The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

104 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL elements of power including military, economic and soft power. Nye notes, as some others have, that “transnational issues” are “not suscep- tible to traditional hard-power instru- ments.” It is here that diplomacy must work harder and smarter; but, frankly, we have not yet organized our foreign policy process and management struc- ture, let alone our training and assign- ments at State, to align with this reality. Nye states, as have President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, that the United States “cannot achieve many of its international goals acting alone.” This is a perspective that too many in America, and especially in Congress, do not understand. The key for Nye is: “The problem of leadership in such a world is how to get everyone into the act and still get action.” He is dismissive of those who equate military action with power, and points to the many global challenges where military might is of little use. He decries both those who overreact, resulting in the “waste [of ] blood and treasure, as in Vietnam and Iraq,” and those who preach a form of total isola- tion from the world’s troubles. Nye concludes that our place in the world could be affected by our own partisan politics, and he is critical of the budget cutters who reduce funding for diplomacy and the military, as well as domestic needs such as education, R&D and infrastructure that make our coun- try great. He believes we need to grow and tax to accomplish these goals. While he believes the United States should intervene in key crises, Nye holds that Washington should stay out of the business of “invasion and occupation.” He argues for the need to reinvigorate, reconfigure and reinvent international institutions to carry the work of addressing our most serious global challenges. This book provides so many insights into the global dynamics of power and its significance that I would make it required reading for all members of the A-100 course, with a class discussion of the implications of these trends and our role in this new and changing world. It should also be read by all who take the new ambassadors’ class to ensure that our professionals and neophytes are aware of just how complex and chal- lenging the world they are being sent out to manage is. Harry C. Blaney is a retired FSOwho served three assignments as a member of the Secre- tary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and in the White House. He served overseas at the U.S. Mission to the European Union and NATO. He is former president of the Coalition for Ameri- can Leadership Abroad, and is now a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security. Finding the Humor in Following Your Spouse Packing Up: Further Adventures of a Trailing Spouse Brigid Keenan, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, $17.37, hardcover, 320 pages. Reviewed By Debra Blome Packing Up: Further Adventures of a Trailing Spouse is a sequel to Brigid Keenan’s 2007 book, Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trail- ing Spouse , which she wrote about life as a diplomatic family. That book covered giving up a career, having children and mov- ing a family around the world. This one is all about what happens next. Keenan’s witty observations make for a fun read. She has a knack for characterizing a situation in just such a way that a Foreign Service reader understands. “Normally it is quite unnerving wak- ing up on the first day of a new posting because you have no idea where—or who—you are, but I had no difficulty this morning for the simple reason that I never went to sleep,” she writes. “My bed was so hard I might as well have been lying on the floor, and all I could think was ‘Oh God, what have I done?’ AW should have retired: we could be living cozily in Somerset now, with a play frame in the garden and the grandchildren coming for weekends; but instead we are on the 15th floor of the Radisson Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan.” Keenan’s husband—whom she refers to only as AW—is a diplomat for the European Union. The book covers the last few posts of his career and the months immediately following retire- ment. During this time, Keenan and AW host a wedding, face cancer, become grandparents, train domestic help, quit smoking, gain weight and retire, among other things. The book is written as a collec- tion of journal entries rather than as a traditional narrative. It begins with a nearly 30-page prologue that sets the scene and brings the reader up to date with the family (10 years have passed since the writing of Diplo- matic Baggage ). “When I was writ- ing it,” Keenan says of the book in her prologue, “I noticed that lots of other older women seemed to be publishing their mem- oirs and said to my