For a former diplomat to write a book with "revolution" in the title (leaderless or otherwise) might seem strange indeed. But then Carne Ross is not your average former diplomat. Ross spent many years working for the British government in a variety of countries, including Germany, Afghanistan and the US, where for a long time he was part of the British mission to the UN.

He resigned in September 2004 in connection with the war against Iraq. He had testified (in secret) to the official inquiry into the use of intelligence about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, known as the Butler Inquiry. He wrote down all he thought about the war, including the available alternatives, its illegality, as he saw it, and what he regarded as the misrepresentation of what was known about Iraq’s weapons. He then realised he could no longer continue to work for the British government.

That could have been it. Ross might have taken a different turn and started an entirely new career in a different field. Instead he set up an initiative he called Independent Diplomat, with the aim of assisting some "hidden voices" to get a hearing on the international scene.

In the course of his questioning about why some voices are hidden and others are heard loud and clear, Ross’ thinking encountered the issues of who actually holds power in the world and how that power can be challenged. In his latest book he examines those two matters in detail. His analysis is not restricted to political power in the narrow sense but takes in the power of economic might, which is arguably much more important than, say, the voting formalities of what is usually called "democracy". 

Read the full story in The Budapest Times.