From a New York Times obit by Clay Risen headlined “James F. Dobbins, Leading Authority on Nation Building, Dies at 81”:

James F. Dobbins, an American diplomat whose career took him to Haiti, Afghanistan and many points in between, and who was both respected as a peace negotiator and widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on nation building, died in Washington.

Until the 1990s, Mr. Dobbins was best known for his behind-the-scenes role in some of the Cold War’s most delicate trans-Atlantic issues, including trade negotiations and the movement of nuclear weapons around the chessboard of Western Europe.