Have you ever seen a monkey in an airport? How about the Dalai Lama? Have you visited the world’s first…
Development in South Asia and Latin America: USAID in the ‘90s
There’s never a dull moment in the life of a USAID social anthropologist! The foreign service can indeed present a…
Methodist Missionary: A Future Ambassador’s Historical Experience in South Korea
Korean Christianity appears to observers as embedded in Korean history and tradition. However, this is not the case, as Korean…
Resolving the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Issue—Treaty of Bangkok
During the 1990s, there were many international agreements created to limit nuclear weapons and the potential consequential effects of deploying…
One Size Fits None—U.S. Reform Dilemmas in South Africa
One reform to fix them all. What could be more ideal than this? Unfortunately, such a dream will forever lie…
Building a Country from Scratch—The South Sudanese Transition to Independence (2005-2011)
Creating a country ex nihilo is never an easy feat. How does one construct functional government institutions from scratch in…
60 Minutes in Central America: The Politicization of Development During the Cold War
Complex geopolitical realities, poor leadership, and economic dysfunction characterized the Cold War in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. USAID (United…
The Thai-tanic: Responding to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997
Asian countries took a financial hit in 1997, resulting in a crisis that reverberated throughout the world. It began on…
The 1980 Kwangju Massacre and the Surge in Anti-Americanism in South Korea
In 1980, a democratization movement spread throughout South Korea following the assassination of Park Chung-hee, which ended his 18-year authoritarian…
Afghanistan Project–Hugo Llorens
Ambassador Hugo Llorens Oral Histories of U.S. Diplomacy in Afghanistan, 2001–2021 Interviewed by: Robin Matthewman Initial interview date: September 22,…