The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

26 NOVEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Where Is the Lone Ranger? America’s Search for a Stability Force (2nd Edition). Robert M. Perito, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2013, $18.71, paperback, 248 pages. In this second edition of Where Is the Lone Ranger? , Robert Perito argues that the end of U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan will not mean an end to the need to maintain security in the tumultuous Middle East and North Africa regions. With other conflicts ongoing, security and stability are anything but assured, and U.S. experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has shown that the military does not have the ability to ensure last- ing peace. Perito calls for a designated stability force that would be able to react to future crises and effectively foster economic and political recovery. In addition to military forces able to expel and secure in the short term, a stability force, he argues, would bring public order and law enforcement to scarred regions while utilizing a minimum amount of force. With the foundations for stability in place, economic, political and social reconstruction could take place more effectively. Robert M. Perito, a retired Foreign Service officer, serves as director of the Security Sector Governance Center of Innova- tion at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He also headed the Interna- tional Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program at the Department of Justice, and is author of The American Experience with Police in Peace Operations (Canadian Peacekeeping Press, 2002) and co-author of Police in War: Fighting Insurgency, Terror- ism and Organized Crime (Lynne Rienner Publishing, 2010). Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States and the World Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill, with Ali Ayne, The MIT Press, 2013, $17.95, hardcover, 232 pages. Relations between Asian powers and the United States are constantly shifting, so insights into how to navigate the resulting diplomatic challenges are at a premium. Singapore’s longtime prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, is uniquely placed to offer such insights. In this book, he bluntly describes how he sees major play- ers like China and the United States interacting in the coming years and sheds light on the intentions of each, with the purpose of informing experts and leadership in both capitals. The book, which includes a foreword by Henry Kissinger, is drawn from interviews with and speeches by Lee from 1959 to 1990, during the period Singapore was transforming itself from a corrupt city- state into a forward-looking, wealthy economic center. Graham Allison is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Robert D. Blackwill is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer who served as ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003 and as the U.S. National Security Council deputy office director for Iraq at the start of the 2003 war. Ali Ayne served as a researcher at the Belfer Center from 2009 to 2012, and is now an associate there. Alternative North Americas: What Canada and the United States Can Learn from Each Other David T. Jones, WoodrowWilson Center, 2013, free, e-book, 374 pages. Over the past decade, there has been more than a bit of “Canada envy” among many American citizens. Looking north- ward, Americans see what appears to be going well in Canada: a peaceful, generally tranquil society; single-payer medicine; solid economics; and a generally docile political structure. But not so fast! There is a wide spectrum of Canadian culture, society and political life that should not be emulated—at least not if the United States wishes to remain the United States. Alternative North Americas explores the underbelly of Canada, examining extensive problems in defense/security strategy; human rights; official languages complexity; criminal law; immi- gration/refugee policy; and economics. The study also reviews the ever-festering Quebec conundrum and the political discon- nects in the Canadian West. This e-book is part of the WoodrowWilson Center’s Canada Project, and is available for free download at Wilson Center web- site and at Scribd. David T. Jones is a retired Senior Foreign Service officer who was political minister-counselor at Embassy Ottawa. He co-authored Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs (Wiley, 2007) and edited The Reagan-Gorbachev Arms Control Breakthrough: The Treaty Elimi- nating Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Missiles (Vellum, 2012). He has also written many articles, columns and analyses of U.S.-Canada relations for various publications.