Overview

This is a dangerous time—the international system is teetering, jolted by a raging pandemic, climate change, income inequality, cyber threats, terrorism, authoritarian regimes, nationalist demagogues, and frightened and impatient publics. But the career and hard-earned wisdom of famed diplomat, Jan Eliasson, offers warnings, guidance, and hope. The Education of a Statesman examines Eliasson’s remarkable diplomatic career—including Swedish diplomat, president of the United Nations General Assembly, and Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations—and scrutinizes the innumerable lessons he has learned which are applicable to our current period of “maximum danger” in global affairs. Combining elements of idealism and realism, Eliasson helps us understand the complexities of this perilous time in global affairs and suggests what can be done to renew the international order and calm the raging discontent that has infected international and domestic politics. Historian John Shaw analyzes a master diplomat and provides an insider’s perspective on diplomacy and international politics: what happens during backroom meetings, high-profile international conferences, and charged debates at the United Nations. This book shows what must be done to confront this pivotal moment so “the bad guys stop winning” and the forces of rationality, fairness, and pluralism prevail—or at least have a fighting chance.

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9781538174838

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At a time of global crises and pessimism about the effectiveness of multilateral organizations, John Shaw offers a refreshing counter-narrative. Using examples from the remarkable career of Jan Eliasson -- who held more, and more varied, senior positions in the United Nations than any other individual -- Shaw leads the reader to conclude that collective action rooted in the UN Charter remains essential today. Eliasson's boundless energy and optimism, sources of inspiration for those of us fortunate enough to have worked with him, jumps off the pages in Shaw's account. At the UN, Eliasson's hands-on approach touched countless people, and Shaw's book is the next best thing to being in Eliasson's company. --Jeffrey Feltman, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2012-2018) This work by an experienced and thoughtful journalist illuminates the world of diplomacy through the life of Jan Eliasson, a statesman who, though representing a small country nonetheless had a large impact. It has a lot to teach those curious about one of the oldest, but least understood professions, and how it can help mend a wounded world. --Eliot A. Cohen, Counselor of the Department of State, 2007-2009; Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 2019-2021 No small irony that the most successful diplomatic life is one most often lived out of sight. The professional virtues required for effective statecraft rarely take center stage--historical curiosity, analytical temperament, ideologically self-aware, attentiveness to detail, patient negotiator. For this reason, John T. Shaw has put us in his debt with The Education of a Statesman: How Global Leaders Can Repair a Fractured World. Few outside the circles of Washington DC's diplomatic circles have heard of Swedish Ambassador Jan Eliasson, despite rising through the ranks to be Deputy Secretary General of the UN. Shaw remedies that oversight here, but this is no mere biography. He uses Eliasson's professional life as both commentary and metaphor--field notes and guiding paradigm--and uses the vocation of statecraft to throw light on one of its finest practitioners. As Shaw shows, our fractured world needs more Eliassons. --U.S. Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, (Ret.)

No small irony that the most successful diplomatic life is one most often lived out of sight. The professional virtues required for effective statecraft rarely take center stage--historical curiosity, analytical temperament, ideologically self-aware, attentiveness to detail, patient negotiator. For this reason, John T. Shaw has put us in his debt with The Education of a Statesman: How Global Leaders Can Repair a Fractured World. Few outside the circles of Washington DC's diplomatic circles have heard of Swedish Ambassador Jan Eliasson, despite rising through the ranks to be Deputy Secretary General of the UN. Shaw remedies that oversight here, but this is no mere biography. He uses Eliasson's professional life as both commentary and metaphor--field notes and guiding paradigm--and uses the vocation of statecraft to throw light on one of its finest practitioners. As Shaw shows, our fractured world needs more Eliassons. --U.S. Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, (Ret.)

This work by an experienced and thoughtful journalist illuminates the world of diplomacy through the life of Jan Eliasson, a statesman who, though representing a small country nonetheless had a large impact. It has a lot to teach those curious about one of the oldest, but least understood professions, and how it can help mend a wounded world. --Eliot A. Cohen, Counselor of the Department of State, 2007-2009; Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 2019-2021 No small irony that the most successful diplomatic life is one most often lived out of sight. The professional virtues required for effective statecraft rarely take center stage--historical curiosity, analytical temperament, ideologically self-aware, attentiveness to detail, patient negotiator. For this reason, John T. Shaw has put us in his debt with The Education of a Statesman: How Global Leaders Can Repair a Fractured World. Few outside the circles of Washington DC's diplomatic circles have heard of Swedish Ambassador Jan Eliasson, despite rising through the ranks to be Deputy Secretary General of the UN. Shaw remedies that oversight here, but this is no mere biography. He uses Eliasson's professional life as both commentary and metaphor--field notes and guiding paradigm--and uses the vocation of statecraft to throw light on one of its finest practitioners. As Shaw shows, our fractured world needs more Eliassons. --U.S. Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, (Ret.)

