HSFSA News – December 6, 2021
First HSFSA Chapters Created
The first two chapters of the High School Foreign Service Association have recently been created! The Gulliver Preparatory School and the Hialeah Gardens High School have joined the HSFSA on its mission of providing students the platform and opportunity to pursue their interests in foreign policy, international affairs, and diplomacy. The chapters will start hosting HSFSA events mentioned in What We Do soon, and we will watch their progress with great interest!
10 more schools are in the process of starting a chapter! To join, fill out the form at hsfsa.org/start!
HSFSA News Series Launched
HSFSA News will come out every Monday. Each edition will include any news about the High School Foreign Service Association. In addition, reports of events in chapters, such as guest speaker or mini-MUN committees, will be included. Advice on hosting HSFSA events from the first-hand experience of chapter sponsors and student officers will be given as well. Alongside that, each edition will contain a book and Foreign Service Journal edition of the week. The recommended resources will be related to international relations and will be useful to read both for practical purposes – such as applying the knowledge gained to debate or social studies – and simply out of interest.
Book of the Week
War by other means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft
Today, nations increasingly carry out geopolitical combat through economic means. Policies governing everything from trade and investment to energy and exchange rates are wielded as tools to win diplomatic allies, punish adversaries, and coerce those in between. Not so in the United States, however. America still too often reaches for the gun over the purse to advance its interests abroad. The result is a playing field sharply tilting against the United States.
In a cogent analysis of why the United States is losing ground as a world power and what it can do to reverse the trend, War by Other Means describes the statecraft of geoeconomics: the use of economic instruments to achieve geopolitical goals. Geoeconomics has long been a lever of America’s foreign policy. But factors ranging from U.S. bureaucratic politics to theories separating economics from foreign policy leave America ill prepared for this new era of geoeconomic contest, while rising powers, especially China, are adapting rapidly. The rules-based system Americans set in place after World War II benefited the United States for decades, but now, as the system frays and global competitors take advantage, America is uniquely self-constrained. Its geoeconomic policies are hampered by neglect and resistance, leaving the United States overly reliant on traditional military force.
Drawing on immense scholarship and government experience, Robert Blackwill and Jennifer Harris show that if America’s policies are left uncorrected, the price in American blood and treasure will only grow. What geoeconomic warfare requires is a new vision of U.S. statecraft.
- From the Harvard University Press website
FSJ Edition of the Week
January/February 2019 – Focus on Economic Diplomacy
This edition of the Foreign Service Journal offers deep insight into economic diplomacy from the first-hand experience of Foreign Service Officers.
Ranging from an introduction of economic diplomacy and its goals to its past and future directions, this issue is undoubtedly worth reading for anyone interested in international relations. “What Is Economic Diplomacy and How Does It Work?” and “Economic Officers for the Future” dive into the inner workings of economic diplomacy and those who carry it out. “Six Elements of Effective Economic/Commercial Diplomacy” and “View from the E Family: Empowering Growth, Securing Our Future” give advice on future economic and commercial diplomacy which still applies in our time, while “From Guitars to Gold: The Fruits of Economic Diplomacy” recounts the stories of 13 American Diplomats and their work to promote and protect U.S. businesses in all four corners of the world.
Read the full edition at afsa.org/foreign-service-journal-januaryfebruary2019!