The Dissent Channel

The Dissent Channel
Author: Elizabeth Shackelford
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2020-05-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 154172447X

A young diplomat's account of her assignment in South Sudan, a firsthand example of US foreign policy that has failed in its diplomacy and accountability around the world. In 2017, Elizabeth Shackelford wrote a pointed resignation letter to her then boss, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. She had watched as the State Department was gutted, and now she urged him to stem the bleeding by showing leadership and commitment to his diplomats and the country. If he couldn't do that, she said, "I humbly recommend that you follow me out the door." With that, she sat down to write her story and share an urgent message. In The Dissent Channel, former diplomat Elizabeth Shackelford shows that this is not a new problem. Her experience in 2013 during the precarious rise and devastating fall of the world's newest country, South Sudan, exposes a foreign policy driven more by inertia than principles, to suit short-term political needs over long-term strategies. Through her story, Shackelford makes policy and politics come alive. And in navigating both American bureaucracy and the fraught history and present of South Sudan, she conveys an urgent message about the devolving state of US foreign policy.

Dissent Channel: Alternatives to Closing Doors in Order to Secure Our Borders

Dissent Channel: Alternatives to Closing Doors in Order to Secure Our Borders
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 5
Release: 2017
Genre: Aliens
ISBN:

This is a draft memo submitted via the State Department's Dissent Channel and signed by an unknown number of US State Department Foreign Service officers and other US diplomats. The memo was a dissenting opinion in response to President Trump's executive order entitled, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, " signed January 27, 2017 instituting a suspension of entry to the U.S. and issuances of visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The order also temporarily suspends all refugee admission and indefinitely suspends refugee admissions from Syria. The State Department's Dissent Channel is a mechanism for employees to confidentially express policy disagreement, created in 1971 as a response to concerns within the Department over the government's handling of the Vietnam War. Authors of a memo submitted through the Channel, which is open to all regular employees of the State Department and USAID, may not be subject to any penalty or disciplinary action in response. Once a memo is submitted, the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff must acknowledge its receipt within two working days and will usually distribute it to the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of State, the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the Chairperson of the Open Forum, and, if the memo's author is employed by USAID, by the head of that agency as well. Taking into account the wishes of the author, the memo may also be distributed more broadly within the State Department and may be done so anonymously. The ultimate significance of the channel is that memos must receive a substantive response within 30-60 working days.

The Ethics of Dissent

The Ethics of Dissent
Author: Rosemary O′Leary
Publisher: CQ Press
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2019-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1544357915

Winner of the 2021 “Best Book Award” from the Academy of Management Division of Public and Nonprofit Management! “Rosemary O’Leary’s The Ethics of Dissent offers a novel take on rule breakers and whistle-blowers in the federal government. Finding a book that elegantly interweaves theory, case detail, and practice in a way useful to students and researching proves challenging. O’Leary achieves those aims.” —Randall Davis, Southern Illinois University From “constructive contributors”" to “deviant destroyers,” government guerrillas work clandestinely against the best wishes of their superiors. These public servants are dissatisfied with the actions of the organizations for which they work, but often choose not to go public with their concerns. In her Third Edition of The Ethics of Dissent, Rosemary O’Leary shows that the majority of guerrilla government cases are the manifestation of inevitable tensions between bureaucracy and democracy, which yield immense ethical and organizational challenges that all public managers must learn to navigate. New to the Third Edition: New examples of guerrilla government showcase the power of public servants as well as their ethical obligations. Key concepts are connected to real examples, such as Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign the marriage certificates of gay couples, and Kevin Chmielewski, the deputy chief of staff for operations at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who led environmental groups to the wrong doings of EPA Administrator Scott Prewitt. A new section on the creation of “alt” Twitter accounts designed to counter and even sabotage the policies of President Donald Trump highlights the power of social media in guerrilla government activities. A new section on the U.S. Department of State “dissent channel” provides readers with a positive example of the right way to dissent as a public servant. A new chapter on Edward Snowden demonstrates the practical relevance and contemporary importance of the world’s largest security breach. A new profile of U.S. Department of State diplomat Mary A. Wright illustrates how she used her resignation to dissent about U.S. policies in Iraq.

The Dissent Papers

The Dissent Papers
Author: Hannah Gurman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0231530358

Beginning with the Cold War and concluding with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Hannah Gurman explores the overlooked opposition of U.S. diplomats to American foreign policy in the latter half of the twentieth century. During America's reign as a dominant world power, U.S. presidents and senior foreign policy officials largely ignored or rejected their diplomats' reports, memos, and telegrams, especially when they challenged key policies relating to the Cold War, China, and the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. The Dissent Papers recovers these diplomats' invaluable perspective and their commitment to the transformative power of diplomatic writing. Gurman showcases the work of diplomats whose opposition enjoyed some success. George Kennan, John Stewart Service, John Paton Davies, George Ball, and John Brady Kiesling all caught the attention of sitting presidents and policymakers, achieving temporary triumphs yet ultimately failing to change the status quo. Gurman follows the circulation of documents within the State Department, the National Security Council, the C.I.A., and the military, and she details the rationale behind "The Dissent Channel," instituted by the State Department in the 1970s, to both encourage and contain dissent. Advancing an alternative narrative of modern U.S. history, she connects the erosion of the diplomatic establishment and the weakening of the diplomatic writing tradition to larger political and ideological trends while, at the same time, foreshadowing the resurgent significance of diplomatic writing in the age of Wikileaks.

Career Diplomacy

Career Diplomacy
Author: Harry W. Kopp
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-11-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1647121361

In this new and thoroughly revised edition of Career Diplomacy, Foreign Service veterans Harry W. Kopp and John K. Naland lay out what to expect in a Foreign Service career, from the entrance exam through midcareer and into the senior service—how to get in, get around, and get ahead. This guide offers readers a candid look at the profession.

Diplomatic Practice: Between Tradition And Innovation

Diplomatic Practice: Between Tradition And Innovation
Author: Juergen Kleiner
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2009-08-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814468266

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the current international practice of diplomacy. Armed with over 30 years of experience in the German Foreign Service, the author explains the workings of the different actors on the diplomatic stage. The book provides a detailed coverage of various diplomatic agencies as well as the functions of diplomats and consuls, explaining the methods and protocols of the art of diplomacy. It will serve as a good reference source for students and scholars of diplomacy, diplomats in foreign ministries and diplomatic and consular missions.

American Ambassadors

American Ambassadors
Author: Dennis C. Jett
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2021-11-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030837696

If you ever wondered who becomes an American ambassador and why, this is the book for you. It describes how Foreign Service officers become ambassadors by rising up through the ranks, and why they typically make up about 70 percent of the total number of ambassadors. It also covers where the other 30 percent come from—the political appointees who get the job because they helped elect the president by supporting him as a campaign contributor, a political ally, or a personal friend. It explains why, despite being illegal and a threat to national security, selling the title of ambassador remains a common practice that is also unique to the United States. It considers why some suggestions for reform are misguided, what might be done, and why who the president is matters so much in determining how well the United States will be represented abroad. This updated and revised edition of Jett's classic book not only provides a timely overview of American ambassadorship for Foreign Service Officers, aspiring diplomats, and interested citizens, but also calls for much-needed reform, describing the dire implications of failing to change our ambassadorial appointments process for the future of American diplomatic practice and foreign policy.