Charles Crawford

–> Read his blog.

After qualifying as a Barrister I worked for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for nearly thirty years. I served in communist Yugoslavia, South Africa (as apartheid ended) and Russia in the early Yeltsin years. Then I was successively HM Ambassador in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Warsaw. I have extensive experience in the politics and psychology of communism and ‘transition’ issues, speaking (to varying degrees) Serbian/Bosnian, Polish, Russian, Afrikaans and French.

Since leaving the FCO at the end of 2007 I have developed a new career as Writer, Trainer, Consultant and Mediator. I am a founder member of ADRg Ambassadors, a panel of senior former diplomats working on strategic dispute resolution: ADRg Ambassadors.

I have written articles for the Independent, Guardian, RFE/RL, National Review Online, Total Politics and DIPLOMAT magazine. I am contributing to the Business and Politics website: http://www.businessandpolitics.org/

In 1987 I wrote the first FCO Guide to Speech-Writing, still used today. My specialist training/coaching in mediation, speechwriting and dynamic written communication has been much praised by different governments and the European Commission.

I write primarily from a libertarian/conservative point of view, looking at how Principles collide with Reality: many gloomy examples in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, as well as in the UK and European Union.

Married: three children + dog. Based near Oxford in England.