December 2013
The Foreign Service Journal covers foreign affairs from an insider's perspective, providing thought-provoking articles on international issues, the practice of diplomacy and the U.S. Foreign Service. Including the AFSA News section, The Journal is published monthly (January-February and July-August issues combined) by the American Foreign Service Association.
The December issue’s focus features reflections on various aspects of the Foreign Service life and career. In The Island Hopper, diplomatic courier James Angell looks back to World War II and how it is intertwined with the most storied of diplomatic courier routes today. Laura Merzig Fabrycky considers the dilemma of unwittingly participating in a form of human trafficking in Rethinking the Role of ‘Madam’: Kafala and the U.S. Foreign Service. In The Uses of History, FSO David Galbraith describes how teaching at Georgetown University has given him insights into being a diplomat. And in time for World AIDS Day, Ambassador Robert Gribbin looks back on his time in Uganda at the outset of the AIDS epidemic in Despair, Hope, Perseverance.
Elsewhere in our December edition, our biannual Education Supplement is full of useful material about coping with the unique challenges Foreign Service personnel encounter in seeking the best possible education for their children. In A Practical Guide to International Divorce in the Foreign Service, Elizabeth Fitzsimmons and Richard Seipert examine the highly complicated issue of going through a divorce while stationed abroad. Ambassador George Lambrakis offers A Plea for Greater Teamwork in the Foreign Service, and AFSA President Robert J. Silverman describes New Ideas from AFSA in his monthly column.
We always welcome short, focused letters about FSJ content; please send them to journal@afsa.org.
FEATURE
The Island Hopper
A classic diplomatic courier mission across the Pacific recalls the history of World War II.
Rethinking the Role of ‘Madam’: Kafala and the U.S. Foreign Service
What makes the kafala system so morally unsettling is the way it exploits vulnerable populations while claiming to be a benign safety net for them.
The Uses of History: Lessons from a Georgetown Classroom
Whenever proponents of a policy cite a historical analogy as their main justification, listeners should beware.
EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT
The Revised Common App
Here is a timely guide that will help you make the most of the Revised Common Application and its new essay prompts.
A Parent's Guide to Psychoeducational Evaluations
The goal of a psychoeducational evaluation is to enhance a child’s ability to be as successful as possible.