Shaping a Peaceful World

Kelly M. McFarland is Director of Programs and Research at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. A former intelligence analyst at the US Department of State, he is the editor of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980. Andrew L. Johns is Professor of History at Brigham Young University and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. The author or editor of seven books, he is past president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association and received the 2025 Peter L. Hahn Distinguished Service Award. Brian C. Etheridge is Associate Dean for Academics in the Keeping Sights Upward Journey Honors College and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University. He is the author of Enemies to Allies and coeditor of The United States and Public Diplomacy and Curriculum Internationalization and the Future of Education.

• Introduction: challenging the narratives of us post-conflict diplomacy Thomas Schwartz; Part I: 1. From enemies to allies: how the Marquis de Lafayette built the Franco-American alliance and saved the American Revolution Kathryn C. Statler; 2. 'The united navy of America and England': Anglo-American naval diplomacy and counter-piracy after the war of 1812 Benjamin Armstrong; 3. Reservation diplomacy: the debate of Native American nationhood and the push to end treaties Justin Gage; 4. An American professor in Berlin: ambassador Jacob G. Schurman and US post-conflict diplomacy in Germany, 1925–1929 Elisabeth Piller; Part II: 5. Forging the alliance between the United States and Italian democrats post-World War II: Italian interests, US security concerns, and ideological perceptions within and beyond official diplomacy Giulia Clarizia; 6. Occupation policy: threading the needle Grant Madsen; 7. Humanitarian diplomacy: the American Federation of Labor and the ideological battle for German unionism after World War II Maximilian Klose; 8. 'A justifiable action': the Girard incident, diplomatic negotiation, and official violence in postwar Japan Connor Mills; Part III: 9. From a 'rathole' to a 'gallant ally': the United States and South Korea after the Korean War Mitch Lerner; 10. Post-Vietnam: governmental stalemate and citizens' groundwork for normalization Hang Le-Tormala; 11. Intra-conflict diplomacy: negotiating sovereignty during the Iraq War Joseph Stieb; Conclusion: shaping a peaceful world – myths versus reality; Index.

'These cogent essays interrogate the complexities, contradictions, and legacies of post-conflict diplomacy throughout US history. Illuminating the disjuncture between professed benevolent motives and harsh realities of power and underscoring the myriad ways that the occupied challenge the occupier, this collection is essential reading for scholars of US foreign relations in an age where inattention to the long-term ramifications of waging war is especially perilous.' Laura A. Belmonte, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and Professor of History, Virginia Tech