Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From An Unaccountable Elite

Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From An Unaccountable Elite

Synopsis

In Independent Diplomat Carne Ross offers a compelling new account - and vision - of the conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy from the inside. As diplomats arbitrate more and more of the world's business, we have little idea, and even less control, of what they are doing in our name. His book aims to redress this imbalance. Ross was a diplomat on the front line of many of today's most pressing issues, from Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, over which he eventually resigned from the British Foreign Office. He contends that the institutions of contemporary diplomacy - foreign ministries, the UN or EU - often exclude those most affected by the discussions within. As a diplomat, he was encouraged and taught to see the world in a narrow and singular way: as one of states and interests, excluding more complex, sophisticated - and human - ways of understanding. Ross demonstrates how the reality of negotiation at the UN - or with warlords in Afghanistan - reveals very different forces at play, factors ignored in contemporary and reductionist descriptions or academic theories of 'international relations'. To cope with the complexities of today's world, diplomats must open their doors - and minds. Illustrated with vivid episodes from his career - from the UN Security Council in New York to Kabul - Ross offers a refreshing critique of what's wrong with contemporary diplomacy and how it might be put right. Since resigning from the Foreign Office over the Iraq war, Carne Ross has founded a unique new initiative in international relations, a non-profit global advisory network to help the disadvantaged be heard in the closed corridors of international diplomacy.

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