The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal
William J. Burns
From America’s “secret diplomatic weapon” (The Atlantic)—a man who served five presidents and ten secretaries of state—comes an impassioned argument for the enduring value of diplomacy in an increasingly volatile world.
In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed. Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.
“Bill Burns is a treasure of American diplomacy.” – Hillary Clinton
“The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.” –Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci
Diplomacy
Henry Kissinger
DIPLOMACY is the now-classic history of international relations by the former Secretary of State and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Kissinger’s intimate portraits of world leaders, many from personal experience, provide the reader with a unique insight into what really goes on – and whyИ – behind the closed doors of the corridors of power.
“An elegantly written study of Western diplomacy….Shrewd, often vexing, and consistently absorbing.” – Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy (Oxford Handbooks)
by Andrew F. Cooper (Editor), Jorge Heine (Editor), Ramesh Thakur (Editor)
At a time when diplomatic practices and the demands imposed on diplomats are changing quite radically, and many foreign ministries feel they are being left behind, there is a need to understand the various forces that are affecting the profession. Diplomacy remains a salient activity in today’s world in which the basic authoritative actor is still the state. At the same time, in some respects the practice of diplomacy is undergoing significant, even radical, changes to the context, tools, actors and domain of the trade. These changes spring from the changing nature of the state, the changing nature of the world order, and the interplay between them. One way of describing this is to say that we are seeing increased interaction between two forms of diplomacy, ‘club diplomacy’ and ‘network diplomacy’. The former is based on a small number of players, a highly hierarchical structure, based largely on written communication and on low transparency; the latter is based on a much larger number of players (particularly of civil society), a flatter structure, a more significant oral component, and greater transparency.
The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy is an authoritative reference tool for those studying and practicing modern diplomacy. It provides an up-to-date compendium of the latest developments in the field. Written by practitioners and scholars, the Handbook describes the elements of constancy and continuity and the changes that are affecting diplomacy. The Handbook goes further and gives insight to where the profession is headed in the future. Co-edited by three distinguished academics and former practitioners, the Handbook provides comprehensive analysis and description of the state of diplomacy in the 21st Century and is an essential resource for diplomats, practitioners and academics.
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
Timothy Snyder
With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. This faith was misplaced. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Vladimir Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States.
Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself. The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies.
In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. By revealing the stark choices before us – between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood – Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.
“A brilliant analysis of our time.” – Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker
Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Relations
Alister Miskimmon, Ben O’Loughlin, Laura Roselle
Forging the World brings together leading scholars in International Relations (IR) and Communication Studies to investigate how, when, and why strategic narratives shape the structure, politics, and policies of the global system. Put simply, strategic narratives are tools that political actors employ to promote their interests, values, and aspirations for the international order by managing expectations and altering the discursive environment. These narratives define “who we are” and “what kind of world order we want.”
“It will be a ‘must-read’ not only for those focused on international political communication but for those in the contemporary study of IR as well. This is a well-crafted book that will have a broad and interested readership both inside and outside of academia.”— Sarah Oates, University of Maryland
The Future of Diplomacy
Philip Seib
Never before has diplomacy evolved at such a rapid pace. It is being transformed into a global participatory process by new media tools and a newly empowered public. ‘Public diplomacy’ has taken center stage as diplomats strive to reach and influence audiences that are better informed and more assertive than any in the past.
In this crisp and insightful analysis, Philip Seib, one of the world’s top experts on media and foreign policy, explores the future of diplomacy in our hyper-connected world. He shows how the focus of diplomatic practice has shifted away from the closed-door, top-level negotiations of the past. Today’s diplomats are obliged to respond instantly to the latest crisis fueled by a YouTube video or Facebook post. This has given rise to a more open and reactive approach to global problem-solving with consequences that are difficult to predict. Drawing on examples from the Iran nuclear negotiations to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Seib argues persuasively for this new versatile and flexible public-facing diplomacy; one that makes strategic use of both new media and traditional diplomatic processes to manage the increasingly complex relations between states and new non-state political actors in the 21st Century.
