LIFE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE Amb. Underhill retired from the U.S. Foreign Service after thirty years of service and now resides with his wife in Flat Rock, NC. His vignettes and commentaries have appeared frequently in this journal, most recently … Read more

by Peter Bridges

by Robert E. Mitchell The Issue Economics is a data-rich discipline with quantitative evidence that can check errant theorizing. Other social sciences are less fortunate, an especially challenging problem in analyzing changes in data-weak developing countries. Development assistance agencies with … Read more

A PERSONAL MEMOIR – A Fulbright Interlude in Nigeria by Henry E. Mattox    Nigeria Today a context-setting introduction supplied by former west african affairs director roy melbourne:* A generation of thirty years has passed since Dr. Mattox’s Fulbright sojourn, completely … Read more

WITNESS TO HISTORY The following account of the author’s adventures during the harrowing days of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968 could as well be placed under a heading of “Remembering Vietnam” or “Life in the Foreign Service.” But … Read more

Editor’s Note: Again American Diplomacy presents a segment of the proceedings of a conference held at Chapel Hill, NC, on January 10, 1998, sponsored by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (see the journal’s Spring 1998 issue for the initial … Read more

In an especially timely analysis, Joe Borich, one of the new breed of “old China hands” among U.S. Foreign Service officers, assesses China’s economic and political future. Even more to the point of this journal’s purpose, he sets forth in … Read more

Like Americans in general, our contributing authors differ sharply over Middle East issues and what the US role should be in the region. Here, we present two contrasting commentaries by respected authorities. Then we open the floor for debate in … Read more

EDITOR’S CORNER – “RIGHT TIMING is in all things the most important factor” Hesiod, the Greek farmer-poet observed some 2,700 years ago. If timing is indeed everything in life, this includes even the world of electronic publishing, an endeavor which … Read more

I may be the only living person who actually told Christopher Columbus to go discover America. When I make that assertion, I usually get some funny looks; but it’s true. Here’s how it happened. I was stationed at the Embassy … Read more

In this brief segment, former Foreign Service spouse Kathryn Schmiel illustrates in her understated but descriptive prose style how American personnel stationed abroad in remote parts of the world — especially the children — often find their diversions in unusual … Read more

Like WCPE, We Launch a Campaign to Improve Our Signal I’ M A BIG OPERA FAN, so every Saturday afternoon during opera season I tune in faithfully to my favorite classical music station, WCPE in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and enjoy … Read more

The present proposal, advanced by the distinguished former director of the CIA, now more than ever deserves a careful reading by all who contemplate such unthinkable occurrences as nuclear war or even nuclear accident. We at American Diplomacy, disquieted by … Read more

Like Americans in general, our contributing authors differ sharply over Middle East issues and what the US role should be in the region. Here, we present two contrasting commentaries by respected authorities. Then we open the floor for debate in … Read more

Violence is akin to an addict’s quick fix — Where does the VIOLENCE come from? by Francis Underhill In my last column (American Diplomacy, Spring 1998), I explained why I think war is now obsolete for modern, industrialized states. I … Read more

  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASES OF WAR by Robert A. Hinde PART I ·  Introduction ·  Levels of ComplexityPART II ·  Individual Aggression ·  Aggression Between GroupsPART III ·  Institutionalized War ·  Conclusion REFERENCES ABOUT ROBERT A. HINDE   INTRODUCTION Psychology … Read more

THE STRUGGLE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS by William N. Dale President Wilson traveled the country in the fall to raise support for the Treaty, but isolationist opponents and political foes dogged his steps arguing against his message. The President refused … Read more

American Diplomacy takes pleasure in making available to its readers an internship announcement submitted by author and scholar Eugene Schmiel. (Be sure not to miss Dr. Schmiel’s piece entitled “Ms. Hearst, I Presume” in the current issue of this Journal). … Read more

U.S. envoy Peter Bridges affords us here an unusual personal look into the experience of a professional diplomat taking up the post, for the first time, of the American ambassador. He went to a nation, in this instance, noted for … Read more

by Robert K. Olson