The debate over political appointments to ambassadorial posts has a long history in the United States, has only recently become an issue in the United Kingdom, and is now a growing issue in Australia.
It’s time to admit that US North Korea policy has failed. Democrats and Republicans have repeatedly sailed into the headwind of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions to no avail.
Regardless of who wins the US election, South Korea, not North Korea, should be a priority for the next administration and neglecting South Korea risks the US not seeing the strategic forest for the North Korean nuclear trees.
After seven years, the informal middle power partnership bringing together Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia (MIKTA), has achieved less than optimists envisioned, but lasted longer than pessimists imagined.
Despite its increasing international reputation as a global middle power, the tremendous success of its culture exports, and recognition of its effective governance, South Korea faces an image problem in Australia.
The middle-power moment may well have been an illusion, but middle powers will continue to play an important albeit different role in international relations.
With public attitudes towards fact shifting, fiction presents the opportunity to communicate policy - and historical fiction, ethnographic fiction, creative non-fiction and even ‘fictional international relations’ all invoke a deeper, less literal kind of truth.
Over the past year, long-suppressed strategic debates re-emerged in South Korea: accepting a less-involved United States, strengthening relations with China, securing an independent nuclear weapons capacity, or combining all of these and steering a path towards a unified Korea that could sustain some form of armed neutrality.
Without middle power diplomacy, South Korea's diplomacy will ultimately end up battling the same diplomatic crises with North Korea it has in the past — or worse
Political leadership and diplomacy are different, and remembering this point suggests we give diplomats the trust, confidence and resources they deserve, and allow them to do their jobs.
