A Foreign Service Primer.

AuthorGilbert, Richard
Position"Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service" - Book review

A Foreign Service Primer

Harry W. Kopp and Charles A. Gillespie, Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service, Georgetown University Press, 2008, ISBN 13 978-1589012196, 266 pp. $17.79

Just when you thought you knew it all, along come Harry Kopp and the late Chas Gillespie with Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service, a near-perfect primer on the profession, filled with novel insights and fresh information, especially useful for younger eyes checking out today's Foggy Bottom job possibilities, but with more than a few new and interesting bits for the codger class too.

As Kopp and Gillespie tell us, their work is "a guide to the foreign service as it is, with a look back at what it was and a look ahead at what it may become." The book describes the Foreign Service "as an institution, a profession, and a career. It provides a full and rounded picture of the organization, its place in history, its strengths and weaknesses, and its role in American foreign affairs." According to the authors, the book "is not a polemic. [We] have (mostly) resisted the temptation to tell the world what is wrong and how to set it right."

Can a "descriptive, not prescriptive" work that treats the organizational structure of the Department of State, nearly forgotten history, arcane processes within the profession and other diplomatic marginalia be classified as a page-turner? Well, maybe not. Still, with a few spot-on bon mots like "A foreign service career is like a good limerick: It has unpredictable content in a predictable form," Kopp and Gillespie manage to steer through choppy and sometimes murky waters to describe with accuracy and intelligence the state of State and the struggling career minions at its core.

The authors are at their best in weighing "transformation diplomacy" and stepping aside to allow Foreign Service voices to describe their experiences in Iraq since 2004. The revelatory recollections of dedicated, smart FSO PRT...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT