THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2023 73 AFSA NEWS 2023 AFSA Strategic Writing Award Winner: Emily Armitage Emily Armitage, a public diplomacy–coned Foreign Service officer, is this year’s winner of AFSA’s Strategic Writing Award (formerly known as the George Kennan Writing Award). Mark Erickson, State Department academic chair at the Joint Forces Staff College, presented the award to her at the program’s graduation ceremony on June 9 in Norfolk, Va. AFSA offers the award annually to a Foreign Service graduate from any of the National Defense University’s five colleges whose research paper is singled out as the best essay on strategy or policy from among their cohort. Armitage says it was a wonderful honor to receive this award as she completed her master’s degree in strategy and campaign planning. After a year at the Joint Forces Staff College’s Joint Advanced Warfighting School in Norfolk, Va., she says her most important takeaway was gaining a better understanding of the interaction between the Department of State and the Department of Defense in crisis response. Her award-winning paper—“Semantics Matter: If Everything Is War, Then What Is War?”—explores how overuse of the term “war,” and related terminology, has weakened and confused its meaning, leading to an overreliance on military solutions and an inability to articulate when the use of force is necessary. She tells the FSJ: “My paper describes how semantics have the power to influence responses and shape policies to determine how societies mold, message, and manage their national security challenges. I contend that semantics may blur the lines between war and peace, politician and soldier, combatant and noncombatant.” Incorporating the views of both new and old war theorists, Armitage says, her paper explores “the premise that while the characteristics of war are facing an era of unprecedented change, the fundamental nature of war is constant. Understanding the contemporary dynamics of how, where, and who is fighting, is essential to gain strategic advantage, identify policy options, and determine which instrument of national power is best positioned to respond.” She believes it is important for policymakers to have a more flexible mindset about responses to the broad issues of human security, low-level conflict across multiple domains, and strategic competition—“because not every adversarial activity is war,” she concludes. Foreign Service members play a crucial role throughout the process. “Diplomacy is often characterized as something that happens before and after conflict; yet as diplomatic professionals, we know that it is far more complex,” she says. Armitage joined the State Department in 2009 and has served overseas in the United Kingdom, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and New Zealand (overseeing programs in Samoa, Niue, and the Cook Islands). Her domestic assignments include senior Serbia desk officer, watch officer in the Operations Center, and special assistant to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria. Her foreign languages include Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian. Armitage completed undergraduate studies at the College of William and Mary and graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University. Armed with her most recent master’s degree, she headed to Brussels in July as a politicalmilitary officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union. n The 2023 AFSA Strategic Writing Award winner, Emily Armitage (right), with Mark Erickson, at the National Defense University’s Joint Forces Staff College graduation ceremony in Norfolk, Va. AFSA’s Awards and Scholarships Manager Theo Horn congratulates Emily Armitage at AFSA headquarters on June 22. AFSA/MARIA BENINCASA MARK ERICKSON
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=