Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World

by Dennis Ross

Book Overview

In this wise and thought-provoking book, the renowned peace negotiator Dennis Ross shows that America's current foreign policy problems stem from the Bush administration's inability to use the tools... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374299285
• ISBN13: 9780374299286
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Ross on Diplomacy, Negotiation, and Mediation; a Great Read

Dennis Ross' book on statecraft provides an insightful look into the world of diplomacy and negotiation, which are the two prime ingredients, the author claims, of statecraft. But the book is more than just a theoretical discussion: Ross combines his considerable real-world experience gained through his tenure in multiple administrations to move the discourse into the hard realities of the world as it actually exists, not just paper abstracts. And therein perhaps lays the greatest strength of this book. Yes, the book is a polemic of sorts, but there are probably not too many who would argue with the central premise of this book, that the U.S. has lost standing in the world, finds itself in a series of extremely difficult situations (perhaps mostly of our own making), and is now faced with a new structure of emerging and re-aligned world powers that require meaningful engagement if we are to restore the country to its former standing. Not all will agree with Ross' political discourse in this book. Nevertheless, that should be no reason to either overlook the treasure trove of experiences which he brings to the table, nor neglect the impressive insight he shares on both past and present political dilemmas. There are commonalities he feels apply to all these situations (we are given twelve rules of negotiation, and eleven rules of mediation, for example), but there is great value in working through the individual, unique examples he provides as historical case studies in which statecraft was both successfully and unsuccessfully practiced. There can be little doubt that any person (or administration) wishing to improve its own negotiating and mediating prowess could learn from this series of important discourses. One "extra" found in this book is the highly detailed and insider's view of the statecraft carried on by the Bush 41 administration in helping garner worldwide support to respond to the invasion of Kuwait. Ross is able to lay out in narrative detail the diplomatic steps that were taken both in and out of the public view to help build consensus, and ever better, a careful and meaningful comparison to the LACK of statecraft efforts by the current administration in building such a consensus. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the current administration's policies, we can almost cringe when we see the difference between how the father and the son handled these events. Ross lays it out in a manner that is virtually impossible to ignore. Ross' book has one unintended outcome in my own mind. In spite of the fact that Ross actually addresses this particular item at various points in the book, the text lays out enough detail on some of today's most pressing world issues to the point to where they appear so difficult, so complicated, and so divergent that solutions simply appear to be out of reach. Of course, sometimes these situations contain a "Gordian Knot" that, once found, can be a key to unlocking seeming intractable problems. But work t

A Masterwork

I've seen Dennis Ross speak on the issues he discusses in Statecraft but I've never read a better book on the subject. This should be required reading for every serious presidential candidate and anyone interested in dead-on analysis of the Middle-East, Al-Queda and China along with the positive and negative examples of statecraft during German unification, the end of the Balkan war, the first gulf war and the current war in Iraq. It is accessibly written and you don't have to be a policy wonk to appreciate this highly informative and timely book.

A book needed for our time

From the mind of a man who assuredly counts among America's most thoughtful and experienced diplomats comes this timely important work on the subject of statecraft, an area much neglected in this administration in favor of what Ross calls "faith based diplomacy." While Ross has policy inclinations of his own, having thought long and hard on these topics and written on them widely both in his last book on the failed Oslo process and his column in the New Republic, his goal here is not to urge a particular goal but a process to the world of international relations. Like an academic, Ross moves through his topic, first defining statecraft, then elucidating his views on proper methodology. For Ross, statecraft consists of reality based analysis which in turn leads policy makers to achievable end and plans to marshal the resources to achieve those ends. Not surprisingly he castigates the Bush administration, not merely for their eschewing of thoughtful analysis - As Stephen Colbert cleverly observed to President Bush "facts have a liberal bias" - but likewise for their failure to assemble the resources required to achieve their stated ends. In a perfect case he points to the Iraq War, arguing that even if the administration had been correct in their every prediction they still failed to bring enough forces to bear to secure the 900 sites they identified as related to weapons of mass destruction and the boarders to prevent from those weapons, had they existed, from slipping into Syria, Iran, or elsewhere. From Iraq to China, Ross offers examples of what he would imagine as the appropriate statecraft approaches to challenges on the world state. Interestingly, despite his own neo-liberal perspective, Ross argues for statecraft as a means to achieve even those ends he might disagree with. Most telling, he points with admiration at Germany's Otto von Bismarck as the ultimate master of these methods. Ross explains that he wrote this book to inform the discussion in the current presidential race, leaving unsaid that it reads like a job application for Secretary or Deputy Secretary of State. Nonetheless, he has with its release done the US a great service; all citizens should read it and press the candidates to grapple with its implications.

A Timely "Text Book" from a True Master.

At a time when even tiny nations with a population of couple of thousand are pointing fingers at the faux-pas nature of our foreign policies, Dennis Ross has produced a practical "text book" for those who care about the importance of understanding the intrinsic nuances of drafting a clear foreign policy to restore America's standing in the world. Picking up where he left off( from The Missing Peace), Mr. Ross continues down the path of educating the foreign policy makers with an easy to read "tutorial" on how and when the negotiations should start and most importantly, how and when the negotiations should "stop". In his words, stopping means stopping with an "outburst". The best parts of the book are the sections where Ross details: 1) "Negotiation: Twelve Rules to Follow" 2) "Mediation: Eleven Rules to follow". These practical rules and steps are so valuable even our business leaders and CEOs can benefit a lot from them. This book is a winner and may very well be Mr. Ross's ticket to 2009 secretary of state position!!! 5/5 N.Sivakumar Author of: America Misunderstood: What a Second Bush Victory Meant to the Rest of the World