GW adjunct professor of international affairs David H. Shinn has had his car attacked by elephants in Tanzania, traveled to nearly every square mile of Ethiopia, and had the grim task of sorting through a stack of bloody papers in Lebanon.
A nearly 40-year veteran of the Foreign Service, Dr. Shinn served as ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso and worked in U.S. embassies in Lebanon, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritania, Cameroon and Sudan.
Dr. Shinn’s connection to GW began in 1960 when he arrived as a transfer student. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the University and joined the faculty in 2001. An expert on the Horn of Africa, Dr. Shinn currently teaches an introductory Africa course, U.S. foreign policy in Africa, and political analysis at the Elliott School of International Affairs.
Dr. Shinn spoke with GW Today about his diplomatic service and his current research on Chinese-African relations.
Q: How did you first decide that you wanted to work in the Foreign Service, and what attracted you to GW?
A: Coming from a parochial, small town in Washington state, I am not sure I fully understood the functions of the Foreign Service. However, I had a keen interest in foreign places even though I had never been outside the United States. The interest began with stamp collecting as a youngster and wanting to learn more about all those fascinating places on stamps.
I was torn initially between the Forest Service and the Foreign Service. I loved the mountains and even worked for the U.S. Forest Service for four summers. I learned quickly, however, that a Forest Service career required a strong background in science, while the Foreign Service emphasized social studies. I was much better at the latter, so it was an easy decision. Besides, I could visit all those fascinating places on the postage stamps such as Ouagadougou and Omdurman.
I transferred to GW from a community college in Washington state at the end of my sophomore year. I was drawn to GW by its strong reputation in international affairs and by the opportunity to study in Washington, D.C. Also, an organization in my hometown provided some scholarship assistance specifically to prepare for the Foreign Service at GW. My M.A. degree immediately followed. The hard part was the Ph.D. I began the program in 1970, six years after joining the Foreign Service and completed it while working full time at the State Department.
Q: Why did you choose Africa?
A: When I began my career in foreign affairs in the early 1960s, there were a large number of newly independent African countries and very little African expertise in the State Department. Besides, there were all those fascinating postage stamps from African countries. They didn’t have pictures of dreary old buildings and tired old leaders on them. They had exotic flora and fauna and names that most Americans had never heard of.
Q: What are some of the aspects of being an ambassador and running an embassy that would surprise people?
A: As ambassador, you are always on display. You live in a fishbowl and are constantly subject to criticism (or praise). You have relatively little time to yourself. You must also represent the position of the U.S. government on all issues irrespective of your personal position. If you have strong contrary views about a policy issue, this can be highly stressful.
A lot of luck is involved in running an embassy successfully. Although you have some ability to select key staff, most personnel are assigned by the Department of State. You can be dealt an excellent hand or a poor one. It only takes a small number of malcontents to destroy morale at an embassy. At a job in the United States, you only have to live with malcontents in the workplace. At an embassy overseas, especially a smaller embassy, you have to interact with staff 24 hours a day.
On the positive side, you have an enormous ability to determine what you do from one day to the next. You can often decide who to meet with, what to visit, which initiatives to launch, and what to say to the press so long as it is within U.S. policy guidelines. There is a feeling of empowerment. Returning to an assignment at the State Department in Washington brings you back to reality quickly, however.
Q: Is there a story (or two) that stands out in your mind in your Foreign Service experience?
A: Let me tell three short ones. The first one is morbid, the second entertaining, and the third falls in the category of professional advice.
As a junior officer at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, I was asked by my supervisor to collect the valuables of a U.S. national who died—either by suicide or murder—in downtown Beirut. It was clear that the man, an older Lebanese American who had recently returned to Beirut after retirement, had died from a knife wound after which he walked or was carried to the balcony of his third-floor apartment and ended up on the sidewalk below. He had been working with his financial records when stabbed and bled all over them. By the time I arrived, many of the papers had become stuck together with dried blood. It was my job to pull them apart so they could be presented to his next of kin. This task was not in my job description.
In the early 1970s, I was the political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The State Department desk officer for Tanzania made an orientation visit, and I accompanied him on a trip upcountry. Our route took us through the famous Ngorongoro Crater game park. We spent the first night at a rustic lodge outside the crater where we parked the Land Rover outside the lodge and settled in for a good meal and some excellent Tanzanian beer—well, maybe a few too many Tanzanian beers. We had a long drive the following day and had to get underway at daybreak. After a quick breakfast and still a little groggy from the night before, we headed to the Land Rover. It was a foggy morning. As we approached the vehicle it seemed to be lying on its side. Even worse, it seemed to have two holes in the roof each several inches long.
We had left several ripe bananas inside the Land Rover the night before. A large, hungry elephant smelled the bananas and determined to get them; hence, the two tusk holes in the roof. Our driver found a crew of Tanzanians to turn the vehicle upright. He refilled the crankcase with oil, and we continued on our merry way just a couple of hours behind schedule. But I had an awful time explaining to the embassy how we managed to acquire two holes in the roof of its new Land Rover.
In my last overseas assignment as ambassador to Ethiopia, I decided to devote one week of every month traveling somewhere in Ethiopia to represent the United States. I held to that goal and visited virtually every part of the country, most locations on multiple occasions. At stops along the way, my staff would arrange meetings with local elders, government officials, representatives of civil society, business persons, schools, hospitals, etc. I would often inaugurate small self-help projects funded by the embassy in remote villages and always call on local Peace Corps volunteers. I would arrange meetings with the local radio station or media representatives. Usually by the time I returned to Addis Ababa, the entire diplomatic corps and many Ethiopians knew where I had traveled. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about Ethiopia and a terrific way to discuss U.S. policies. Ten years later when I returned to the country, many Ethiopians still remembered me as the ambassador who traveled everywhere.
Q: How would you characterize China’s influence on Africa? How has it changed over recent decades and what do you predict for the future?
A: In the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s, China emphasized support, including military, to African liberation movements. In a few cases, it even provided assistance to opposition groups trying to topple independent African governments. With the passage of time, the relationship became much more pragmatic and focused on mutual political and economic support. Increasingly, China looked to Africa as a source of raw materials to fuel its rapidly growing economy.
China also became a significant partner in Africa’s development. Large Chinese state-owned enterprises and some smaller private Chinese companies carry out most of this interaction. China is now Africa’s second largest trading partner after the United States and will likely pass the United States next year. China has embassies in 49 of Africa’s 53 countries (four still maintain relations with Taiwan). Most African countries see China as an important development partner. Countries that do not have especially good relations with the West, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, look to China as their major ally outside
Africa.
I expect these trends to continue into the immediate future. China has captured the attention of most African governments but still has a lot to learn about its interaction with African civil society, labor unions and opposition political parties.