The Foreign Service Journal, November 2007

maritime goals. He covers China’s relations with the Southeast Asian nations in the last five years, addressing the economic, political and “soft power” dimensions of the rela- tionships. Percival contends that each area of Southeast Asia constitutes a different political and cultural subsys- tem, which determines the extent of China’s influence in each region. He devotes a section to Beijing’s relations with each individual nation, and also discusses the role of major external players. The Dragon Looks South examines the importance of China’s current strategic goals, and also clarifies American interests in Southeast Asia. The book priori- tizes American interests, creating a framework for eval- uating the implications of the ever-changing U.S. role in the region. Percival compares several prominent inter- national relations “schools of thought” with the realities of China-Southeast Asian relations, and discusses their relevance and utility. Bronson Percival is the senior adviser for Southeast Asia and terrorism in Asia at at the CNA Corporation’s Center for Strategic Studies in Alexandria, Va. A for- mer FSO, he served in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. While a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, he created the first War College seminar on modern Southeast Asia. After 9/11, he returned to the State Department to help analyze and design counterterror- ism policies for Southeast Asia. He has testified before Congress and spoken at numerous seminars on mar- itime and national security issues in Southeast Asia and on counterterrorism in Asia. Iraq: Policy & Perceptions Richard J. Schmierer, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, 2007, $14.95, paperback, 237 pages. Richard J. Schmierer was posted in Riyadh in the late 1990s and then in Baghdad in 2004, and observed firsthand the factors, perceptions and N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 23