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ARTICLES
You Better Believe That Africa
Matters
By
Charles A. Ray - 2022
The
Jerusalem Strategic Tribune,
jstribune.com-
February 2022
For
too long in the West, primarily the United States and Western Europe, the
continent of Africa has been viewed as peripheral to world affairs. It was
thought of only in terms of the natural resources that could be extracted
from it or as a place of poverty, violence, and disasters—natural and
man-made. As a diplomat who has served in Africa, a journalist who has
photographed and written about the continent, and now as a think-tank
analyst who studies Africa, this view of Africa is short-sighted and needs
to be revisited.
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How Diversity Can Enhance Diplomacy
by June Carter Perry and Christopher Faison - August 2021
Given their life experiences, People of
Color (POC) and women already possess many of the skills to succeed in
diplomacy. These include cross cultural communications, linguistic competence
and acceptance of practices absent from life in the United States and Western
countries. From childhood, People of Color and women often learn “to fit” into
concepts of appropriate attire, hairstyles and even speech, an experience akin
to what diplomats face as they encounter new cultures. Male colleagues often
dismiss their statements in meetings. Or, later take credit for their ideas and
may perceive efforts to reinforce contributions as demonstrating the individual
as being “difficult” or “overbearing”, which leaves often good ideas by the
wayside in negotiations.
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Fresh
Thinking on U.S. Engagement with Africa: Probing the Limits of Engagement
By Charles A. Ray - June
16, 2021
Abstract
The Biden administration faces
the opportunity to reset U.S. policy towards Africa and possesses a variety of
tools to use in doing so, including traditional diplomacy, economic statecraft,
development assistance, and military engagement. With the increased
militarization of U.S. foreign policy over the past few decades, there is an
unfortunate tendency to default to military engagement when confronted with even
remote threats to U.S. national security interests, and Africa is no exception.
With vital security interests in Africa, it can be argued that military
engagement should be limited in its application and targeted to those situations
that do not lend themselves to solution through traditional diplomacy or
development assistance.
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Can Sisyphus Win? Reforming Diplomacy for New Challenges
By June Carter Perry - February 2021
Moving the bureaucracy is akin to Sisyphus: forever pushing the rock up the hill
only to have it roll back. However, with a renewed interest in making diplomacy
and the State Department more effective and equitable, the New Year brings a
plethora of reports and recommendations to align the oldest and premier United
States agency into an institution prepared to meet contemporary challenges.
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Broadening the Foreign Service: The
Role of Diplomats in Residence
By June Carter Perry - August 2020
What is a Diplomat in Residence in 2020?
In order to reach out to potential future Foreign Service
Officers (FSOs), the Department of State places experienced officers at colleges
and universities in sixteen regions of the United States. The FSOs assigned as
Diplomats in Residence (DIRs) offer guidance and advice on careers, internships
and fellowships to students and professionals in the communities they serve.
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Opinion Piece in The
Federalist
After 18 Years,
It Is Past Time To Face The Truth About Afghanistan
Last week, three U.S. service members were
killed in an improvised explosive device attack near Bagram Air Base, an
operation subsequently claimed by the Taliban. The deaths of Christopher
Slutman of Newark, Delaware, Robert A. Hendriks of Locust Valley, New
York, and Benjamin S. Hines of York, Pennsylvania take the number of U.S.
troop fatalities in Afghanistan this year to seven.
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Letter in The
Washington Post
written by Amb.
(ret) June Carter-Perry
Let’s get rid of the term
‘biracial’
The May 17 "Style"
Article
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