PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION JUNE 2021 GREAT POWER COMPETITION EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT THE PANDEMIC AND FS KIDS FOREIGN SERVICE June 2021 Volume 98, No. 5 Focus on Feature Great Power Competition Today 43 Whatever Happened to Microfinance? A Cautionary Tale The success or failure of any development program depends on a thorough grasp of the context in which it is being implemented. By Thomas Dichter Education Supplement 21 34 57 Cyber Diplomacy for Hello, Europe— The Impact of Strategic Competition America Is Back COVID-19 on FS Kids: Fresh thinking and new approaches The trans-Atlantic agenda Tips and Thoughts are needed on diplomacy’s goes beyond undoing Trump. FS children face unique challenges newest frontier. Here is a sober look at the issues in the best of times. How are they from a veteran diplomat. By Emily O. Goldman faring during the pandemic? By Robert E. Hunter 26 By Rebecca Grappo Countering China’s 39 68 Intimidation of Taiwan GPC—Meaningful What’s New with Special Why a firm stand against Beijing’s Concept or Misleading intimidation and coercion of Taiwan is Education Allowances? Construct? The Family Liaison Office talks both timely and important right now. In this thought piece, two Senior with the Office of Child By Robert S. Wang FSOs offer contrasting takes on and Family Programs. the phrase widely used to frame By Charlotte Larsen 31 foreign policy today. By Alexis Ludwig and Engagement with China: Kelly Keiderling 64, 66 Was It a Mistake? Education U.S. expectations may have been unrealistic, but there is much to at a Glance remember and learn from our previous dealings with Beijing. By Robert Griffiths THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2021 5 FOREIGN SERVICE Perspectives Departments 7 89 10 Letters President’s Views Reflections Let’s Get It Right This Time The Mouse That Roared 13 Talking Points By Eric Rubin By Jonathan B. Rickert 80 Books 9 90 Letter from the Editor Local Lens Finding the Safed Dara, Tajikistan Power Paradigm for Today By Angelique Mahal By Shawn Dorman Marketplace 19 Speaking Out 83 Lodging The Case Against Political 84 Real Estate Ambassadors By Edward L. Peck 87 Classifieds 88 Index to Advertisers AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 47 AFSA Renovates and Expands 51 AFSA Governing Board Meeting, Memorial Plaques April 21, 2021 48 State VP Voice—Telework: 52 USAID Office of Security Briefing Productive and Family Friendly 53 AFSA Webinar: The Basics of 49 USAID VP Voice—Words of Thanks Long-Term Care and Life Insurance 50 AFSA on the Hill—Seizing the Moment: 54 FSGB 2020 Annual Report: Expand the U.S. Foreign Service Cases Are Up for the Foreign Service 51 AFSA Editorial Board Welcomes Grievance Board Two New Members 55 Boosting AFSA’s Social Media 47 51 AFSA Welcomes Franny Raybaud Presence as Membership Coordinator On the Cover—Cover Composition by Caryn Smith, Driven By Design LLC. Ship base photo from iStockphoto.com/Nicholas Free. Detail images from iStockphoto.com: waves, jatrax; sky, kvv515kvv; various flags, Martin Holverda, ali çoban, RudyBalasko and Creative-Touch. 6 JUNE 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Let’s Get It Right This Time BY ERIC RUBIN hen I joined the We are overdue for a serious debate about Foreign Service in America’s role in the world. 1985, near the end of the last phase of the Cold War, the United we failed to make crucial decisions about us to think through what role we as Ameri- WStates had a relatively clear set of goals our country’s future. cans should play in the world, how much and a relatively clear purpose in its for- This failure was exacerbated by an we are willing to pay for that role, and what eign and security policies. understandable desire to reap a “peace the expectations are for other countries Of course, hazy nostalgia for a dividend” after so many decades devot- who want to share the journey with us. bygone era of bipartisan consensus on ing much of our national wealth to the We also need to recognize that U.S. foreign policy is by no means justified. Cold War. global leadership in the 2020s cannot In the early 1980s, we had only recently That in turn led directly to “doing more be a re-creation of our role in the past. put the tragic, divisive 20-year U.S. war with less,” “reinventing government,” We need to ramp up our global engage- in Vietnam and Southeast Asia behind abolishing the U.S. Information Agency ment, this time with the understanding us, and we found ourselves in an accel- and the Arms Control and Disarmament that, as at home, there is no free lunch erating nuclear arms race with the Sovi- Agency, and significantly pulling back in world affairs. ets and a widening global ideological from foreign engagement and commit- AFSA is advocating that Congress division that would soon lead to proxy ments across the globe. provide more resources for the U.S. wars on three continents. This was not a complete pullback, of Foreign Service. We cannot keep doing Our record during that “long twilight course. But in real terms, we began to more with less: We need to do more with struggle” against tyranny that President cut both our outlays and ambitions to more. We also need to temper our reen- John F. Kennedy referred to in his 1961 the point that today spending on diplo- gagement with a heavy dose of humility, inaugural address is not error-free. We macy and foreign assistance is roughly recognizing that our country is going made many mistakes as a country as we half (in real dollars) what it was at the through a painful period of strife and battled Soviet communism and its imita- end of the Cold War—all while we are division and that the world has changed. tors. But there is also much to be proud seeking clear motivating principles and “Because we say so” is no longer a viable of—including the peaceful outcome of that goals for our foreign policy. talking point, if it ever was. struggle, which ended mostly on our terms. In the early 1990s, everything seemed We are overdue for a serious debate I was privileged to be part of the diplo- to be going our way, and it appeared about America’s role in the world and matic team that helped manage the U.S. likely to continue without much effort or what we need to do to achieve our goals. response to the breakup of the USSR and investment on our part. The “Washington A clearer sense of national direction its East European empire. I know from consensus” encouraged us to believe that combined with adequate funding and personal experi- liberal, free-market democracy was the staffing—and the resulting improvement ence that those only game in town—and everyone would in morale—would give the Service an heady days had a now have to follow it. opportunity to end the current decade in a downside: We were In many respects, things have not gone much stronger place. so swept up in the our way. I don’t need to lay out all the rea- As always, I welcome your thoughts euphoria of ending sons why. I do hope, however, that we will and recommendations. Please send them the Cold War that consider the present time as a chance for to us at [email protected]. n Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2021 7 FOREIGN SERVICE Editor-in-Chief, Director of Publications Shawn Dorman: [email protected] www.afsa.org Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected] Managing Editor CONTACTS Kathryn Owens: [email protected] AFSA Headquarters: FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Associate Editor (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820 Director of Finance and Facilities Cameron Woodworth: [email protected] State Department AFSA Office: Femi Oshobukola: [email protected] (202) 647-8160; Fax (202) 647-0265 Publications Coordinator Manager, HR and Operations USAID AFSA Office: Dmitry Filipoff: [email protected] Cory Nishi: [email protected] (202) 712-1941; Fax (202) 216-3710 Controller Business Development Manager— FCS AFSA Office: Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] Advertising and Circulation (202) 482-9088; Fax (202) 482-9087 Member Accounts Specialist Molly Long: [email protected] Vacant GOVERNING BOARD IT and Infrastructure Coordinator Art Director President Aleksandar “Pav” Pavlovich: Caryn Suko Smith Hon. 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