THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2024 23 across diverse cultures and perspectives. Our public diplomacy colleagues call this critical work bridging “the last three feet.” Any good manager will tell you that interpersonal skills are just as necessary for building relationships with one’s colleagues as with one’s foreign interlocutors. Past and Future Must Work Together With these four classic brushstrokes, practitioners can begin to master the art of foreign policy, shaping the international landscape with creativity, empathy, and a deep understanding of the human condition. These domains also constitute a “danger zone” into which technologists and future-minded reformers should tread carefully. Yet there’s also great risk in letting one’s comfort with the status quo prevent one from experimenting with new approaches. Overconfidence in one’s artistry can blind a person to the weaknesses of the status quo and the opportunities provided by new approaches. In a more competitive, multipolar world, sharpening the tools of diplomacy will be essential to achieving our foreign policy goals and securing our national interests. One of the strengths in this set of articles is the authors’ eagerness to experiment and to learn from successes and failures along the way. Ultimately, any new approach in diplomacy must be judged by its ability to help policymakers better understand the world, select policy options more likely to achieve their goals, and support more effective foreign policy. Any new tool or approach must empower—not dampen—our best human impulses. The future of diplomacy is deeply uncertain. Some believe emerging technologies like AI can usher in an unprecedented age of peace and prosperity. Others fear that new technology poses an existential threat to our species and must be contained. No matter what the future holds, the United States—and everyone on this planet affected by our actions—deserves the best possible State Department. Judging by the articles in the following pages, I am optimistic about its future. n —ADVERTISEMENT—
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