Book Notes: Samantha Power’s the Education of an Idealist

Powel has written a sincere memoir that has blended the personal and the professional in a rhythm that is easy to follow and relate to. The chronological flow of the text, the description of the people that she has encountered in her private and professional life, the struggles she faced first when she became a freelance journalist and later a government official under the Obama administration are written in such a clear way that one feels part of the process. Gender dynamics are also unpacked in almost every chapter.

She begins her book by describing her childhood in Ireland (and some days in Kuwait). In this section of the book, Power, whose mother and father are doctors, discusses how her parents marriage ended, and her journey to the US started with a traumatic breakaway. Her father’s objections for them to not go to the US and his subsequent early death appear as a prominent event which is referred throughout the book that Power sees as shaping her relationships and decisions.

The second section of the book focuses on Power’s life after she moved to US, how she integrated, her university years and the path that led her to be a war correspondent. The following section focuses on her memories in Croatia and Bosnia and the difficulties of being a freelance journalist along with the horrors she witnesses.

All of the chapters in this book are themed in a very clear manner and the Syria chapter especially demonstrates how the controversy on the “red line” unfolded within the administration. Even though the book does not talk enough about the legacies of the occupation of Iraq in detail (with few exceptions in other sections) and how the Libyan intervention did not lead the country to a more peaceful path, in the case of Syria the dynamics of domestic politics that shaped the process were presented in an elaborative way. In the case of Libya, she questions what not intervening could have meant to for those who opposed Gaddafi as he was aiming to “destroy” them.

The section on Syria also demonstrates how Power had to stay away from her family during the intense negotiation process, and the dynamics of this time are written in a very sincere manner. She wrote about how beyond politics she formed a relationship with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in a detailed manner demonstrating the multiple faces of diplomacy.

One of the arguments she makes in this chapter is that in the case of South Africa and Serbia, sanctions were vital but over a long time and that in the case of Syria, when the sufferings were imminent, this was a foreign policy tool that would not work.

It is important to underline that Power is a foreign policy expert who has built her career on the argument that human rights abuses in other countries are related to the American national interest. As she explains in depth in this autobiographical book, her journalism that started with the Balkan War has focused on how the she can influence the US public opinion to take a step for human rights abuses and how she can contribute to this process first journalism, secondly her official role.

She makes some references to her previous book (“A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide ) which touches on the consequences of America not interfering to (or being late) on events like genocide. This book also highlights the dynamics of how institutions operate in foreign policy decisions and the challenges to promote change. She constantly rethinks how she related to her criticisms that she proposed in her 2002 book.

In this video Power reflects on the content of her book.

In the other chapters the Sudan conflict, Ebola process and how it brought the worst in some people and politicians in the United States, the LGBT contention in UN and Uganda, justice processes in Serbia and various confrontations with Russia stood out.

In all of the processes she elaborated on the multiple ways to be effective like facilitating US’s increased participation in UN bodies or aiding the UN to issue statements like “LGBT rights are human rights.”

One of the sections that were more striking is that her acknowledgment that she “lost her innocence” when Marco Rubio questioned her on the crimes of the United States and she responded continuously with statements like “l. will not apologize for America.” This demonstrates how in order to reach the position she did she had to grind down her previous position and beliefs.

Her encounter with Aung San Suu Kyi is also an interesting period in the book. In the early days of what turned in to a full scale genocide, Power marks the coldness and unresponsivess from the side of Suu Kyi along with the statement that Power has been exposed to propaganda, not even willing to respond to human rights abuses.

Overall: this is a long book but not a boring book for those interested in international relations.