The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

mascot of Montezuma’s forebears, showing them how to fend off with its spiny barbs the great bear that roamed in the northern forests. Though the fable is entirely of the author’s own making, it proves an effective device, both because the bilateral relationship is indeed fre- quently prickly and because Davidow himself (probably the tallest U.S. ambassador since John Kenneth Galbraith) would be pretty imposing in a bearskin. Looking ahead to 2025 in his con- clusion, Davidow shows equal cre- ativity in scripting a bilingual dia- logue between the American and Mexican presidents about the (imag- ined) perfidy of their Canadian NAFTA partner, who is still strug- gling with separatism. After the call, President Gonzalez’s glance falls on the displayed inaugural gifts he got from his mother’s birthplace in Jalisco. He then walks into the Oval Room at the White House to begin his day’s schedule. A Chicano president of the United States in 2025? Not so far- fetched, if you reckon that our Hispanic minority, at some 13 per- cent of the population, has already surpassed the African-American demographic, and if you posit freer movement and greater integration in the next 20 years, as NAFTA gains force. Operating on that assump- tion, Davidow then outlines a far- reaching, nonpartisan action pro- gram for the coming years that would serve us well if the winning party were enlightened enough to adopt it in November. The U.S. and Mexico is must reading not just for the many Foreign Service people serving or planning to serve in the country, but for all Americans who have some sense of how closely linked our own destiny is with our 100-million-plus immediate neighbors. As one indi- cation of its broad appeal, the Spanish-language version, published in Mexico some nine months earlier than the U.S. version, has already sold over 25,000 copies! Ted Wilkinson, a former minister- counselor in Mexico City, now serves as a retiree member of the AFSA Governing Board and on the Journal Editorial Board. The Model of a Modern Ambassador The 21st Century Ambassador: Plenipotentiary to Chief Executive Kishan S. Rana, Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies (Diplo Handbooks), 2004, 21 euros (approx. U.S. $25), paperback, 258 pages. R EVIEWED BY E DWARD M ARKS Diplomats, as a class being more or less literate, produce a stream of articles and books as they pass into retirement. Apart from classic mem- oirs, they discuss either foreign policy (what is or was done rightly or wrong- ly and what should be done) or the practice of diplomacy, usually how it has changed or is changing in the modern world. Retired Indian Ambassador Kishan S. Rana‘s book, The 21st Century Ambassador: Plenipotent- iary to Chief Executive , falls into the later category. As his title indicates, he focuses on the ambassador as an institution that continues to represent the cutting edge of the international diplomatic system, and considers ways in which that institution’s func- tioning can be optimized in today’s environment. Rana’s argument is based on today’s political and bureaucratic real- ities and not on nostalgic memories of a golden age. He illustrates that it is precisely because of social, political and economic changes that the insti- tution of ambassador is a necessary element in effective governance in this increasingly global world. He recognizes the changes that lead some to dismiss professional diplomacy as no longer valid: modern communica- tion technology, the major role of other departments, direct capital-to- capital dealings, the explosion of the number of subjects that are the busi- ness of modern diplomacy, and the loss by the ministry of foreign affairs of its historic gatekeeper role. However, he argues, beginning with a quotation from a State Department memo of 1970, that these changes only mean the need is for a “new breed of diplomat — managers.” As such, the modern ambassador “sheds the baggage of pomp and con- centrates on the promotion, outreach, negotiation, feedback, management and servicing functions” of the bilater- al relationship. The chief of mission is obviously not master of the entire enterprise — not even the foreign 88 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 B O O K S Rana recommends that ambassadors “shed the baggage of pomp” and concentrate on managing the bilateral relationship.