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An Introduction: What Sort of "Venture"?
Following the lead of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s history professor Michael Hunt, American Diplomacy has supported something of a departure in research and learning over recent weeks. Mainly by providing structured contacts with retired foreign affairs professionals located in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, our home base, this journal has facilitated talks between certain UNC graduate students on the one hand and retired practitioners of the gentle art of diplomacy on the other, former officials who have knowledge of and experience in parts of the world that fall into the young scholars’ fields of interest for advanced research.
Thus far we can report that three researchers have interviewed nine subjects, one by telephone and the rest in person, totaling some fifteen hours of interaction. We project more discussions and additional contacts, including those by UNC researchers working abroad who are also gathering information for their Ph.D. dissertations.
Below, after comments by Dr. Hunt (a member of the governing board of the journal’s parent organization, American Diplomacy Publishers), we present the first reports by the researchers on their findings, especially with respect to the usefulness of their sources and the technique. Some results can be classed as positive, and others, not. Readers may watch these “pages” for future accounts of additional interviews and further evaluation of the techniques used. — Ed.