Peace Works

America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World

Frederick D. Barton

Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria - a quarter-century of stumbles in America’s pursuit of a more peaceful and just world. American military interventions have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars, yet we rarely manage to enact positive and sustainable change. In Peace Works: America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World, ambassador and global conflict leader Rick Barton uses a mix of stories, history, and analysis for a transformative approach to foreign affairs and offers concrete and attainable solutions for the future.

Drawing on his lifetime of experience as a diplomat, foreign policy expert, and State Department advisor, Rick Barton grapples with the fact that the U.S. is strategically positioned and morally obligated to defuse international conflicts, but often inadvertently escalates conflicts instead. Guided by the need to find solutions that will yield tangible results, Barton does a deep analysis of our last several interventions and discusses why they failed and how they could have succeeded. He outlines a few key directives in his foreign policy strategy: remain transparent with the American public, act as a catalyzing (not colonizing!) force, and engage local partners. But above all else, he insists that the U.S. must maintain a focus on people. Since a country’s greatest resource is often the ingenuity of its local citizens, it is counterproductive to ignore them while planning an intervention. By anchoring each chapter to a story from a specific conflict zone, Barton is able to discuss opportunities pursued and missed, areas for improvement, and policy recommendations. This balance between storytelling and concrete policy suggestions both humanizes distant stories of foreign crises, and provides going-forward solutions for desperate situations. The book begins and ends in Syria – the ultimate failure of our current approach to foreign policy, and with devastating consequences.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 312 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-5381-1300-4 • Hardback • April 2018 • $35.00 • (£23.95)

978-1-5381-1301-1 • eBook • April 2018 • $33.00 • (£22.95)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / Peace, Political Science / World / Middle Eastern, Political Science / American Foreign Policy

Peace Works

America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria - a quarter-century of stumbles in America’s pursuit of a more peaceful and just world. American military interventions have cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars, yet we rarely manage to enact positive and sustainable change. In Peace Works: America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World, ambassador and global conflict leader Rick Barton uses a mix of stories, history, and analysis for a transformative approach to foreign affairs and offers concrete and attainable solutions for the future.

Drawing on his lifetime of experience as a diplomat, foreign policy expert, and State Department advisor, Rick Barton grapples with the fact that the U.S. is strategically positioned and morally obligated to defuse international conflicts, but often inadvertently escalates conflicts instead. Guided by the need to find solutions that will yield tangible results, Barton does a deep analysis of our last several interventions and discusses why they failed and how they could have succeeded. He outlines a few key directives in his foreign policy strategy: remain transparent with the American public, act as a catalyzing (not colonizing!) force, and engage local partners. But above all else, he insists that the U.S. must maintain a focus on people. Since a country’s greatest resource is often the ingenuity of its local citizens, it is counterproductive to ignore them while planning an intervention. By anchoring each chapter to a story from a specific conflict zone, Barton is able to discuss opportunities pursued and missed, areas for improvement, and policy recommendations. This balance between storytelling and concrete policy suggestions both humanizes distant stories of foreign crises, and provides going-forward solutions for desperate situations. The book begins and ends in Syria – the ultimate failure of our current approach to foreign policy, and with devastating consequences.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 312 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-5381-1300-4 • Hardback • April 2018 • $35.00 • (£23.95)

978-1-5381-1301-1 • eBook • April 2018 • $33.00 • (£22.95)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / Peace, Political Science / World / Middle Eastern, Political Science / American Foreign Policy

Author

Rick Barton currently teaches at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, where he serves as the co-director of Princeton’s Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiatives and Ullman Fellowships. He has served as an American ambassador to the United Nations and the Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees at the U.N., and was the first Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations under President Obama. He has led conflict management initiatives in crisis zones across the globe, in countries as diverse as Haiti, Iraq, Nigeria, and Turkey. Barton has published in The New York Times,The Washington Post, Politico, The Boston Globe, and numerous other international outlets. He has been a frequent guest on news shows ranging from NPR to The O’Reilly Factor.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I - Matching Threats and Resolve
Chapter 1: Is the World Going to Hell?
Chapter 2: Why Should We Act and When?

Part II: A New Hope in the 90’s
Chapter 3: Bosnia: First Lessons
Chapter 4: Rwanda: Open Wounds
Chapter 5: Haiti: From Exploitation to Participation

Part III: The Crucible of the New Century
Chapter 6: Iraq: The Enormity of the Task
Chapter 7: Afghanistan: Measuring Progress

Part IV Current and Future Challenges
Chapter 8: Syria: What Matters Most?
Chapter 9: What Might We See in the Years Ahead

Part V - A Better Tomorrow
Chapter 10: Fulfilling Our Leadership Potential
Chapter 11: Expanding America’s Peaceful Core

Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

Provides one of the most thoughtful reflections yet on U.S. interventionism and peacemaking since the end of the Cold War.
— G. John Ikenberry, Princeton University; Foreign Affairs

"Immersed in more than 40 global conflicts over the past 25 years, Ambassador Rick Barton is among the world's most skilled and experienced diplomats and peace-builders. His honest reflections and deep understanding of the lessons he learned challenges traditional approaches and defines smart new global options."
— Senator George J. Mitchell

“For four decades and through forty conflicts, Rick Barton has served his country all over the world. Can America really bring peace to peoples and places that have known only war? Yes it can, but only by humility, patience, and perseverance. In this elegantly written and thoughtful book, Ambassador Barton shows us how.”
— Evan Thomas, author of "Ike's Bluff" and "Being Nixon"

"Rick Barton tells stories that are simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful. Even as we scale back the grandeur of U.S. global ambition, this book offers valuable lessons about when, where, and how we can make a meaningful difference in many of the world’s most dangerous and chaotic places."
— Anne-Marie Slaughter, President & CEO, New America

“Haiti was a byword for chaos in 1994 when the UN Security Council authorized the restoration of President Bertrand Aristide to power. This provided Rick Barton, a singular American diplomat, with an opportunity to test some innovative thinking to make local people the primary concern when countries teeter on the edge of an abyss. There are important lessons in this fascinating memoir that today’s global leadership should take to heart.”
— William Lacy Swing, Director General, The UN Migration Agency (IOM)

Peace Works

America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World

Frederick D. Barton

Peace Works

America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World

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