Independent Diplomat: Despatches from an Unaccountable Elite

by Carne Ross

Independent Diplomat is a compelling insider's account of the foreign policy world.

Carne Ross was a diplomat on the front line of today's most pressing issues, from Israel/Palestine to Afghanistan and Iraq, over which he resigned from the British Foreign Office. He was trained to see the world through a prism of states and interests, but the reality of his negotiations revealed very different - more complex, and more human - forces at play. Independent Diplomat exposes this fundamental weakness of institutional exclusion of those most affected by its outcomes, whether at the UN, the EU or within national foreign ministries.

Illustrated with vivid episodes from his career - from New York to Kabul - Ross offers a refreshing critique of contemporary diplomacy and of how to put it right.

Kindle Edition

Published July 27, 2017

About the author

Ross joined the British Foreign Office and worked at the UK embassy in Bonn, Germany before moving to the UK mission to the UN, where he worked from December 1997 to June 2002. At the UN, Ross served as the UK delegation's expert on the Middle East. Ross also worked on several important Security Council resolutions such as SCR 1284 which rewrote the Council's Iraq policy and established UNMOVIC, the weapons inspection body. He also negotiated for the UK the resolution establishing the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and the Council's resolution of 12 September 2001 condemning the attacks of the day before. Ross then served as Strategy Coordinator for the UN in Kosovo (UNMIK) where he devised and led a joint UN and government policy to implement a series of standards to improve governance, the rule of law and human rights protection, and advised the Secretary-General's Special Representative on diplomatic and political tactics.

He left the British civil service in 2004 after 15 years of service. He is now a supporter to the UN Parliamentary Assembly. In 2004, he founded the non-governmental organisation Independent Diplomat, the world's first non-profit diplomatic advisory group which advises marginalized countries and groups around the world http://www.independentdiplomat.org/

Reviews

[Tom_McC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a rather enjoyable book, engagingly written on a fascinating topic . The author is disturbingly honest about their sublimation into the diplomatic "machine" and describes well the tensions that caused between their developing role and their conscience. It speaks highly of Ross that their conscience won! I good insight into this rather private world which lays bare the limitations of 19th century diplomacy in a modern world. A small point, but there are a number of typesetting errors however these do not detract from the narrative. Recommended!

[P Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The State is not the only mode of organisation.

A truly inspiring read.
An inside view from one who came outside.
It exposes how 19th Century diplomacy is inadequate for 21st Century problems, and the nation state ( no nation state) represents the people who live within its borders.
It hints that something else is possible, but whither now?