Education and Training for Our New Diplomacy

Abstract

Because the conduct of international affairs is not a profession, but, rather, involves elements of many professions, there is no single path of education for careers within the foreign affairs establishment. Educational requirements must therefore not be looked upon as a bottleneck restricting access. For this reason, and others, there should be no national academy of foreign affairs. There are three principal varieties of educational experience which may aim specifically at education for the conduct of foreign affairs: preservice graduate training in a university, in-service government-sponsored training, and mid-career education generally (but not always) within universities. Each has its place. The first and last today confront a widening gap between the concerns of the academic social scientist and those of the outcomes-oriented practitioner. Such a gap is in the interest neither of the academic community nor, of course, of the government.