92 MAY 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL vindictive. They are said to have a sense of the relativity of all things human. So a moderate is both a person with distinct character traits as well as someone holding a certain worldview. Yet I’ve known persons with moderate or centrist political views who can be both humorless and moralistic. There is also the problem of religious belief. Craiutu skirts the issue because the devout or faithful often accept the absolute concepts and teleological theories of history that moderates decry. These beliefs may not be the historicism of Hegel or Marx but rather the Second Coming or Armageddon, which are ideologies in the broad sense and very ardent ones. Are all orthodox religious believers therefore “zealots,” Craiutu’s frequent descriptor for nonmoderates? Like some of the American Founders, he consigns religious discussion to a belief in “Providence,” presuming that today’s surging evangelicals and born-again Christians subscribe to such a flaccid religious doctrine, which is not the case. By this analysis, moderates must be either atheists or agnostics. In the end, this is a useful and even necessary book for those with open minds on the appeal of moderation as a political philosophy. One can only hope that today’s American youth will learn the value of moderation, which could preclude the sort of social upheaval or political violence that they have never experienced. Ken Moskowitz served in the Foreign Service for 30 years. He holds a Ph.D. in theatre arts from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is a former director of the Tokyo American Center. He is an adjunct assistant professor of political science at Temple University’s Japan Campus. choice. In seven chapters and three appendices, the authors offer an overview of the foreign policy community, its structure and ethos, and pathways into it. Those already in the foreign policy community will also find this book valuable because of changes in our profession: Today—unlike 30 years ago, when I joined—there is far greater churn into and out of foreign policy work. This book provides road maps in both directions. Becoming a foreign policy practitioner involves understanding similarities and differences in the work: chapter 1 distinguishes working in versus working on foreign policy. Academic success, especially in the social sciences and humanities, has traditionally been an individual affair; foreign policy is much more about teamwork. Academe values public, individual attribution; foreign policy—at least in its public face—is much more anonymous. And while depth of expertise is a plus in foreign policy, its practitioners—unlike scholars—do not enjoy the luxury of going down esoteric rabbit holes “where no one has gone before.” Scholarly proficiency as a narrow niche collides with the needs of being a flexible diplomat. For those who choose the foreign policy community, the authors discuss entrées at different career stages. Graduate students need to decide: Do I really want the work of earning a doctorate first? Maybe the answer is yes, but even in graduate school, the student planning or at least open to a foreign policy career can do things in terms of workshops, programs, internships, and networks The Foreign Policy Ecosystem: A Primer Foreign Policy Careers for PhDs: A Practical Guide to a World of Possibilities James Goldgeier and Tamara Cofman Wittes, Georgetown University Press, 2023, $24.95/paperback, e-book available, 160 pages. Reviewed by John M. Grondelski My journey to the U.S. Foreign Service began from a breakout session at the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences annual convention in Washington, D.C., in 1994. Two recruiters discussed careers at the Department of State. They noted that, following the breakup of the USSR, one embassy and one consulate were fast becoming 15 embassies and three consulates, and State had nowhere near those numbers of Slavic language speakers. So they had turned to university faculty with “not bad” results—and were trying again. For me, the rest is history. This book is pitched to those writing dissertations, those looking for that elusive tenure-track job, and those open to a change from academe (like I was). Collaborating with people in the foreign affairs community who already made that transition, the authors explain what to some might be the black box of the foreign policy ecosystem and its points of entry. Though aimed at academics, this book is of interest to anyone considering a foreign affairs career and, indeed, to those, such as members of the Foreign Service, who have already made the
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