The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

S ince Secretary Rice took office a year ago, her remarks have been peppered with the phrase “trans- formational diplomacy.” The idea has sparked dis- cussion in the media: just what does Rice mean? What will transformational diplomacy signify for international policy? In Rice’s vision, diplomacy “must be a conversa- tion, not a monologue.” According to the Secretary’s statement at her first town meeting at State in January 2005, transformational diplomacy is the “effort to use our diplomacy literally to change the world.” The idea is to take the role of activists as well as ana- lysts to engage societies and make nec- essary changes (http://www.state.gov/ secretary/rm/2005/41414.htm). Rice has also said that the idea is to be active with our partners in democ- racy to build “a safer and better and freer world.” This embraces initiatives to combat terrorism, strengthen demo- cracy, increase global prosperity and provide aid to those who need it most. Instead of merely managing problems, the new policy looks at the source. Derek Chollet, a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote an article for the Washington Post last spring that described Rice’s diplomatic goals as the ambition not just to be a gardener, but a landscape architect. This vivid metaphor aptly describes the level of dedication and involvement that Rice has put into her post. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Tom Callahan offered a definition of transforma- tional diplomacy in remarks at the George C. Marshall International Center in June 2005, describing it as the “effort of diplomacy not just to monitor, report, and cajole, but actually to transform societies into more functional, democratic and responsible members of the international community.” As he noted, the idea is not really new; the Marshall Plan was a model of transformational diplomacy (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/dc/rks/47848.htm) . The Foreign Service Institute has added new classes on conducting transformational diplomacy. While courses contained some transformational diplomacy ideas in the past, some changes were needed to incorporate Rice’s vision, Ambassador Katherine H. Peterson, the former director of FSI, has said. “This requires additional skills that many Foreign Service employees don’t have at the moment — for instance, how to run a program and deal with grants — for which we must now train” (http://www. washdiplomat.com/June-05/a1_06_05.html) . A comment on what transformation means for many at DOS is posted on a forum at the Tales from a Small Planet Web site, an online magazine about living overseas (www.talesmag.com ): “Transforma- tion must be thought of in more spe- cific and functional terms than those expressed by Secretary Rice. I don’t think the change will be for the better until we start having candid discussion of the sometimes taboo topics of assignments and promotions within the department. Also, transformation must be about more than just how State does its work. It must be about what work the State Department does; what role it plays in the larger drama of U.S. foreign poli- cy formulation and execution.” In remarks to State Department correspondents Jan. 5, 2006, Sec. Rice promised more discussion of the concept in the new year: “[We’ll talk more about] what it means for American diplomacy, and American diplomats, to be people who are now more involved and more engaged in the lives of people in countries where our engagements look more like what we do in Kabul or what we do in the Philippines. ... It’s a hands-on [effort] trying to help people create governing structures that work, rather than the way we traditionally thought about the Service, which is that you report on other countries, you demarche other countries. “It’s not that that’s unimportant,” Rice continued. “But I think we’re seeing that around the world we are more engaged now on the ground, hands-on. And we’re looking at what that means for the training of our people; we’re look- ing at what that means for the deployment of our people, and I think it’s going to be very exciting.” — Caitlin Stuart, Editorial Intern F O C U S 22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 Transformational Diplomacy: What Exactly Does It Mean? In Rice’s vision, diplomacy “must be a conversation, not a monologue.”