Echoes of history in the Tunisian ambassador’s dismissal
Gordon Gray was the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia from 2009 to 2012. He witnessed the start of the Arab Spring and directed the U.S. response in support of Tunisia’s transition during and after its 2010–11 revolution. He contributed the following addendum to his August 4 analysis of recent developments in Tunisia.
On October 25, 2009 — six weeks after I arrived in Tunisia to begin my tour as U.S. ambassador — President Ben Ali was re-elected with 89 percent of the vote. At that point he had been president for 22 years and, as the percentage…
Gordon Gray was the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia from 2009 to 2012. He witnessed the start of the Arab Spring and directed the U.S. response in support of Tunisia’s transition during and after its 2010–11 revolution. He has been following the recent events in Tunisia closely and contributed the following analysis.
“Tell me how this ends,” David Petraeus (then commander of the 101st Airborne Division) famously asked at the start of the second Gulf War. The situation in Tunisia following President Kais Saied’s July 25 announcement that he was assuming emergency powers is far different than…
This review of P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking’s book LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, is part of a series of reviews of books on the topic of disinformation.
So often we look at the book jacket or the inside flaps of a hardcover edition to figure out if it is worth the read or purchase. In the case of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, not only is the whole book excellent, but the over 100 pages of footnotes serve as an excellent research list for any person aspiring…
That might be a good thing.
Zed Tarar
Last month, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy published a report by three Rangel Fellows at the Harvard Kennedy School that found that approximately a third of Foreign Service Officers were actively looking to leave the State Department. The following is a response to this report by a current Foreign Service Officer.
“This is the worst posting I’ve ever had,” a colleague confessed to me recently, lamenting, “I’m not allowed to do my job.” With over two decades under their belt and serving in a large European capital, this seasoned diplomat’s frustrations stemmed from a lack of…
Parliamentary diplomacy has its limits.
Philip Anstrén
This piece is part of a series on engagement with Taiwan.
The European Parliament’s (EP) International Trade Committee (INTA) is running out of patience. For years, the committee has been nudging the European Commission to fulfil its promise to negotiate a bilateral investment agreement (BIA) with Taiwan. So far, it has nothing to show for it, not even an impact assessment. In frustration, INTA recently ramped up the pressure on the Commission. In a draft opinion, it stated emphatically that it “considers it necessary to conclude” a BIA with Taiwan.
The EP and its members (MEPs) have long…
Japan faces domestic and international backlash as pandemic rages.
Today, at long last, the world watches as Japan raises the curtain for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 (+1) Games. Times have undoubtedly changed since Tokyo last hosted the summer Olympics back in 1964, when my mother — a native Tokyoite — attended the marathon event as a young spectator. At the time, Japan was still in the process of integrating itself into a dynamic and increasingly interconnected world. But as the 2020 Games mission states, “The Tokyo 1964 Games completely transformed Japan.” …
Emily Crane Linn and Kit Evans
The next month may very well determine whether Libya unifies under a stable government — or plunges back into civil war. In recent months, ISD has published several resources to help students of diplomacy understand the issues at play.
After this month’s failed talks among Libyan political leaders in Geneva, the country’s tenuous progress toward elections, peace, and unity is once again in doubt. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) convened the talks to enable the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) to negotiate a legal framework for the country’s upcoming elections, scheduled…
The following blog post is based on a report the author researched and produced through the ISD Fellows in Diplomacy program. Read the full report.
This month, a U.S. delegation attended a ministerial meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) for the first time since joining as a permanent observer member in March of 2021. The EMGF, a multilateral energy diplomacy forum, was established to promote regional energy cooperation after the discovery of eight offshore natural gas fields in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel — as well as off the coast of…
A new report published by ISD finds that more than 30% of Foreign Service Officers are looking for the exits — and no, it’s not just because of Trump.
The State Department is facing an impending retention crisis: an estimated 31 percent of current Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) are seriously considering leaving the Foreign Service and are actively exploring their options. Of these officers, about a third plan to leave within the next year, and over half plan to leave within the next five years. This points to an impending spike in attrition well above the Department’s historical averages — and ought to give State Department leadership serious pause.
These were the top findings of a new study conducted by a group of graduate students at…
Dr. Maria Rendon joined the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in May as the director of the Donald F. McHenry Global Public Service Fellows Program and will lead the program into its second full year. Dr. Rendon is a retired USAID Foreign Service Officer specializing in democracy and governance, civilian-military cooperation and humanitarian aid. She began her career at USAID as a pioneer of democracy and governance programs in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, and has since gone on to implement governance programs in Egypt, Indonesia, and the Philippines. At her last…
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy
Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy brings together diplomats, other practitioners, scholars, and students to explore global challenges
