James A. Joseph is Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Public Policy at Duke University. Joseph served as the United States Ambassador to South Africa from 1996 to 2000, and as the Under Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior from 1977 to 1981. He was the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations, Vice President of the Cummins Engine Company, and served as Chaplain of the Claremont Colleges. He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Order of Good Hope, South Africa’s highest award to a citizen of a foreign country. Joseph is also the author of
Ethics and Statecraft: What I Learned from Nelson Mandela
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Published:August 2015
This chapter seeks to distil the lessons learned from Nelson Mandela about reconciliation, forgiveness, diplomacy, and leadership. It also describes the transactional political culture that led to an extraordinary faith in the potential of negotiations to resolve conflicts that once seemed irreconcilable. It portrays Mandela as a politician who made the profession seem noble, but who knew when and how to compromise. To many observers, he was premodern in that he was very much a product of the tribal tradition of a chief accountable to his people, making them all feel important and representing them with great dignity and a regal bearing. Yet he was also postmodern in that he had a brilliant sense of texture and timing, and knew instinctively how to work a room or flatter an adversary. He also benefited from a seductive smile, an intimate handshake, and a disarming charm.
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