Power on the Inside: Prominent Genocide Scholar Joins Obama

In an Obama-esque show of conciliation --- or, perhaps, a display of skins much thicker than mine --- Samantha Power and Hillary Clinton have reportedly moved past the "monster-gate" scandal of last year's Democratic primary campaign, and, as Power was just appointed to a position in the National Security Council, will work together on Obama's foreign policy team.

And the world will hopefully be better for it, as the skills of both incredibly smart women are certainly needed to reshape American foreign policy. I agree with Mark at the UN Dispatch, who describes Power's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "A Problem From Hell': America in the Age of Genocide," as "probably number one on my list of all-time best foreign policy books." (Though I was say certainly number one --- not only for its foreign policy analysis, but for the seminal role it played in sparking the anti-genocide movement as we know it today.)

I also share Mark's sentiments on Power's transition into the government:

In her book, "Power describes how government is not well structured to respond effectively to humanitarian crises. Part of the problem, she shows, is that individuals in government sometimes react to these crises in politically expedient ways that do not do much to address or reverse ongoing genocide or mass atrocity. This is less a critique of specific individuals than it is a condemnation of American foreign policy making more generally. Now that she is embedded in the U.S. foreign policy making apparatus the big question on my mind is whether or not she falls victim to the very processes she criticizes so ably in her book.

I'm tempted to think that she will not be much of a quiet Mandarin. The heroes of her book are people who rail against the system...She shows real admiration for these agents of change, and I suspect that she will be an important advocate for human rights in critical inter-agency debates. The thing is, in her book she describes how voices like that get effectively silenced by the bureaucracy and I imagine there will be situations in which her ideals bump against the realities of bureaucratic politics. How will she respond? We will have to wait and see."

This is likely a question that will apply to many others in the Obama administration: What will the "movers and shakers" do --- what will they be able to do --- once they become part of the establishment? But any sense of wariness is still countered by a tempered optimism over finally having visionaries working from the inside. We can move and shake all we want from out here, but unless we have allies operating within the system, how will it ever change?

In a hint of what might be to come, Power recently discussed, in a radio interview, the need for a more nuanced and respectful approach to foreign policy. Drawing out lessons from the tragically short life of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a former UN High Commissioner on Human Rights killed in Iraq in 2003, Power challenges American foreign policy makers to think more creatively about their approach to complicated scenarios --- especially those involving conflict affected countries, where complex situations require the realistic negotiation of "gray zones" and "murkiness" without compromising principles and morals.

For individuals, she lauds Sergio is an inspirational figure, for saying, "There's a problem outside my door --- what can I do?"