by Gene Schmiel DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY Reader’s Digest has a section every month entitled “Humor in Uniform” about the military but not one entitled “Humor in Striped Pants and Morning Coat” about the Foreign Service? The easy answer … Continued

The author served as U.S. ambassador to Guinea-Bissau and as deputy representative to ECOSOC at the UN in New York during his more than thirty years in the U.S. Foreign Service. See his “Vietnam Reconsidered” in Vol. III, No. 1 … Continued

Conference on Conflict in Africa On February 5-6, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies will hold a conference at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill on conflict in Africa. Our purpose is to gather a distinguished group of scholars from … Continued

American Diplomacy takes pleasure in making available to its readers an announcement by the Journal’s sponsoring organization, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (T.I.S.S.) ~ Ed.   An Update: Plans unfolding for TISS Conference on Conflict in Africa February 5-6, … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued

“How is the United States to avoid taking matters into its own hands and becoming the world’s policeman if multinational institutions fail to do the job?”   BURUNDI   by J. R. Bullington   L i k e  R w a … Continued

We take pleasure in presenting the following commentary drawn from remarks made 11 February 1997 at a meeting of the English Speaking Union at Southern Pines, North Carolina, by a former U.S. ambassador to two Central African nations. His remarks … Continued

As our readers will note elsewhere in this issue of American Diplomacy, Roy M. Melbourne led an event-filled life as a U.S. Foreign Service officer from 1936 to 1971. Not least of those experiences, which he recounts in his autobiography, … Continued