The Impact of American Diplomacy in the 21st Century

News | December 11, 2015

EWI's CEO and President Cameron Munter engaged in conversation with Nicholas Kralev, former Financial Times and Washington Times correspondent, on the topic “The Impact of American Diplomacy in the 21st Century” at the institute's New York Center on December 10. 

 

Their discussion was followed by a question-and-answer session. 

Kralev spoke about his book, America’s Other Army (recently released second edition)—a culmination of 12 years of first-hand research and interviews with over 600 career diplomats, including John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright—in an effort to make the American Foreign Service more relatable to the people. “American diplomacy is so entrenched in the lives of people everywhere, even if people in a particular country don’t realize it,” he stated. 

Kralev shared some of his insights on U.S. diplomacy, such as the shortcomings in its selection process, credibility and innovation. In response to Munter’s observation that diplomacy today is often carried out by people who aren’t diplomats, Kralev remarked, “The good thing about the Foreign Service is that you don’t always have to know how to do something; you just have to know who can.”

Kralev also asserted that despite its many shortcomings, the U.S. Foreign Service exceeds others’, because of its strong belief in values and its drive to bring about good governance wherever it is needed.