Media Nations: Communicating Belonging and Exclusion in the Modern World
Sabina Mihelj
Media Nations: Communicating Belonging and Exclusion in the Modern World provides an original interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the media and nationalism in the modern world. Building on a range of international case studies and taking into account recent debates about globalization, cosmopolitanism and alternative modernities, Sabina Mihelj offers an insightful analysis that:
– Argues for the continuing relevance of concepts such as nationalism and national identity in understanding the global patterns of mediated communication and identification
– Bridges the gap between text-based analysis of national imagination and the more sociological concerns with the impact of media institutions and the broader political and economic context
– Challenges the tacit ethnocentrism of existing debates, and opens up the study of nationalism and mass communication to the multiple trajectories of modernity around the globe
Media Nations is an important and timely contribution to debates on the media, nationalism and modernity.
The Culture Map (INTL ED): Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things
Erin Meyer
An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life.
Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in the hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It’s no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out.
In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.
HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Change Management (including featured article “Leading Change,” by John P. Kotter)
by Harvard Business Review , John P. Kotter, W. Chan Kim, Renée A. Mauborgne
An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life.
Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in the hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It’s no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out.
In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.
Places: Identity, Image and Reputation
Simon Anholt
Places depend on their reputations for almost everything in the modern world: tourism, foreign investment, the respect and interest of the international media, attracting talented immigrants and students, cultural exchanges, and engaging peacefully and productively with the governments of other places. But what can actually be done to understand and measure the reputations of places, and even to influence them? Are they simply ‘brand images’ like the images of products, that can be influenced at will by the tricks and techniques of commercial marketing? Or are they, as Simon Anholt argues, deeply rooted cultural phenomena that move – if they move at all – very slowly, and only in response to major events and changes in the places themselves? This new collection of essays by the ‘father of place branding, Simon Anholt, reveals compelling and essential new thinking on the nature of national reputation.
Strategic Communication: An Introduction
Strategic communication comprises different forms of goal-oriented communication inside and between organizations, their stakeholders, and society. Strategic communication is an emerging practice and research field integrating established disciplines such as public relations, organizational communication, and marketing communication into a holistic framework. The field is based on an awareness of the fundamental importance of communication for the existence and performance of all organizations.
This textbook offers a broad insight into the field of strategic communication. The main aim of the book is to give a general overview of theories, concepts, and methods in strategic communication. The book also aims to develop an understanding of different perspectives and the consequences each one has for practice. After reading the book the student or reader will be able to define and reflect upon strategic communication as an academic field and professional approach, describe relevant theories and apply these to communication problems.
The authors apply a reflective and practice-oriented approach meaning earlier research or theories are not only described but also discussed from different critical perspectives. A practice-oriented approach means, in this book, that the authors strongly emphasize the role of contexts and situations—where strategic communication actually happens. This book will help business and communications students not only define and understand a variety of strategic communications theories but to use those theories to generate communication strategies and solutions.
The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Unione
Serhii Plokhy
On Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush’s speech and has persisted for decades – with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world.
As prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in The Last Empire, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. Bush, in fact, was firmly committed to supporting Gorbachev as he attempted to hold together the USSR in the face of growing independence movements in its republics. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union’s final months, providing invaluable insight into the origins of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the outset of the most dangerous crisis in East-West relations since the end of the Cold War.
There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity
Fiona Hill
An urgent warning that America is on the brink of a socioeconomic collapse and authoritarian swing that could rival modern Russia’s—from the celebrated foreign policy expert who served as a key witness in the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Growing up in England’s coal-mining country, Fiona Hill knew that she was in a forgotten place. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father told her to get out—to go to London, or Europe, or America. “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said.
Hill managed to go further than her father ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served on the National Security Council. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the US, she saw grim reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from systemic collapse. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and explains that only by expanding opportunity can we save our democracy.
