The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

56 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Contemporary Embassy: Paths to Diplomatic Excellence Kishan S. Rana, Palgrave Pivot, 2013, $70/hardcover, $36/Kindle, 166 pages. Today’s embassy blends tradition and change, accommodating multiple state and non-state actors who jostle on the international stage. In this innovative study, a distinguished former Indian ambassa- dor, Kishan S. Rana, considers why diplomatic missions remain relevant today, and examines new representational options and global diplomacy techniques in an information age. Supported by empirical research and interviews with dip- lomats and other professionals, and conveying unique insights into the experiences of developing countries, The Contemporary Embassy will be a valuable resource for diplomacy scholars and practitioners alike. Kishan S. Rana was a member of the Indian Foreign Service from 1960 to 1995, serving as ambassador to Algeria, Czechoslo- vakia, Kenya, Mauritius and Germany. Ambassador Rana now teaches, writes and advises other governments on diplomatic practice. He is the author of 21st-Century Diplomacy: A Practitio- ner’s Guide (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011). Turkey and the Arab Spring: Leadership in the Middle East GrahamE. Fuller, Bozorg Press, 2014, $15.95/paperback, $5.95/Kindle, 404 pages. GrahamE. Fuller breaks with conventional, Washington-centered analysis to explore the subject he lays out in his latest book’s title: Now that the politics of theMiddle East are up for grabs, what are the sources of its future leadership? A former CIA analyst who has taught and written extensively about the region, Fuller says there are grounds for optimism. Iranmay at last be re-emerging onto the world scene as a legitimate and influential actor; and, above all, Turkey’s experi- ence, despitemessy partisan politics, still offers the only convincing Muslimmodel of dynamic and effective governance. Throughout this masterful analysis, Fuller elucidates the deeper political and human forces that reflect the Middle East’s own history and culture—as he has done in nearly a dozen previ- ous books. (See the March 2013 FSJ for Steve Buck’s review of Fuller’s memoir, Three Truths and a Lie. )