21st Century American Foreign Policy: The Militarization of Diplomacy
VIEW EVENT DETAILSOver the past 20 years America has faced a growing imbalance between the roles of diplomacy, development and defense. Currently, resources are overwhelmingly provided to the Department of Defense, while support for diplomacy and development have been neglected. In fact, there are more members of the military band than there are State Department officials.
The US currently lacks the personnel, competencies, and necessary funding to achieve our global foreign policy goals. These limitations have caused the military to absorb diplomatic repsonsibilities by default. While this can be effective in an emergency or wartime situation, the military solution is unsustainable.
Additionally, the demands on the military have reduced forces available for purely military tasks and in turn has added to the strain caused by two wars and repeated deployments.
A recent study conducted by the Henry L. Stimson Center, the American Foreign Service Association, and the American Academy of Diplomacy stresses that our current international challenges do not solely have a military solution and makes recommendations for ways to enhance the current training and education for diplomats to ensure long term foreign policy success.
Two members involved in the study, Ambassadors Ronald Neumann and Thomas Boyatt, will explore how we reached this imbalance and provide specific steps for putting our nation back on track toward effective diplomacy.
As the current President of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Ambassador Ronald Neumann has focused particularly on efforts to expand State and USAID personnel to enable these institutions to carry out their responsibilities. He is the author of The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghanistan (Potomac Press, 2009) a book on his time in Afghanistan. He is the author of a number of monographs and articles. Formerly a Deputy Assistant Secretary, Neumann served three times as an Ambassador: to Algeria, Bahrain and finally to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from July 2005 to April 2007.
In addition to a 26-year career in the Foreign Service, Ambassador Thomas Boyatt currently serves as the President of the Foreign Affiars Council, an umbrella group of 11 organizations supporting the processes of diplomacy and the Foreign Service; Treasurer of the American Foreign Service Association's PAC; a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy; and Chair of the Academy's recent project and report "A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future" (FAB).
Event Details
Asia Society Washington, The Cinnabar Room, Whittemore House, 2nd Flr., 1526 New Hampshire Ave, NW