In an era of spiraling global complexity, wicked transnational and existential threats, and institutional paralysis, the role of the diplomat could not be more critical. With the Great Powers locked in zero-sum competition, the role of the middle power diplomat who can artfully and effectively navigate toward solutions is even more so. John Shaw's examination of the life and work of one of the most consequential - Jan Eliasson - could not be more timely. A must read for any student or practitioner of diplomacy in the modern age. --Ambassador (ret.) Barbara K. Bodine John Shaw has written a twofer: A first rate primer on the art and science of diplomacy; and, a fascinating and well-written biography of the Swedish diplomat, Jan Eliasson, whose accomplishments in the United Nations and other multilateral forums are without equal. --Donald McHenry, former US ambassador to the UN At a time of global crises and pessimism about the effectiveness of multilateral organizations, John Shaw offers a refreshing counter-narrative. Using examples from the remarkable career of Jan Eliasson -- who held more, and more varied, senior positions in the United Nations than any other individual -- Shaw leads the reader to conclude that collective action rooted in the UN Charter remains essential today. Eliasson's boundless energy and optimism, sources of inspiration for those of us fortunate enough to have worked with him, jumps off the pages in Shaw's account. At the UN, Eliasson's hands-on approach touched countless people, and Shaw's book is the next best thing to being in Eliasson's company. --Jeffrey Feltman, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2012-2018) This work by an experienced and thoughtful journalist illuminates the world of diplomacy through the life of Jan Eliasson, a statesman who, though representing a small country nonetheless had a large impact. It has a lot to teach those curious about one of the oldest, but least understood professions, and how it can help mend a wounded world. --Eliot A. Cohen, Counselor of the Department of State, 2007-2009; Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 2019-2021 No small irony that the most successful diplomatic life is one most often lived out of sight. The professional virtues required for effective statecraft rarely take center stage--historical curiosity, analytical temperament, ideologically self-aware, attentiveness to detail, patient negotiator. For this reason, John T. Shaw has put us in his debt with The Education of a Statesman: How Global Leaders Can Repair a Fractured World. Few outside the circles of Washington DC's diplomatic circles have heard of Swedish Ambassador Jan Eliasson, despite rising through the ranks to be Deputy Secretary General of the UN. Shaw remedies that oversight here, but this is no mere biography. He uses Eliasson's professional life as both commentary and metaphor--field notes and guiding paradigm--and uses the vocation of statecraft to throw light on one of its finest practitioners. As Shaw shows, our fractured world needs more Eliassons. --U.S. Ambassador Ruth A. Davis, (Ret.)

Author Information

John T. Shaw is a historian, long-time Washington, D.C. journalist, and currently the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute in Illinois. His work and books have been featured on C-SPAN’s Book TV, PBS NewsHour and C-SPAN. He has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, and The American Interest. He has been a contributing writer to the Washington Diplomat magazine for over 25 years and writes the monthly “Better Politics, Smarter Government” column that is distributed to 400 papers in Illinois. Shaw has been a media fellow at the Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and is a member of Biographer’s International, a group devoted to advancing biographical writing. He has given book-related presentations at the U.S. Senate Library, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, the U.S. Archives, the Hoover Institution, and the German Marshall Fund. As the director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, he has extensive contacts in the academic and public policy world. He created and hosts “Understanding Our New World,” on ongoing Zoom series of hour-long conversations with influential and astute people such as Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland; Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director; William Burns, current Director of the CIA; Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation; Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America; and Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations. The discussions have been viewed live by thousands of people, tens of thousands have watched on YouTube, and they are now heard as the SimonCast podcast. Guest have also included five Pulitzer Prize winners, who Shaw is confident will write blurbs for The Education of a Statesman. The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is a member of the Association for Congressional Centers and his connections with the directors of more than three dozen public policy centers across the country will bring greater attention to this book.

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