The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

M A Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 Author’s Note: “Diplomacy” is a board game based on the status of the European powers before the outbreak of World War I. There are seven players, each representing a power: Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy, France and Britain. Each has land and sea forces, which it deploys on the board — the map of Europe before World War I — to aggrandize its power and territory and defend against encroachment by the others. The ultimate objective is to vanquish every other power and be the last one standing. None of the seven players, however, has any chance of winning without assistance or cooperation along the way from one or more of the others. That’s where “diplomacy” comes in. Each round of the game represents half a year’s military campaign and every player decides how to deploy his armies and fleets. Everyone writes down his or her moves and places them in an envelope. When they’re revealed, the players see what the new situation is and begin planning their next set of moves. You can make a pact with another player — but you don’t have to keep your word. If you think your chances of winning will be improved by making a different move from what you promised, there’s nothing in the rules to prevent it or penalize you for it. On the contrary, that might be a winning strategy. Of course, your would-be ally can do the same thing. So you can’t trust any- one. Your “ally” may do what was promised in one turn and then deceive you on the next. The moment of truth comes when everyone’s moves are revealed and the armies and navies are moved in the theater of battle. Setting Up We decided to play “Diplomacy,” the board game, in “Kinougou” a few years ago. (Kinougou is the capital city of a small African country. I won’t wittingly tell a lie so, for the sake of politeness, I’m using some fictional names in order to take liberties with the unvarnished truth.) It was the ambas- sador, my boss at the small American embassy, who proposed playing. Although the concept of the game troubles me, I reluctantly agreed to play. I thought playing the game could be a good educational experience for my children, Richard and Nina (then 13 and 11, respectively). I thought that by let- ting them work with me in planning moves they would gain a better idea of game theory, the history of the early 20th cen- tury and human nature. Another reason I agreed to play was that my boss, Ambassador “Tristram Barnum ‘Barney’ Brinton,” was eager to play and without me, it wasn’t going to be easy to put together the seven players needed. It would have been awk- ward if I had declined to play. Also, Kinougou in those days wasn’t really exciting and, while there was always plenty of scutwork for underlings like me to do just to keep the embassy functioning, the ambassador’s workload was less tax- ing. So it was a good idea to come up with activities for the ambassador, in addition to official duties, to keep up his men- tal health. As his deputy I figured I ought to help make it hap- pen. So we decided to play one round a day, at the cocktail hour after another quiet day at work. We drew for our powers. I got Germany; I was not thrilled, but what can you do? Ambassador Brinton got France. Two other subordinates in our embassy chain of command got Britain and the Ottoman Empire. The three other players came from outside the embassy’s hierarchy. Austria-Hungary was drawn by a guy employed by the com- pany managing a U.S. government-funded development pro- ject. The player representing Italy was Peace Corps Volunteer Mark Silas, a wiseacre from New York who consid- ered himself ready to match wits with any of us. AndHastings Hunter, a young and dashing Brit who was managing a British-American coffee-growing operation, got Russia. We could count on Ambassador Brinton — young, brim- ming with energy, and assertive— to play the game with great intensity. He would consider it only appropriate if he were to win, and it didn’t hurt his chances that three of the players were subordinate to him in the embassy. After all, he held the key to our career progress. For all these reasons, while I like to play competitive B Y L ARRY L ESSER P LAYING D IPLOMACY After service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria, Larry Lesser joined the Foreign Service in 1966. He served abroad in New Delhi, Ouagadougou, Brussels, Kigali and Dhaka. After retiring from the Service, he worked for State’s Office of Inspector General and for the Peace Corps. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Foreign Service Grievance Board. He and his wife live in Washington, D.C. A N FSO AND HIS CHILDREN GET ENTANGLED IN MORE THAN THE GAME OF D IPLOMACY .