Florida
The US Foreign Service: Representing America Abroad
Program No. 8164RJ
Get to know America’s first line of defense as you speak with Foreign Service Officers, learning about foreign policy, international intrigue and fascinating stories of life abroad.
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6 days
5 nights
12 meals
5B 3L 4D
1
Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
St. Petersburg, FL
2
Introduction to US State Department and Foreign Service
St. Petersburg, FL
3
Exploring historic aspects of diplomacy
St. Petersburg, FL
4
Learning more about foreign diplomacy
St. Petersburg, FL
5
Diversity, Human Rights, Families Overseas
St. Petersburg, FL
6
Program Concludes
St. Petersburg, FL
At a Glance
How is the United States represented abroad by its diplomats? Find out from the diplomats themselves! Accept this rare invitation to go behind doors that are usually closed to the public as you meet retired Foreign Service Officers and discuss the intriguing challenges they faced in pursuing American foreign policy objectives. Learn how our diplomats cooperate with the military in the international arena and communicate with citizens in other countries through “public diplomacy.”
Activity Level
Easy Going
Minimal walking and standing.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Learn how the U.S. Foreign Service works -- from recruiting new officers to placements overseas.
- Examine a wide variety of issues involving America’s friends and adversaries around the world, both past and present, and get a behind-the-scenes understanding of diplomacy.
- Enjoy some fascinating "Tales of the Foreign Service" from a career diplomat with lots to share.
Suggested Reading List
(5 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
The US Foreign Service: Representing America Abroad
Program Number: 8164
Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service, Second Edition
Career Diplomacy—now in its second edition—is an insider's guide that examines the foreign service as an institution, a profession, and a career. Harry W. Kopp and Charles A. Gillespie, both of whom had long and distinguished careers in the foreign service, provide a full and well-rounded picture of the organization, its place in history, its strengths and weaknesses, and its role in American foreign affairs. Based on their own experiences and through interviews with over 100 current and former foreign service officers and specialists, the authors lay out what to expect in a foreign service career, from the entrance exam through midcareer and into the senior service—how the service works on paper, and in practice.
The second edition addresses major changes that have occurred since 2007: the controversial effort to build an expeditionary foreign service to lead the work of stabilization and reconstruction in fragile states; deepening cooperation with the U.S. military and the changing role of the service in Iraq and Afghanistan; the ongoing surge in foreign service recruitment and hiring at the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development; and the growing integration of USAID’s budget and mission with those of the Department of State.
America's Other Army: The U.S. Foreign Service and 21st Century Diplomacy
"America’s Other Army" brings the high-flying world of international diplomacy down to earth and puts a human face on a mysterious profession that has undergone a dramatic transformation since September 11, 2001.
Through the stories of American diplomats, the book explains how their work affects millions of people in the United States and around the world every day, and how it contributes to U.S. security and prosperity. It shows a more inclusive American diplomacy that has moved beyond interacting with governments and has engaged with the private sector, civil society and individual citizens.
Having visited more than 50 embassies and interviewed some 600 American diplomats, the author reveals a Foreign Service whose diversity and professional versatility have shattered old perceptions and redefined modern diplomacy. But he also depicts a service not fully equipped to address the complex challenges of the 21st century.
Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work, All-New, Third Edition of the Essential Guide to the Foreign Service
Who works in an embassy? What do diplomats actually do? Inside a U.S. Embassy offers an up-close and personal look into the lives of the diplomats and specialists who make up the U.S. Foreign Service, taking readers inside embassies and consulates in more than fifty countries, providing detailed descriptions of Foreign Service jobs and first-hand accounts of diplomacy in action. Gain a sense of the key role played by each member of an embassy team from Paris to Kabul, from Bogota to Beijing, and places in between. Travel into the rainforests of Thailand with an environmental affairs officer, face rampaging militias with a political officer in East Timor, and join an ambassador on a midnight trip into a Macedonian refugee camp to quell a riot. The book includes profiles of diplomats and specialists around the world serving in Foreign Service positions -- from the ambassador to the security officer, the consular officer to the IT specialist. Also included is a selection of day-in-the-life accounts from seventeen different countries, each describing an actual day on the job. The story section includes twenty-six tales from the field that give a sense of the extraordinary: the coups, the evacuations, the civil wars, the hardships and rewards of representing America to the world.Inside a U.S. Embassy was published by the American Foreign Service Association in 2003, and updated and revised in 2005. Over 70,000 copies have sold.
Realities of Foreign Service Life
Mention a diplomatic career and most people imagine high-level meetings, formal dress and cocktail parties. Few stop to think that behind the occasional glitter of official functions are thousands of families facing all the routines and crises of life-births, deaths, childrearing, divorce-far from home, relatives, and friends, in an unfamiliar and sometimes unfriendly country and culture.
This book provides reflections and perspectives on the realities of Foreign Service life as experienced by members of the Foreign Service community around the world. The writers share their unvarnished views on a wide variety of topics they care about: maintaining long-distance relationships, raising teens abroad, dealing with depression, coping with evacuations, readjusting to life in the United States, and many others. These are stories from the diplomatic trenches-true experiences from those who have lived the lifestyle and want to share their hard-learned lessons with others.
American Statecraft: The Story of the U.S. Foreign Service
This magisterial work on American diplomacy by a veteran journalist and historian is the first complete history of the U.S. Foreign Service
American Statecraft is a fascinating and comprehensive look at the unsung men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service whose dedication and sacrifices have been a crucial part of our history for over two centuries. Fifteen years in the making, veteran journalist and historian Moskin has traveled the globe conducting hundreds of interviews both in and out of the State Department to look behind the scenes at America's "militiamen of diplomacy."
As the nation's eyes and ears, our envoys pledge a substantial part of their lives in foreign lands working for the benefit of their nation. Endeavoring to use dialogue and negotiation as their instruments of change, our diplomats tirelessly work to find markets for American business, rescue its citizens in trouble abroad, and act in general as "America's first line of defense" in policy negotiations, keeping America out of war. But it took generations to polish these skills, and Moskin traces America's full diplomatic history, back to its amateur years coming up against seasoned Europeans during the days of Ben Franklin, now considered the father of the U.S. Foreign Service, and up to the recent Benghazi attack. Along the way, its members included many devoted and courageous public servants, and also some political spoilsmen and outright rogues.
An important contribution to the political canon, American Statecraft recounts the history of the United States through the lens of foreign diplomacy.
