Every couple of years America’s diplomats overseas are expected to come back to the U.S. for at least one month on “home leave” “to ensure that employees who live abroad for an extended period undergo reorientation and re-exposure in the United States on a regular basis.” During my home leave last summer I visited familyRead… Read more »
Long before the Internet social networking was a diplomatic tool. The words “diplomatic” and “reception” go naturally together. So naturally that diplomats are negatively stereotyped as “cookie pushers” (i.e. spending all their time at receptions serving appetizers). But, no doubt about it, a core element of diplomacy is networking socially and professionally … and communicating.Read… Read more »
Back in grade school, one of the lessons was that “according to the White House” didn’t really mean that the White House was talking, it meant that someone who represented the White House was talking. OK. We were children, and we were being taught the nuances of the language. But, sometimes it seems as ifRead… Read more »
I admit, like a number of my friends, I first opened a Facebook account in order to have a window on my children’s world. Some of my friends have told me that their children would be embarrassed to have them as friends — and so they are locked out. Others tell me that one reasonRead… Read more »
Yesterday’s Washington Post had an article headlined “Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps — Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration’s Effort to Foster Instant Communication” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/01/AR2009030101745_pf.html). While highlighting all of the information technology innovations the new “web-savvy Obama Team” has begun to employ, such as a Presidential blog and YouTube channel,Read… Read more »
For my first blog post on this site looking at new concepts of good governance within democracies, I figured I’d start with some old ones first. For Plato, an ideal city could be no larger than about 5000 people — the number that could be addressed by a single orator. For Aristotle, even this numberRead… Read more »