The Foreign Service Journal, June 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2013 13 50 Years Ago T he key to the rebirth of the Foreign Service, to the future of American diplo- macy and hence to honorable national survival lies not in high-flown foreign policy pronouncements, but in the homely budget. No single factor over the years has contributed as much to the parlous state of our diplomatic establish- ment as the perennial financial impoverishment imposed upon successive State Department budgets. It is truly remarkable that the numerous criticisms and studies of the opera- tions and organization of the Department of State have uniformly overlooked the real culprit, and seem naively unaware of the strangling effect of lack of funds on our diplomacy, a fact of life with which every career Foreign Service officer lives from the day he enters the Service. It is also remarkable that the overwhelming bulk of writings on foreign affairs has concentrated on policy questions and has failed to explore the mechanics, organization and facilities for the execution of foreign policy. Here indeed is a fallow but potentially fruitful field of study. For no policy, however well conceived, can be any better than the machinery through which it is executed. … This situation requires correction, but it will not come until national values and priorities recognize the vital role of the State Department in the national security complex and allocate to it an adequate portion of the security budget. Up to now the reflex action to any serious international crisis is to ask for more funds to strengthen our military posture. No one thinks of seeking additional financial support for the diplomatic establishment whose primary concern, after all, is the conduct of our foreign relations. —From “The Budget and the Future of American Diplomacy (Part I)” by Leon B. Poullada; FSJ , June 1963. national Monetary Fund and the U.N. Security Council. Among the report’s highlights: • The combined output of the world’s three leading developing economies (Brazil, India and China) is equal to the combined gross domestic product of the “Western” industrial powers (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United King- dom and the United States). • Over the last 30 years, developing countries have increased their share of world merchandise trade to 47 percent, and global output to 45 percent. • More than 80 percent of the world’s middle class will reside in the Global South by 2030, when they will account for 70 percent of total consumption expenditures. • Because of the rapid growth in developing countries, the first Millen- nium Development Goal—to halve the number of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day—has been met three years ahead of its target date. • The economic growth in Latin America has been led by strong states that implemented a gradual and sequenced integration with the global economy. By 2030, Latin America and the Caribbean will be home to one in 10 members of the emerging global middle class. • India has averaged income growth of nearly 5 percent a year since 1990, but its per capita income is still relatively low. Moreover, the country faces signifi- cant environmental, demographic and social challenges in the coming decades. • While sub-Saharan Africa still has the lowest average national Human Development Index of any region, it is home to 11 of the 14 countries that have recorded annual HDI gains of at least 2 percent each year since 2000. (HDI is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education and income indices, used to assign countries to four tiers of human development.) • Although Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia experienced considerable improvement in their human develop- ment level, the Arab world continues to have both the highest rate of unemploy- ment and the lowest labor force partici- pation rate, especially for women. —Jeff Richards, Editorial Intern Diplomacy Goes to the Dogs W riting in the March 4 edition of Salon.com , Allison Meier reviews Australian artist Bennett Miller’s “Dachshund U.N.,” which ran from Feb. 28 to March 3 in Toronto as part of the Harborfront Center’s 2013 World Stage series. The show features 36 adorable dachshunds as United Nations Human Rights Commission delegates, seated (most of the time, anyway) in a replica of the UNHRC’s Geneva forum. Meier notes that the show has plenty of barking and biting, and sometimes the “delegates” even lunge at each other. But she reassures readers: “Don’t worry. The dogs are leashed and the owners hidden away nearby to keep things from getting too feral.” Each of the dogs seated behind its country sign, such as France, Argentina