The Mighty and the Almighty
 Author: Madeleine Albright Pages: 352 | Book description | Albright brings considerable experience as a former diplomat, history professor, and child of Czech immigrants to an absorbing look at the intersection of world politics and world religion. With a sweeping view of U.S. historical involvement in the fight against communism and for human rights, as well as some of our more morally dubious pursuits, Albright critiques U.S. foreign policy and our notions of manifest destiny. From personal experiences, Albright notes the importance of religion in shaping world events, including the influence of Pope John Paul II on Poland and the world. As an admitted hybrid between realist and idealist, Albright suggests that politics and the values of faith can--and should--be joined in the interest of peace. But unfettered reliance on religious beliefs to guide politics is a formula for continued conflict. While President Bush portrays the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign as one aimed against evil, Albright notes that Osama bin Laden also "portrays a clash between the good defender and the evil aggressor, but with roles reversed." Albright details the historic conflicts between Christianity and Islam, between Israelis and Muslims, and conflicts among Muslims, all based on interpretations of religious texts. She believes the Christian Right has contributed to the complexity of foreign diplomacy with encroachment into areas that had formerly been personal matters--from contraception to sexual orientation--that are now matters of international interest. A thoughtful and absorbing look at religion and world politics for readers of all religious and political persuasions. However, she doesn't use that personal faith as a public battering ram to attack 'others' and their perspectives. Having grown up under state oppression, she knows first-hand what totalitarian states where everybody must worship one way...etc really are like. Albright did not and still does not attempt to turn her own faith into a partisan and one-dimensional caricature for political benefit. Her public faith is a civil belief in the state to advocate for the less fortunate. She understands democracy doesn't work when only talked about in the abstract. It has to be practiced. Contrasting with the current administration, she sees the world as complex and multifaceted--there are no clear-cut good and evil sides in a religious conflict. Current American policy prolongs the bloodshed by not adopting a more nuanced analysis. The U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 1993 to 1996, Albright was nominated by President Bill Clinton in December 1996 to become the nation's 64th secretary of state, succeeding Warren Christopher. Unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she was sworn into office on Jan. 23, 1997. As secretary of state, Albright serves as the president's principal adviser on foreign policy, conducts negotiations related to U.S. foreign affairs, and is a member of the National Security Council. Albright has been the president of the Center for National Policy, a nonprofit research organization that promotes the study and discussion of domestic and international issues, and a research professor of international affairs and the director of the Women in Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. From 1981 to 1982, Albright was a senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. She has also served as a senior fellow in Soviet and Eastern European affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Albright was a staff member on the National Security Council and at the White House, where she was responsible for foreign policy legislation, from 1978 to 1981. She served as chief legislative assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie from 1976 to 1978. Awarded a bachelor's degree with honors in political science from Wellesley College, she attended the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, received a certificate from Columbia University's Russian Institute, and earned her master's and doctorate at Columbia's department of public law and government. Born in Prague, Albright is fluent in French and Czech, with good speaking and reading abilities in Russian and Polish. Selected writings include "Poland: The Role of the Press in Political Change," "The Role of the Press in Political Change: Czechoslovakia, 1968," and "The Soviet Diplomatic Service: Profile of an Elite." She has three daughters. |
