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

~ (Author) "Even more than his actual conduct of our foreign affairs, George W. Bush's rhetorical approach to foreign policy has been criticized and caricatured..." (more)
Key Phrases: effective statecraft, international landscape, United States, Security Council, Middle East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ross, the Clinton administration's Middle East envoy (The Missing Peace) makes the seemingly dreary, opaque processes of international diplomacy as coherent, absorbing and occasionally dramatic as a procedural thriller. He conceives of statecraft as a subtle orchestration of foreign policy "assets," including intelligence and analysis, diplomacy, sanctions, economic aid and military pressure. Most of all, it requires negotiations: the book's middle section is a lengthy tutorial on the nuts and bolts of epic negotiating, Ross's forte, complete with tips on how and when to stage angry outbursts at the conference table. The author illustrates with case studies of foreign policy triumphs and disasters (many of which he had a hand in), from German reunification to the war in Iraq. The book is an avowedly "neo-liberal" rebuke of Bush's unilateralist, "faith-based" foreign policy blundering. Indeed, with its call for virtuoso state craftsmanship and its detailed proposals on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Iranian nuclear ambitions to relations with China, it could well be Ross's application for the 2009 secretary of state opening. If so, it's an impressive one, full of canny, judicious insights into the making of foreign policy. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ross was the U.S. chief Middle East envoy in the Bush I and Clinton administrations, an experience he chronicled in The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace(2004). His latest book examines more broadly the practice of strategic diplomacy, the pragmatic exercise of which he considers absolutely crucial for global security in the twenty-first century. Adopting a pedagogical tone, Ross uses case studies (including the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations) to illustrate statecraft in practice. His chapters on negotiation and mediation likewise blend description of what has worked in the past with instructional advice on how to wield the tools of the trade effectively. ("Employ the good cop-bad cop approach carefully," for example.) Ross also profitably invokes the foreign policy of the Bush II administration as an antimodel. A cogent call for a return to what Francis Fukuyama has called "realistic Wilsonianism," this account is apparently aimed at the foreign-policy professionals of the future and those who might appoint them. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374299285
• ISBN-13: 978-0374299286
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #427,301 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely "Text Book" from a True Master., June 13, 2007

By	Sivakumar Nadarajah "Author of America Misund... - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ross on Diplomacy, Negotiation, and Mediation; a Great Read, August 23, 2007

By	Ray "A Reader" - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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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 through some of Ross' examples and see if you agree. It's more of a commentary on the present set of problems in which the world finds itself than on any perceived shortcoming of Ross' skills as a negotiation expert, and the book indeed recommends a number of approaches that might be quite worthy of implementation. But there is a feeling of frustration lurking around the corners and between the lines in this book for any reader who possesses more than a passing familiarity with today's outstanding issues.

Regardless, this is an outstanding treatise on negotiation and mediation, and the author's suggestions probably have application in many areas of life, not just in intra-governmental settings. A great read that is an important addition to the discourse - or perhaps, to get the discourse started. Plan to spend a few days or perhaps a week on the text to get it down and be able to think carefully about it as you go.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book needed for our time, August 10, 2007

By	J. A Magill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.