Using the life and work of one of the world’s most accomplished diplomats, Sweden’s Jan Eliasson, this provocative book offers a unique inside view of how modern diplomacy shapes world political debate and affects the outcome of major events and international relations.

Ambassador Eliasson has provided diplomatic reporter John Shaw with up close access to his work for a year - his last in Washington as ambassador. Shaw has attended policy meetings with the Ambassador, watched him give speeches, host high-level receptions, and interact with other senior diplomats.

Using Eliasson as the vehicle, "The Ambassador" delves into what modern diplomats really do and offers a unique, personal, behind-the-scenes glimpse of international statesmanship. Eliasson is of special interest because he was also the president of United Nations General Assembly from 2005 to 2006.

“A biography of a job rather than of an individual, this profile follows Jan Eliasson as he performs his duties as Sweden's ambassador to the US. After attending policy meetings with the ambassador and watching him give speeches, host receptions and interact with other diplomats, Shaw, senior correspondent and vice president for Market News International, explains the ways diplomacy shapes global political debates and influences international relations.”
  -- BOOK NEWS, Inc., August 2006

“Sweden’s Diplomatic Superstar … Sweden’s Jan Eliasson—former Swedish ambassador to the United States who is now president of the U.N. General Assembly and his country’s foreign minister—came back to Meridian International Center on June 26 to join author and Washington Diplomat columnist John Shaw in celebration of Shaw’s latest book, “The Ambassador: Inside the Life of a Working Diplomat,” which examines Eliasson’s diplomatic career.”

  -- Diplomatic Pouch, Washington Diplomat, June 2006

"It offers a provocative portrait of an international statesman and a fascinating look at the inner workings of modern-day diplomacy."

"Through John Shaw's eyes we are permitted a rare look at the many aspects of the life of a successful diplomat. It makes for wonderful reading, and sheds light upon a life that has given much to the world, and that has much more to give."   -- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (Ret), From the Foreword to The Ambassador, May 2006

"Jan Eliasson is a diplomatic superstar. In an era of dramatic changes in international relations, Eliasson has shown the way to a new definition of the role of diplomat."   -- Richard H. Solomon, former US Ambassador to the Philippines, President of the US Institute of Peace, May 2006

"John Shaw's compelling account of one of the world's most remarkable super-diplomats is important for all students of international relations."   -- Richard G. Lugar, Chairman, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, May 2006

Contents

Chapter 1 The Ambassador from Central Casting
An overview of the life and work of Jan Eliasson, Sweden's ambassador to the United States and one of the stars of Embassy Row, deeply involved in Washington's political, economic, and philanthropic worlds. Ambassador Eliasson is a master of all things that modern diplomats must do: work a reception room, draft a policy memo, lobby a lawmaker, chat up the Chief Justice, nail down a trade or investment deal and host a reception.

Chapter 2 The Swedish Context
A brief account of Sweden's impressive diplomatic traditions, including its intensive work with the United Nations, its support for humanitarian causes, and the importance it has placed on its bilateral relationship with the United States.

Chapter 3 Diplomatic Excellence
Ambassador Jan Eliasson’s background, including his family, education and training and his remarkably wide-ranging career in diplomacy which includes postings in Paris, Bonn, Washington, and Salisbury, Zimbabwe, where he opened the first Swedish embassy in 1980. He has worked in war zones in Somalia, Sudan, and the Balkans, negotiated a truce in the brutal war in Nagarno-Karabakh, spent more than 25 hours in direct talks with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, including harrowing negotiations in Saddam’s presidential palaces, was diplomatic advisor to the Swedish prime minister, served as the U.N.’s first undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, was a university professor, and became ambassador to Washington in September 2000.

Chapter 4 Ambassador to the Capital of the World
How Jan Eliasson has emerged as one of Washington's best diplomats, creating an
extensive network of contacts in Congress, the White House, State Department, Supreme Court and Washington's think tank community; how he works on Capitol Hill, Embassy Row and with Swedish-Americans across the country.

Chapter 5 Reflections and Ruminations
A probing look at Jan Eliasson's views on how diplomacy has changed during his storied forty year career; how he has managed to bridge the worlds of classical diplomacy which he was taught in Sweden and the informal diplomacy that he has practiced–and perfected––in Washington, D.C. The chapter concludes with his assessment of the state of diplomacy in the modern world.