books
Explore the Ideas That Shape Change
Carne Ross’s books cover the failures of diplomacy and the need for a people’s ‘bottom up’ revolution to remedy the ills of capitalism and so-called ‘representative’ democracy. His new book ‘Gentle Anarchy: from the heart of government to a Republic of Love’ will be published in 2025.
’So bold, so full of incontestable truths and overwhelming convictions, that it should be read by every diplomat, politician and thinking citizen with the courage to pick it up’
John le Carré
A remarkable and original book about bottom-up political change and self-government, what some call anarchism
Independent Diplomat is a compelling insider’s account of the foreign policy world.
‘In his stunning insight into the surreal world of British diplomacy, Carne Ross writes about [an] emerging multilateral world.’ — The Guardian
Carne Ross was a diplomat on the front line of today’s most pressing issues, from Israel/Palestine to Afghanistan and Iraq, over which he resigned from the British Foreign Office. He was trained to see the world through a prism of states and interests, but the reality of his negotiations revealed very different — more complex, and more human — forces at play. Independent Diplomat exposes this fundamental weakness of institutional diplomacy: exclusion of those most affected by its outcomes, whether at the UN, the EU or within national foreign ministries.
Illustrated with vivid episodes from his career — from New York to Kabul — Ross offers a refreshing critique of contemporary diplomacy and of how to put it right.
