Stewart: The Places in Between Rory Stewart: The Places in Between

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Penguin Canada 2004
ISBN: 0-14-305330-2

Rory Stewart continues the tradition of political travelogue with style. Walking across Afghanistan right after the toppling of the Taliban, Stewart chronicles his impressions of people and places. Modern Afghanistan is still in many ways a primitive society - not that different from the times of Babur the Mughal emperor, whose footsteps Stewart followed.

"I sat down and wrote a long letter to my parents, in case I was killed. In the past sixteen months I had bribed, flattered, pried, bullied, begged, and wheeled in order to continue my walk. I was more of a tramp than a mystic, but as I wrote I felt at peace. I described to my parents the moments on the way that seemed to have a deep, unified relation to my past. I wondered if walking was not a form of dancing. I was happy then and I slept well." 116

Politics-wise, Stewart's book is full of examples of the difficulties West confronts when trying to help / civilize / colonize failed states and their populations. Statebuilding can be an impossible task. Human-wise, Stewart is a brilliant new author. He approaches history as a human being rather than a academic bessewisser or an arrogant colonizer.

"Every good and evil that exists
If you mark it well is for a blessing."

Second Opinion: Tom Bissell / The New York Times  ¶ 11/22/2006 10:33:00 ip.

  Palmer: The Baltic Alan Palmer: The Baltic - A New History of the Region and its People

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: The Overlook Press 2006
ISBN: 1-58567-446-X

Alan Palmer has written a thorough history of the Baltic region. As history in general, Baltic history is to a great degree a narrative of great power competition. Sweden, Germany, Russia and occasionally Britain have competed for power, while ideas have throughout history prepared the future for the Baltic way. Now the Baltic Sea is surrounded, except for Russia, by democratic republics that have integrated into common Europe through EU and Nato membership.

Palmer has combined scholarly knowledge to his own travel experiences - the book is easy to read and enjoyable. History has, apart from tragedy, destruction and war, other less known but more interesting stories:

"On 18 September 1644 Queen Christina had become, at eighteen, the kingdom's active sovereign. ... Her inclination favoured peace and the enjoyment of a cultured society. ... She read widely and studied deeply, and she appreciated good art... Christina took the business of government seriously, playing politics astutely until, at the age of twenty-four, the game began to bore her." 113

Finns talk about the Baltic Sea as the East Sea, the idea of us being part of the Baltic is somewhat less obvious - oddly so when one studies geography. In contemporary foreign policy debates this process of identity defining can be seen as the competition between Europe's strategy for the Baltic Sea region (.pdf) and the Northern Dimension initiative. Both are projects initiated at the EU-level.

"In retrospect it seems extraordinary that neither Paasikivi nor Kekkonen received a Nobel Peace Prize." 377

  ¶ 11/13/2006 10:17:00 ip.

  Kleinschmidt: History of International Theory Harald Kleinschmidt: The Nemesis of Power: A History of International Relations Theory

Hardcover: 280 pages
Publisher: Reaktion Books 2000
ISBN: 1861890583

Kleinschmidt has translated the history of the world into history of IR theory. The development of international theories has changed the way world's historical progress has evolved and the ways practicers have justified their decisions. Not that all the practitioners have been informed about theories - should they have been, and should they have agreed on the "right" one, the disagreements that resulted in various conflicts and wars would have been avoided.

Kleinschmidt's book - The Nemesis of Power - is a different approach to the interesting topic of international theory. Nemesis of power is a grand name for a book that is in essence a well organized literature review.

"While functionalists took the view that world organization had to be enhanced so as to allow the imposition of constraints upon the governments of sovereign nation-states, ... realists, withdrew to sceptical position that the world could not be organized at all." 216

I borrowed the book because of its chapter on Realism, couldn't ignore the rest and read it thoroughly through. It convinced that my views on the peaceful leitmotiv of Realism are correct. The richness of the tradition comes from its sincerity of achieving goals rather than aiming high.  ¶ 11/08/2006 11:47:00 ip.