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A review by sarsaparillo
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
4.0
This book reads like a series of beautifully written long-form articles on a theme - exposés, character profiles, and field reporting - rather than a comprehensive history. The theme is the decline in power and prestige of the US's diplomatic institutions, and the loss of talent and soft power.
The time period covered is mostly the last few administrations, but opens with a chilling description of the mass firings that took place in the State Department during the Trump transition, which sets the stage well.
Much of the book is focused on Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Farrow's former (late) boss, Richard Holbrooke spent a lot of his time. A chapter on Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum is entertaining and evocative and he serves as prime example of recurring problem. That is: recruitment of convenient allies from the ranks of dubious military groups, which can at some other time become just the sort of anti-democratic human-rights abusers that the US is purportedly out to stop. After finally pulling the spotlight away from central Asia, a series of other examples are found from Egypt to Columbia.
The story told is one of rival departments pushing policies of "war" or "peace", at the mercy of White House favour, The trend away is from the State Department's diplomatic solutions to international problems and toward a higher proportion of military generals in advisory roles. The result is a litany of errors, many of which Farrow contends could have been avoided or softened had the deep expertise of the diplomatic leadership been heeded.
The picture he paints is bleak: as the State Department withers, it loses much of its senior talent, and aspiring diplomats are discouraged from signing up, or simply prevented from doing so by quotas. The resulting brain drain is a wound that could take decades to heal, assuming the political will to do so even returns.
The book is entirely focused on the US foreign service and doesn't make any attempt to investigate the goings-on within the corresponding institutions of other countries. A tour of such might make for another fascinating book, and I'd love any recommendations along those lines.
The time period covered is mostly the last few administrations, but opens with a chilling description of the mass firings that took place in the State Department during the Trump transition, which sets the stage well.
Much of the book is focused on Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Farrow's former (late) boss, Richard Holbrooke spent a lot of his time. A chapter on Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum is entertaining and evocative and he serves as prime example of recurring problem. That is: recruitment of convenient allies from the ranks of dubious military groups, which can at some other time become just the sort of anti-democratic human-rights abusers that the US is purportedly out to stop. After finally pulling the spotlight away from central Asia, a series of other examples are found from Egypt to Columbia.
The story told is one of rival departments pushing policies of "war" or "peace", at the mercy of White House favour, The trend away is from the State Department's diplomatic solutions to international problems and toward a higher proportion of military generals in advisory roles. The result is a litany of errors, many of which Farrow contends could have been avoided or softened had the deep expertise of the diplomatic leadership been heeded.
The picture he paints is bleak: as the State Department withers, it loses much of its senior talent, and aspiring diplomats are discouraged from signing up, or simply prevented from doing so by quotas. The resulting brain drain is a wound that could take decades to heal, assuming the political will to do so even returns.
The book is entirely focused on the US foreign service and doesn't make any attempt to investigate the goings-on within the corresponding institutions of other countries. A tour of such might make for another fascinating book, and I'd love any recommendations along those lines.