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Owen Traylor,<\/strong> Senior Fellow of CARC, visited Kent for three days to engage in a series of employability talks on careers in the foreign service and giving a guest lecture on his experience in the third-year undergraduate module Humans at War. Traylor served for more than three decades in\u00a0the British Foreign Service, including on the Cabinet Office Committee on Northern Ireland in the run-up to the\u00a0Good Friday Agreement,\u00a0in Turkey, Japan and Israel.<\/p>\nCARC intern Adriana Jones Lima had the chance to meet with Mr. Traylor to discuss his diplomacy experience, his advice for politics students, and the future of conflict resolution.<\/p>\n
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Q: What drew you to a career in diplomacy?<\/b><\/p>\n
A: My father was in the Royal Navy and my step mother was a civil servant as well. \u00a0I grew up in an atmosphere where the public sphere was natural and the private sphere wasn\u2019t natural. \u00a0It was all around me. \u00a0It is odd but I always liked the idea of immersing myself in another culture. \u00a0I loved foreign languages. \u00a0In my A levels I did all three languages and went on to pass all three. \u00a0During my A levels I practiced French by reading Le Figaro,<\/em> a newspaper and started to pick up on the political issues in it. \u00a0This helped develop my understanding of international issues and politics. \u00a0\u00a0I then went on to go to Cambridge, there I studied Law. \u00a0By my 3rd year of my law degree I realized I didn\u2019t want to go into a law. \u00a0So instead of taking family law classes I focused on classes that would help with foreign service. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q: What advice do you have for students looking to go in to diplomacy?<\/b><\/p>\n A: My advice would be what I would say to any graduate. \u00a0Recruitment is a two way process. \u00a0You have to make an impression on them but they also have to make sure they are impressing you as well. \u00a0Students need to be clear if diplomacy is what they are looking for. \u00a0Be attracted to the upsides but aware of the downsides<\/p>\n Q: What would you say are the upsides and downsides of a career in diplomacy?<\/b><\/p>\n A: In terms of the upsides, in the early stages you are moved where you\u2019re sent. \u00a0This is called the mobility requirement. \u00a0If you do not want to go abroad or only want to go where you want to go, this is not the career for you. \u00a0With the movement it is hard to maintain relationships, even with social media, FaceTime, Skype. \u00a0Your life becomes a bit like a balloon that you twist into. \u00a0You have your life abroad and then home with barely any connection between the two. \u00a0It will be like this your whole career.<\/p>\n Some places will be really nice and some will not. \u00a0Visiting a colleague in Ghana, no electricity, it was boiling hot inside the house. \u00a0My colleague came to greet me at the door in shorts drenched in sweat. \u00a0I met him with a rubber tire for his son\u2019s bike since it was impossible to get one there. \u00a0People assume diplomats are molly coddled everywhere they go but this is not the case. \u00a0Now there are also security issues in some places, making it too dangerous to take your family along with you. \u00a0Also a career in diplomacy can be very disruptive to family and children life and education. \u00a0One needs to have an interest in IR more than just the average citizen. \u00a0Also one must be adaptable, flexible, operate more or less on their own and work with lack of support. \u00a0One needs to be a self starter and be able to demonstrate these abilities.<\/p>\n Q: Touching on the new security issues facing diplomats, c<\/strong>an you talk about how security in diplomacy has changed from when you first started working to now?<\/b><\/p>\n A: It is certainly more of an issue now. \u00a0There are increasing incidents of terrorism and different kinds of threats now than when I first started. \u00a0In the 70s hijacking planes was the biggest security threat, (not to crash them but more to get what they wanted). \u00a0What happened in Istanbul wouldn\u2019t have happened at the beginning of my career. \u00a0There was no Al Qaeda it just wouldn\u2019t have occurred. \u00a0There was much less security at the embassy. \u00a0There was no such thing as counterterrorism in my first 10 to 15 years, there weren\u2019t security briefings. \u00a0Now even businessmen have to take counterterrorism courses as well as diplomats.<\/p>\n Q: What would you say is the biggest challenge facing UK diplomacy?