a collection of essays and stories — including three interviews with Osama bin Laden — to show how innate violence is to humanity, amplifying the blood-stained past and present in which we live — from the London bombings to the streets of Lebanon.
In stark contrast to these mostly male-oriented books, 60 Israeli and Palestinian women offer their own vision of peace and ways to achieve it — along with their own unique experiences as women — in “Sixty Years Sixty Voices,” by Patricia Smith Melton, founder of the international nonprofit Peace X Peace. Written in English, Hebrew and Arabic, the book uses a straightforward format of short essays by 30 women from each side of the conflict and from all walks of life. It recently debuted in Washington, D.C., in a reception hosted at the Swedish Embassy.
If they haven’t already, Washington diplomats will also want to pick up “The King’s Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan,” which offers a glimpse at one of the most influential, and elusive, diplomats of our time. “At once the king’s exclusive messenger and the White House’s errand boy,” according to author David Ottaway, former Saudi Ambassador Bandar enjoyed tremendous influence during his long tenure in Washington. Other Bandar books include Patrick Tyler’s “A World of Trouble” and “Innocent Abroad” by Martin Indyk. But Ottaway has an insider’s advantage: During his 35 years at the Washington Post, the reporter observed the Saudi diplomat closely and interviewed him often. The result: a gripping tale that charts the rocky road of an enigmatic diplomatic — mirroring the journey somewhat of his equally enigmatic country.
Turning to another hotspot, Shuja Nawaz’s “Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within,” based on 30 years of research, is a valuable resource in understanding the complexity and opaque nature of the Pakistani army and its turbulent relationship with the United States.
Of course, two-time former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto herself had a turbulent relationship with that army. Her final book, “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West” was finished just two days before the Harvard- and Oxford-educated Bhutto was killed by Islamic extremists in a December 2007 assassination. “Reconciliation” remains a hauntingly powerful plea for the Islamic world to avoid a clash of civilizations.
Shifting to two other major global players, “Persian Dreams: Moscow and Tehran Since the Fall of the Shah” is a useful primer on Moscow’s ties with the Islamic Republic since 1979. John W. Parker of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department, also considers the impact those ties have on recent problems such as Iran’s accelerating nuclear program.
Two informative books that focus on Russia and its evolving international role are “Russia and Globalization: Identity, Security, and Society in an Era of Change,” edited by Douglas W. Blum, and “Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin’s Legacy” by Thomas Gomart. Or look back at another controversial Russian president in the meticulous biography “Yeltsin: A Life” by Timothy J. Colton.
The world’s other emerging economic giant, China, is examined in “China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities” by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell. Designed to help the United States better comprehend the facts and dynamics underpinning China’s rise, the book discusses a wide array of topics, from China’s military modernization, to its corruption and social unrest, to its increasing use of soft power.
On that note, “Asian Diplomacy” by Kishan S. Rana evaluates the diplomatic initiatives of five major Asian countries, while “New Frontiers in Free Trade: Globalization’s Future and Asia’s Rising Role” by Razeen Sally delineates the key trends in free trade and international commerce, exploring the market power of China and Asia.
Another growing power gets probed in “India: The Emerging Giant” by Arvind Panagariya, who delves into how the world’s largest democracy has transformed the global game, while proposing specific, innovative reforms — such as school vouchers or cash transfers for health care — where government services have failed those left behind by India’s boom.
 China and India’s explosion has also strained already-strained resources, which will have fundamental consequences for the world pecking order, according to Michael T. Klare, author of “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy,” who is profiled in the January 2009 issue of The Washington Diplomat. Klare looks at this “new international energy order,” in which “petro-superpowers” like Russia and “Chindia” are pushing the U.S. lower on the totem pole, as well as the potentially catastrophic race ahead for dwindling natural resources.
To that end, many experts predict water will overtake oil in the resources race, and a little-known book sheds light on a common, deadly, but often unmentionable problem related to water scarcity. Rose George’s “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters” is an enlightening contribution to the worldwide water debate, pointing out that disease spread by human excrement kills more children each year than HIV, TB and malaria combined, and that open defecation is the leading cause of some of the deadliest, but most ignored, communicable diseases affecting our world’s population today.
Closer to home, “The Green Collar Economy” by Van Jones suggests its own solutions to both save the environment and rescue the U.S. economy — which is built on and powered almost exclusively by oil, natural gas and coal, all fast-diminishing nonrenewable resources.
The ailing global economy, meanwhile, is explored in Martin Wolf’s “Fixing Global Finance,” which takes aim at the causes of the current financial crisis and what it calls the dysfunctional system of global finance.
For a more detailed and immediate glimpse at how individual economies are faring, the “Economic Freedom of the World” is an invaluable and well-respected resource. The annual report — compiled this year by coauthors James Gwartney and Robert Lawson of the Fraser Institute and Cato Institute —measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom, looking at factors such as personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and security of privately owned property.
Although wealth all across the world has taken a massive hit with the current economic turmoil, the rich are — if not getting richer — at least still rich compared to the rest of us. Hence, “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making” by David Rothkopf Farrar, which was released earlier this year but still offers a relevant, compelling argument on how a select group of people are shaping everything from world religions to corporations to governments to globalization as we know it.
Robert Kagan takes a dismal view not of global wealth but of globalization in “The Return of History and the End of Dreams.” Widely regarded as a leading intellectual of the neoconservative school of foreign policy, Kagan says that hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by less-than-hopeful realities, as competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional and ideological conflict. Although criticized for whitewashing the Iraq war — which he ardently supported — Kagan does effectively point out how expectations that a post-Cold War world would enter an era of geopolitical convergence have proven wrong.
Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier, meanwhile, use the end of the Cold War as the basis for “America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11,” starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, and ending with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was during this decade that “the ideas and dynamics that characterize the current era took shape,” the authors argue, including “the economic, political, and security challenges created by globalization; the rise of non-state actors; the threat of weapons of mass destruction; the dangers that emanate from weak or failing states; the possibilities and limits of international institutions; and questions about whether and how to use America’s preponderant power to meet global responsibilities.”
Other recent musings on America’s place in the world include: “World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy” by Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth; “The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President,” edited by Nancy Birdsall of the Center for Global Development; “Empires of Trust: How Rome Built—and America Is Building—A New World” by Thomas F. Madden; and “Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment” by William Inboden.
Of course, America’s new leader, Barack Obama, will have his hands full trying to figure out America’s place in the world, and there’s no shortage of advice for the president-elect. Two recent books that offer Day One recommendations and a comprehensive outline of the headaches Obama will face include “Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power” by James B. Steinberg and Kurt M. Campbell, as well as David E. Sanger’s “The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power.”
And one final note, for diplomats looking for advice on more pedestrian though no less important problems — including how to address the brand-new U.S. president and other protocol conundrums — “Honor & Respect: The Official Guide to Names, Titles & Forms of Address” by Robert Hickey of the Protocol School of Washington is a helpful guide. How much can you say though about addressing letters and greeting people? The intricately researched tome runs more than 500 pages.
Photos: W.W. Nortan and Company ("Post-American World"); Farrar, Straus and Giroux ("Hot, Flat and Crowded"); and Michael T. Klare ("Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet")
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