Friday, February 4, 2011

Second Day of Classes

Date Written: 3 February 2011

My second day of classes went rather well. I went to dance class for the second time and was told that the class would meet only twice a week—not three times as I had originally thought. I do need to find two pairs of black pants and white shirts, as well as sweat rag or two. The instructor reminds me of Billy’s instructor from Billy Elliot as she wears her hair the same way and has a commanding presence, augmented by an equally commanding voice. While we only did a little dancing, it must have been quickly apparent to the Teaching Assistants that I needed help in the utmost sense as one rushed right over.

Diplomacy in Action!

Afterwords, I had my Diplomatic Communications class. Prof. Osei is an Ambassador (at Large, not assigned to any specific country). He also served as Secretary to President Kofuor, roughly equivalent to being the Chief of Staff to our President. I believe that he also served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) most of his career.

Before beginning class, he warned that I may find it boring due to the largely practical nature of the class. On the contrary, this delighted me. The students themselves seemed relatively close as most of them were taking the same courses as part of their FSO training. Prof. Osei began by outlining the course.

The course will focus on the language of diplomacy and figuring out what is behind many of the official and unofficial statements by diplomats. We will look at how diplomats are appointed or promoted to their positions and how to draft credentials for Special Envoys etc. The formation of minutes, which is the primary mode of communication from the bottom to the top, will be examined in addition to creating talking points. We will figure out how to read and draft demarche’s and other methods of direct foreign government to foreign government communications. Guest lectures may include a UN diplomat and the Consulate General.

We moved on to discussion of current events. Prof. Osei will occasionally call on people who have not spoken and one poor soul had not kept abreast of the news, not unlike me since arriving in Ghana. He stressed the importance of learning about major foreign policy issues as they come up. Cote d’Ivoire was discussed extensively. The professor’s own assessment foresaw Gbagbo delaying a transition for as long possible but ultimately being forced out. There was a select group of students who had an extensive knowledge of current events, a phenomena which is sometimes lacking in some courses at home. Tunisia, Egypt and the AU meetings were also picked over for every little detail and tidbit.

Our homework has been to find the latest statements from Pres. Obama, Sec. Clinton, the EU, the African Union, and the UN on Egypt, the latest statement from ECOWAS (West African regional block) on Cote d’Ivoire, and the French statements on Tunisia. Then, we are supposed to analyze them for key words, idioms, and signals relating to diplomacy. He quoted someone that diplomacy is “extremely polite but intended to reduce tensions.”

Funny examples provided:

My government will reconsider its position on Cote d’Ivoire.

Decoded: Complete change of position, any friendly relations are gone and it represents a sort of threat.

Nigeria is compelled to tender grave reservations.

Decoded: Nigeria considering this an unfriendly act and will ready ourselves for hostility, possibly the armed kind.

Frank and open discussions.

Decoded: plenty of disagreements.

Unfortunately, I learned later my program director had spoken to the Director of LECIAD and that it would not be possible for me to obtain credit; I will have to audit the class.

No comments:

Post a Comment