Foreign service officers are often subject to circumstances beyond their control. Such was the case when a diplomatic quarrel occurred…
Why use diplomatic oral histories in the classroom?
Diplomacy is the art of conducting international relations, negotiating alliances, and exercising tact and skill in dealing with people of…
Lessons from Haiti: Why Security-Only Interventions Fail
Haiti has been plagued with instability for much of its existence, despite being the second country in the Americas to…
A Big Delegation For a Small Consulate: President Reagan visits Shanghai
With a presidential visit comes months of preparation and stress. While big embassies with hundreds of staff members are often…
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…
Senegal’s Locust Plague in the late 1980s
The year is 1986. A Senegalese farmer walks out in his field a short while after the drought season has…
Russia–Ukraine Tensions
This moment is one of four in a series about Russia, Ukraine, and U.S. relations in a world of post-Ukrainian…
Ukrainian Nationalism in an Independence Era
This “Moment in U.S. Diplomatic History” is one of four in a series about Russia, Ukraine, and U.S. relations in…
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum Remarks to the Washington International Diplomatic Academy Ambassador Chas W.…
Captivating Times in India—What it Means to Travel Across the World as a Foreign Service Officer
Upon joining the Foreign Service, most officers are immediately assigned to locations all over the world. Postings can vary from…