New Podcast

PRI: America Abroad

I just listened to the latest one - Diplomacy Under Fire. Fascinating to listen - began with an interview with Ryan Crocker (whohoo Spokane), moving onto a discussion about Plan Colombia, and the efforts of the State Department to reinvent itself - how officers no longer wine, dine, and talk, but instead go out and help build a community.

Basically, with the absorption of USAID and taking on the 'development' part of foreign affairs, as well as the diplomacy, the Department of State is best served by blurring the line between the two concepts. Development, as an aspect of strategy, deals with failing or failed states, which diplomacy inherently cannot deal with because there is no state function. While the Department of State still has to serve the traditional role of establishing American presence abroad, this role has to be melded for two reasons.

First, the absurdly high number of states needed development aid means before there can be an American presence, there has to be an American effort to make these states into something beyond a hollow term. FSO's who deal with a state in the development phase can help that state transition much easier than rotating them out when some arbitrary line has been crossed. Second, thinking of establishing an American presence in individual states, say, in Central Asia is like, so last century (that is how CNN would report it. You know, they really care about what you say. You can talk about the discussions you had at lunch period on their broadcast and it will be real news! Because really, we all care).

Aherm. Anyway, as was first introduced to me in the Bottom Billion, and as Rashid continues it in Descent into Chaos, stability in the countries where it is most needed exists in large part outside that country. In central Asia, stability in Afghanistan will depend on Pakistan (obviously), but also on the states on the northern border - Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the like. What's needed is an aid strategy for a region - the Marshall Plan is always cited here. But whatever it is, it should help pick a region up rather than focus solely on one state.

This entails a sustained, focused, continually refined, strategy based on an understanding of each state, its relation to its neighbors, the history of the region, and the different cultures involved in any such effort. Hence, its a complete and utter fantasy because these concepts are anathema to those members of our government who control the purse, so I'll just stop now before I get my hopes up.