THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2023 37 European Climate Diplomacy in the USA and China: Embassy Narratives and Coalitions Katrin Buchmann, Brill Nijhoff, 2022, $185.00/hardcover, e-book available, 528 pages. Much has been written about international efforts to slow the rate of climate change. Here, Katrin Buchmann takes a narrow approach in examining the issue, focusing specifically on the efforts of several European embassies in 2007-2014 to change domestic politics through their diplomatic networks, forging alliances to increase the chance of success in international negotiations. Buchmann makes it a point to differentiate between diplomacy and foreign policy. She notes that foreign policy researchers typically ignore the work of embassies: “For this reason, I wanted to figure out what role European embassies play in the E.U.’s climate diplomacy and how effective they are.” Because China and the United States are the biggest emitters of carbon, Buchmann focuses on them specifically as she works to understand the effectiveness of European diplomatic efforts to curb emissions. Katrin Buchmann earned her Ph.D. in politics and international studies from the University of Cambridge. She currently works on renewable energy in East Africa. Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom: The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy Shaun A. Casey, Eerdmans Publishing, 2023, $30.00/hardcover, e-book available, 269 pages. While church and state are understood to be necessarily separate in the United States, in Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom, author Shaun Casey argues that to build a successful foreign policy platform, diplomats need to understand the crucial role religion plays in the field, including in conflict resolution, human rights, and sustainable development. A longtime colleague of former Secretary of State John Kerry— who wrote the foreword—Casey joined the State Department under Kerry as special representative for religion and global affairs and the first director of the department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. With this experience and expertise, Casey writes of the need to move beyond the typical focus on securing religious freedom and countering violent extremism, which he believes led to such foreign policy disasters as the misguided decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He argues instead for a research-based approach to policy decisions around religion. Shaun Casey is a senior fellow at the University of Virginia and a Pulaski Institution nonresident fellow. He was previously director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and a professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Casey is the author of The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 (2009) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Theology (forthcoming). Rumbles of Thunder: Power Shifts and the Danger of Sino-American War Steve Chan, Columbia University Press, 2022, $32.00/paperback, e-book available, 336 pages. You’ve likely read in numerous reputable outlets—including this one—that China is on the rise, presenting a serious threat to the American economy and the global balance of power. In Rumbles of Thunder, Steve Chan argues that claims of a “rising China” are alarmist and untrue. According to Chan, the shifting balance of power noted by diplomats and other China watchers does not mean war is on the horizon. Chan believes that China is not striving to upend the global order and that the United States is not in decline, as other authors have claimed. In fact, he argues, American structural advantages will endure, allowing the U.S. to retain its status as the only global superpower “for at least several decades.” The biggest flashpoint Chan sees in the relationship between China and the West is Taiwan. While “we have not yet reached a situation reminiscent of the Cold War,” he believes the tense relations between Washington and Beijing have led to “increasing investment in military capabilities and decreasing economic interdependence,” which could trigger a SinoAmerican confrontation. Steve Chan is College Professor of Distinction Emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also the author of Trust and Distrust in Sino-American Relations: Challenge and Opportunity (2017); Thucydides’ Trap? Historical Interpretation, Logic of Inquiry, and the Future of Sino-American Relations (2020); and Contesting Revisionism: China, the United States, and the Transformation of International Order (2021) .
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