The Foreign Service Journal, October 2019

32 OCTOBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL From War to Peace in the Balkans, the Middle East and Ukraine Daniel Serwer, Palgrave Macmillan, $31/hardcover, 145 pages. This open-access book focuses on the origins, consequences and aftermath of the 1995 and 1999 Western military interventions that led to the end of the most recent Balkan Wars, highlighting the lessons that can be applied to the Middle East and Ukraine, where similar conflicts are threaten- ing national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Informed by the experience of a diplomatic practitioner, this book is an accessible treatment of what causes wars and how to make peace. A volume in the Palgrave Critical Studies in Post- Conflict Recovery series, it is ideal for all readers interested in how violent international conflicts can be managed. For a full review of the book, see p. 63. Daniel Serwer’s 21-year Foreign Service career culmi- nated with assignments as deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires in Rome from 1990 to 1993, and special envoy and coordinator for the Bosnian Federation from 1994 to 1996. He is a professor and director of the Conflict Management Program in Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. In 2012, with David R. Smock, he co-authored Facilitating Dialogue: USIP’s Work in Conflict Zones ; the following year, Potomac Books published his book, Righting the Balance: How You Can Help Protect America . Last year, I.B. Tauris brought out his The Balkan Solution . Why Peacekeeping Fails, 20th Anniversary Edition Dennis C. Jett, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, $24.99/paperback, 326 pages. Since the first edition of Why Peace- keeping Fails was published in 1999, the number of United Nations peacekeepers has risen from 15,000 to 100,000, and their missions have become more dangerous and more complex, according to author Dennis C. Jett. Peacekeepers today are dying in record numbers and are engaged in missions that are “virtually impossible to bring to a successful conclu- sion,” he writes, in this thoroughly revised 20th-anniversary edition, half of which is new material. The United Nations spends nearly $7 billion annually on 14 peacekeeping missions around the globe. Jett examines why the dramatic increase in peacekeeping has occurred, and how terrorism has affected both recent and long-standing peacekeeping operations. He also assesses the prospects of peacekeeping at a time when the United States seems to be withdrawing from the world. Jett argues that neither U.N. peacekeepers nor governmental violence can prevent the conditions that lead to violent extrem- ism and the need for peacekeeping forces. Unstable countries with weak economies and ineffective governance won’t act by themselves, he argues. The international community should apply strong and consistent economic and political pressure and sanctions to promote positive chances, he adds. Aid or trade with such countries should be tied to better governance, human rights and adherence to democratic norms. Dennis Jett is a professor of international affairs at Penn State University. His 28-year career in the Foreign Service included service as ambassador to Peru and Mozambique, and assign- ments in Argentina, Israel, Malawi and Liberia. Kissinger on Kissinger: Reflections on Diplomacy, Grand Strategy, and Leadership Winston Lord, St. Martin’s Press, 2019, $25.99/hardcover, 176 pages. Foreign Service Journal readers cer- tainly need no introduction to Henry Kissinger. But nearly a half-century after he transformed America’s approach to diplomacy with China and Russia, laying the foundation for geopolitics as we know it today, escalating tensions are threatening a swift return to the same diplomatic game of tug-of-war that Kissinger played so masterfully. Kissinger on Kissinger is a series of faithfully transcribed interviews conducted by the elder statesman’s longtime associ- ate, Winston Lord, which offer Kissinger’s thoughts on the specific challenges that he faced during his tenure as national security adviser and Secretary of State, his general advice on leadership and international relations, and stunning portraits of the larger-than-life world leaders of the era. The result is a frank, informative overview of U.S. foreign