The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2022 33 a wide array of stabilization efforts from Vietnam to Afghani- stan. In the May 2022 FSJ review of Stabilizing Fragile States , retired FSO Keith Mines described Phillips as one of America’s “most creative foreign policy thinkers, who worked until his last moments to argue for a new approach to dealing with failed and fragile states.” Phillips emphasizes that stabilization work defies standard definitions of war or diplomacy. Flexible thinking is a necessity, and a nuanced understanding of specific context is fundamental to making results last, he argues. Phillips recommends that a specialized cadre of stabilization experts under the State Department and USAID be formed to address these challenges. Rufus Phillips served as a U.S. Army officer, CIA case officer, USAID official, and consultant to the Department of State. He is also the author of Why VietnamMatters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned (Naval Institute Press, 2008). Peck’s Postulates: Four Contributions to an Expanded Understanding of International Relations Edward L. Peck, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, 2022, $15/paperback, e-book available, 57 pages. Ambassador (ret.) Edward L. Peck pres- ents a concise, organized framework for navigating international relations in Peck’s Postulates , a new volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series. With touches of gentle humor, the author offers four concepts, each explicated with supporting statements and examples. Written as an introduction to the conduct of international relations, the work has, in the author’s view, broader relevance. He states: “Since it is people who decide what nations should do or not do—at what- ever level and under whatever political structure—these postu- lates also apply to individuals’ everyday lives.” Amb. Peck graduated from high school at 17 and served in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant and, later, paratrooper and first lieutenant during the Korean War before joining the Foreign Service. He served in Sweden, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, in addition to ambassadorships to Iraq and Mauritania. Since retiring in 1989, he has been engaged in matters of diplomacy and diplomatic education as executive secretary of the American Academy of Diplomacy and as a lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute, at conferences, and on cruise ships. Roots and Trajectories of Violent Extremism and Terrorism Glenn E. Schweitzer, National Academies Press, 2022, $40/ hardcover, e-book available, 162 pages. This report is based on a joint effort between the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences that spanned 25 years to understand the roots of ethnic violence, extremism, and terror- ism. Both countries have employed thousands of experts with hands-on analytical experience in understanding these issues and in service of this cooperative effort. This report presents the multifaceted lessons learned to help policymakers and prac- titioners better manage these threats. It features chapters on securing transportation infrastructure, adequately protecting sensitive radiological storage facilities, and ethnic turmoil in the Middle East. It also discusses critical factors that, if not effec- tively addressed, could exacerbate conflict in the future. Glenn E. Schweitzer, a Foreign Service officer from 1956 to 1969, is director of the Office for Central Europe and Eurasia of the National Academy of Sciences. From 1992 to 1994, he was on leave to serve in Moscow as the chair of the Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), created by the governments of the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Russia. He then served as ISTC’s first executive director. He resides in Menlo Park, California. MEMOIRS United States–Vietnam Reconciliation: Through Wars to a Strategic Partnership Desaix Anderson, New Academia Publishing, 2021, $30/paperback, print only, 458 pages. Based on Princeton University seminars conducted by author Desaix Anderson in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, United States–Vietnam Recon- ciliation examines the VietnamWar in