Talking to Strangers

By Monteagle Stearns

Book Overview

In this discerning book, Monteagle Stearns, a former career diplomat and ambassador, argues that U.S. foreign policymakers do not need a new doctrine, as some commentators have suggested, but rather a new attitude toward international affairs and, most especially, new ways of learning from the Foreign Service. True, the word strangers in his title refers to foreigners. However, it also refers to American foreign policymakers and American diplomats, whose failure to "speak each other's language" deprives American foreign policy of realism and coherence. In a world where regions have become more important than blocs, and ethnic and transnational problems more important than superpower rivalries, American foreign policy must be better informed if it is to be more effective. The insights required will come not from summit meetings or television specials but from the firsthand observations of trained Foreign Service officers. Stearns has not written an apologia for the American Foreign Service, however. Indeed, his criticism of many of its weaknesses is biting. Ranging from a description of Benjamin Franklin's mission to France to an analysis of the Gulf War and its aftermath, he offers a balanced critique of how American diplomacy developed in reaction to European models and how it needs to be changed to satisfy the demands of the twenty-first century. Full of examples drawn from Stearns's extensive experience, Talking to Strangers addresses the problems that arise not only from an overly politicized foreign policy process but also from excessive bureaucratization and lack of leadership in the Foreign Service itself. Anyone interested in our nation's future will benefit from reading Stearns's pull-no-punches analysis of why improving American diplomacy should be a matter of urgent concern to us all.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691011303
• ISBN13: 9780691011301
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The state of American diplomacy today

Monteagle Stearns is a former career diplomat and ambassador who addresses an important question for those interested and involved in foreign affairs: "how well equipped, led, managed, and deployed" is the U.S. diplomatic apparatus today? In answering this question, Mr. Stearns presents the reader with an excellent assessment of the U.S. Foreign Service and its relationship both with the rest of the government and with other countries. In almost every chapter, I found myself thinking, "Yes, he's right on the money about that." His recommendations for change are well-reasoned and badly needed. It is unfortunate that policymakers have been slow in implementing useful change in the State Department and the Foreign Service. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in becoming FSO's or those with an academic interest in policymaking and diplomacy.