Five stars

A New Diplomatic Power: You, February 14, 2014

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This is one of those rare books that when you reach the last page you have a moment of shocked disappointment that there isn’t more. I had been completely won over by Serwer’s vision and was ready to see more detail about how to make it happen when my Kindle announced the last page.

After I got over my disappointment that the book was really over, I went back to look at the paragraphs I had bookmarked. Almost all of them related to the role of citizen diplomacy. I had expected that the book would be mostly about government institutions and what they should and shouldn’t be doing. But what was most interesting about his arguments was how much the world has changed to allow individuals to have a greater impact, more even than the foreign affairs bureaucracy and in far more varied ways.  The core of Serwer’s book is about how to take advantage of that change, how to reflect the power of individuals and communities and civil society groups in shaping and implementing a foreign policy agenda. That means not only a major shift for the institutions and the people involved but for the nature of the agenda itself.

When Serwer does talk about the traditional institutions, he presents the radical—though completely reasonable—changes they could make to be relevant to the challenges facing us. But alongside his optimism on how this could be done (in our lifetime) there is also a note of cynicism about what would be required to overcome the parochial agency interests that would balk at every recommendation, the level of political leadership that would be needed for such an undertaking. My sense of outrage that such reasoned approaches would likely be blocked at every turn was tempered somewhat by the book’s underlying implication: that with the changes and advances in the influence of individuals and the private center, the bureaucracy might ultimately be forced to make these changes whether or not they take the opportunity to lead them. But how much more fulfilling it would be if our nation could recreate our foreign affairs institutions purposefully instead of being dragged into the future, kicking and screaming!

Serwer says in his introduction that this book is not intended for the people in Washington who work daily on these questions. In fact, “Righting the Balance” is just what they need to step back from the demands of the inboxes and think about why we are doing what we are doing, and how we can do it better.

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Anybody who has worked in either a civilian or military capacity trying to do nation-building while getting shot at understands perfectly what Daniel Serwer means about “Righting the Balance.” Similarly, anyone who spent time trying to get Congress and the Administration to provide the resources to create a civilian capacity to do what came to be called “stabilization and reconstruction operations” knows that the balance needs to be righted. Senior military officers charged with preparing their troops to do things that civilians should be doing are also frustrated. One general reportedly said something along the lines of: “I feel the civilian surge lapping around my ankles.” Serwer’s book explains how we got where we are and how costly this imbalance is both financially and in terms of national security interests. Every sitting or would be national politician who still imagines that we can promote and protect our national security interests in a less expensive and more effective way should invest a few hours in this book. It is well written and, while it may not have all the answers, it should launch a national conversation on a critical problem.

A valuable contribution to a serious conversation we must have, February 8, 2014

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The point of this book is to engage the general public in an important conversation about power. Since no serious person would look at Iraq and Afghanistan without questioning how we could have misspent so much blood and treasure, it is past time to reexamine the limits of DoD and the failure of our non-military institutions to perform adequately. Daniel Serwer has made a strong case for reconceptualizing what we do and how we should remake the institutions that have dropped the baton. For me his discussion of the ideal new institutions should be seen as a thought experiment for how we can do better. That is a great contribution to a debate I hope we will have as a country. Repeating the same mistakes over and over again is not an alternative I am willing to see our brave men and women bear.

Righting the Balance, January 23, 2014

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In Righting the Balance, Daniel Serwer presents cogent explanations for a range of foreign policy initiatives. He addresses such topics as national security, state building, military vs. diplomatic missions, global energy issues, etc. in the context of both successful and unsuccessful efforts in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. As told through the lens of his own career in the Foreign Service, Serwer’s fresh information, insights and recommendations should fascinate interested citizens and foreign policy experts alike. In addition, the accessible style makes it a most enjoyable read.

Well written and well reasoned, January 3, 2014

This book is clearly the product of an individual who spent a career in US foreign policy and is now reflecting deeply on what he has observed. I found his explanation of why and how the US gets entangled in messes like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam etc lucid and helpful. He goes beyond the knee-jerk critiques that America is too military focused and explains what a balanced civilian approach looks like and should entail.

Moreover, Serwer provides bold solutions that go beyond faint bureaucratic org-chart rewiring and strike at the core of the problem: we need government agencies designed to deal with the 21st century and not the 20th, which he have inherited. Not everyone will agree with his conclusions but they are not easily dismissed either.

Stylistically, the book is very well written, and for an audience curious about – but not expert in – US foreign policy. Highly recommended.