There’s never a dull moment in the life of a USAID social anthropologist! The foreign service can indeed present a…
George Herrmann’s Excellent Adventures in West Africa, South America, East Asia, and More
Have you ever seen a monkey in an airport? How about the Dalai Lama? Have you visited the world’s first…
Yellow Rain in Southeast Asia: Bee Pollen or Deadly Weapon?
The 1925 Geneva Protocol put in place a worldwide ban on chemical weapons, but the necessity and handling of such…
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…
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…
An Embassy at War: Labor Management in South Vietnam
The roles of embassies and their staff vary greatly by countries and regions, though few can claim themselves to be…
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…
Rivalry in the Southeast: Preah Vihear Temple Dispute Between Cambodia and Thailand
Foreign Service Officer Thomas Donohue served in both continental and archipelagic Southeast Asia during a tumultuous period in which countries…
The Aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis in Indonesia
During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, confidence in the Indonesian government plummeted. Foreign investment fled the country as the value…