“This book has a miraculous quality…. As a memoir this is hard to put down; if you are seeking a better American future you should pick it up.”— Timothy Snyder, New York Times
Persuasion and Power: The Art of Strategic Communication
James P. Farwell
Now more than ever, in the arenas of national security, diplomacy, and military operations, effective communication strategy is of paramount importance. A 24/7 television, radio, and Internet news cycle paired with an explosion in social media demands it. According to James P. Farwell, an expert in communication strategy and cyber war who has advised the U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND and the Department of Defense, and worked nationally and internationally as a media and political consultant, this book examines how colorful figures in history from Julius Caesar to Winston Churchill, Napoleon to Hugo Chavez, Martin Luther to Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, have forged communication strategies to influence audiences. Mark Twain said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but rhymes. In showing how major leaders have moved audiences, Farwell bears out Twain’s thesis. Obama and Luther each wanted to reach a mass audience. Obama used social media and the Internet. Luther used the printing press. But the strategic mindset was similar. Hugo Chavez identifies with Simon Bolivar, but his attitude towards the media more closely echoes Napoleon. Caesar used coins to build his image in ways that echo the modern use of campaign buttons. His “triumphs,” enormous parades to celebrate military victories, celebrated his achievements and aimed to impress the populace with his power and greatness. Adolph Hitler employed a similar tactic with his torchlight parades. The book shows how the US government’s approach to strategic communication has been misguided. It offers a colorful, incisive critical evaluation of the concepts, doctrines, and activities that the US Department of Defense and Department of State employ for psychological operations, military information support operations, propaganda, and public diplomacy. Persuasion and Power is a book about the art of communication strategy, how it is used, where, and why. Farwell’s adroit use of vivid examples produce a well-researched, entertaining story that illustrates how its principles have made a critical difference throughout history in the outcomes of crises, conflicts, politics, and diplomacy across different cultures and societies.
Empire of Ideas: The Origins of Public Diplomacy and the Transformation of U. S. Foreign Policy
Justin Hart
Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications, by Karen Covering the period from 1936 to 1953, Empire of Ideas reveals how and why image first became a component of foreign policy, prompting policymakers to embrace such techniques as propaganda, educational exchanges, cultural exhibits, overseas libraries, and domestic public relations.
Drawing upon exhaustive research in official government records and the private papers of top officials in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, including newly declassified material, Justin Hart takes the reader back to the dawn of what Time-Life publisher Henry Luce would famously call the “American century,” when U.S. policymakers first began to think of the nation’s image as a foreign policy issue. Beginning with the Buenos Aires Conference in 1936 – which grew out of FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America – Hart traces the dramatic growth of public diplomacy in the war years and beyond. The book describes how the State Department established the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Public and Cultural Affairs in 1944, with Archibald MacLeish–the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Librarian of Congress – the first to fill the post. Hart shows that the ideas of MacLeish became central to the evolution of public diplomacy, and his influence would be felt long after
his tenure in government service ended. The book examines a wide variety of propaganda programs, including the Voice of America, and concludes with the creation of the United States Information Agency in 1953, bringing an end to the first phase of U. S. public diplomacy.
Empire of Ideas remains highly relevant today when U. S. officials have launched full-scale propaganda to combat negative perceptions in the Arab world and elsewhere. Hart’s study illuminates the similar efforts of a previous generation of policymakers, explaining why our ability to shape our image is, in the end, quite limited.
“This timely and important book fills an important gap in the historical literature on the history of U.S. foreign policy, and it provides a very good overview of the origins of U.S. public diplomacy. This book, a useful summary of the origins of public diplomacy, will probably be the standard one-volume study for years to come.” James Siekmeier, Journal of American History
Australia and the United Nation
Cotton, James [Editor]; Lee, David [Editor]
This landmark reference work is the first complete history of Australia and its relationship with, and role within, the United Nations. On 17 January 1946, when the United Nations Security Council held its inaugural session, an Australian representative, Norman Makin, presided. If all members adhered to the principles of the United Nations Charter, predicted Makin, the United Nations would become “a great power for the good of the world, bringing that freedom from fear, which is necessary before we can hope for progress and welfare in all lands”. Australia and the United Nations trace how Australia committed itself to the United Nations project, from before the convening of the first United Nations Security Council until the eve of its election to a fifth term on that body. The book begins with Australian involvement with the organization that preceded the United Nations, the League of Nations. It then analyses the role played by the Australian Minister for External Affairs, HV Evatt, and his staff in framing the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945. Three chapters analyze Australia’s diplomacy towards the Security Council, its efforts in peacekeeping, and evolving policies and attitudes towards arms control and disarmament. Two chapters discuss Australia’s engagement with the United Nations manifold specialized agencies and the role of the broader UN family in development. Another two chapters are devoted to a study of Australia’s role in areas of United Nations operation only dimly foreseen by its founders at San Francisco-decolonisation and the environment. The two final chapters examine Australia’s contribution to the promotion of human rights and international law and the important role it has played in seeking to improve the United Nations’ performance to equip it to meet new challenges in global politics. Australia and the United Nations tell us what was done in the past, and why. non-profit advocacy―gives you a broad base of knowledge that will serve you wherever your career may lead.