<\/b><\/p>\n A: The biggest challenge for the UK diplomacy is to continue to be relevant. \u00a0Britain is faced by concerns none of us expected after Brexit. I went to talk recently by the new British Ambassador to Japan and he stated that his principle concern is to remain commercial. \u00a020 or 30 years ago the Ambassador would have never sputtered those words. \u00a0\u00a0Diplomacy was still focused on political relationships. \u00a0\u00a0Negotiation is a form of diplomacy. \u00a0There will also be other issues after Brexit. The UK relied on the EU for negotiation. \u00a0Working outside the cozy confines of the EU will be a challenge. \u00a0We could then speak with the force of 27 countries with 500 million people. \u00a0Now we will negotiate as a relatively small country with a strong economy, it will be a new and another challenge in the fight to stay relevant.<\/p>\n Q<\/strong>:\u00a0What would you say will be emerging issues in the next 5 to 10 years? Or even farther than that?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Climate change will be an issue. \u00a0None of us know how that will pan out. \u00a0With the arctic melting we know Pacific Islands will start disappearing and coastlines will change. \u00a0The Trump administration’s decision to be unwilling to follow the Paris Agreement will be an issue.<\/p>\n There will be a successor to ISIS. I don\u2019t know who it will be or what it will look like but something will take their place. <\/span><\/p>\n I predict the biggest problems, I am not saying this as an economist, will be economic slowdown of Chinese economy. \u00a0Slow down in growth rates all around. \u00a0This will be lead to declining living standards. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q<\/strong>:\u00a0What would you say is the biggest lesson you\u2019ve learned through diplomacy?<\/b><\/p>\n A: Trying to see the other person.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Can you talk a bit more about that? \u00a0I know the other day you mentioned that you have forgiven the young man who drove the truck in the consulate you worked at in Istanbul. \u00a0Did you learn that through diplomacy or was that something you learned after the attack?<\/b><\/p>\n A: It wasn\u2019t forgiveness but I didn\u2019t hold any animosity toward him. \u00a0The point is he is another human being. \u00a0Seeing another human being doesn\u2019t mean accepting what they think or do. \u00a0One has to accept that they have the right to their point of view, even if I don\u2019t agree with it.<\/p>\n Q: What is a failure you experienced in your diplomacy career? \u00a0What did you learn from it?<\/b><\/p>\n A: A general failure I would criticize myself for is being too detail oriented. The big picture is important for making progress. \u00a0It is important to not get lost in the weeds but to look at the horizon. One specific example was a particular incident in which I failed to see another\u2019s point of view early on in my career. \u00a0I was so bent on my ambitions on a particular project and my stake in it, that I dismissed the point of view of the other stakeholder. \u00a0It was hard lesson to learn. \u00a0I paid greatly for it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q:\u00a0Yesterday you mentioned that you should never take anything at face value? \u00a0In our current context we are living in a time with fake news, alternative facts, media agendas, how can students and civilians delve deeper into issues and go beyond face value?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: This didn\u2019t all start with Trump, in fact I had advised my students to not take anything at face value for years before \u00a0this. \u00a0The Trump concept of truth has exacerbated what was already there. \u00a0When looking at written or spoken word see it as what it is. \u00a0See it as somebody else\u2019 intent. \u00a0No matter who is writing or speaking they will have a judgment. \u00a0Everyone has an agenda. \u00a0My advice would be to see where this coming from don\u2019t take it as gospel. \u00a0Almost literally try to peel the word behind to see the intent. \u00a0Selective facts are almost as bad as alternative facts. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q: That is all for my questions any final thoughts, anecdotes, or last pieces of advice?<\/b><\/p>\n A: My final thought has to do with something I touched on yesterday. Nelson Mandela was considered to be a terrorist. \u00a0There is a historical perspective that comes with time. \u00a0The world is not black and white but has shades of grey and that only comes with time, and that is immutable. \u00a0An appreciation of that and understanding of that in advance would ease the suffering that comes with that transition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/carc\/files\/2017\/05\/18720787_10212898048394870_1146427827_o-225x300.jpg\")
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