China in the World: An Anthropology of Confucius Institutes, Soft Power, and Globalization
Jennifer Hubbert
Confucius Institutes, the language and culture programs funded by the Chinese government, have been established in more than 1,500 schools worldwide since their debut in 2004. A centerpiece of China’s soft power policy, they represent an effort to smooth China’s path to superpower status by enhancing its global appeal. Yet Confucius Institutes have given rise to voluble and contentious public debate in host countries, where they have been both welcomed as a source of educational funding and feared as spy outposts, neocolonial incursions, and obstructions to academic freedom. China in the World turns an anthropological lens on this most visible, ubiquitous, and controversial globalization project in an effort to provide fresh insight into China’s shifting place in the world.
Author Jennifer Hubbert takes the study of soft power policy into the classroom, offering an anthropological intervention into a subject that has been dominated by the methods and analyses of international relations and political science. She argues that concerns about Confucius Institutes reflect broader debates over globalization and modernity and ultimately about a changing global order. Examining the production of soft power policy in situ allows us to move beyond program intentions to see how Confucius Institutes are actually understood and experienced in day-to-day classroom interactions. By assessing the perspectives of participants and exploring the complex ways in which students, teachers, parents, and program administrators interpret the Confucius Institute curriculum, she highlights significant gaps between China’s soft power policy intentions and the effects of those policies in practice.
China in the World brings original, long-term ethnographic research to bear on how representations of and knowledge about China are constructed, consumed, and articulated in encounters between China, the United States, and the Confucius Institute programs themselves. It moves a controversial topic beyond the realm of policy making to examine the mechanisms through which policy is implemented, engaged, and contested by a multitude of stakeholders and actors. It provides new insight into how policy actually works, showing that it takes more than financial wherewithal and official resolve to turn cultural presence into power.
New Zealand Government and Politics
Hayward Janine
New Zealand Government and Politics is the principle guide to the political context, institutions and processes of government in New Zealand. It provides students with a clear and comprehensive introduction to the history, theory and knowledge required to understand the New Zealand political system. The eight-part structure of this leading textbook is designed to gradually build a cohesive picture of New Zealand politics and end-of-chapter discussion questions help readers engage with key concepts.
Here, Right Matters: An American Story
Alexander Vindman
Right Matters is Vindman’s proud, passionate, and candid account of his family, his career, and the moment of truth he faced for his nation. As an immigrant, raised by a father who fled the Soviet Union in pursuit of a better life for his children, Vindman learned about respect for truth throughout his education and military service. As this memoir makes clear, his decision to speak up about the July 25th call was never a choice: it was Vindman’s duty, as a naturalized citizen and member of the armed forces. In the wake of his testimony, he would endure furious partisan attacks on his record and his loyalty. But far louder was the extraordinary chorus of support from citizens who were collectively intent on reaffirming an abiding American commitment to integrity. In the face of a sure-fire career derailment and public excoriation, Vindman heeded the lessons from the people and institutions who instilled in him the moral compass and the courage to act decisively. Like so many other American immigrant families, the Vindmans had to learn to build a life from scratch and take big risks to achieve important goals. Here, Right Matters is about the quiet heroes who keep us safe; but, above all, it is a call to arms for those who refuse to let America betray its true self.
Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications
Karen Freberg
Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications, by Karen Freberg teaches you the skills and principles needed to use social media in persuasive communication campaigns. The book combines cutting-edge research with practical, on-the-ground instruction to prepare you for the real-world challenges you will face in the workplace. The text addresses the influence of social media technologies, strategies, actions, and the strategic mindset needed by social media professionals today. Focusing on strategic thinking and awareness gives you the tools you need to adapt what you learn to new platforms and technologies that may emerge in the future. A broad focus on strategic communication―from PR, advertising, and marketing, to non-profit advocacy―gives you a broad base of knowledge that will serve you wherever your career may lead.