Angela Merkel Archives

As a united front in the fight to preserve the European Union, France and Germany are about to gain a global audience. During March and April, their top United Nations ambassadors, François Delattre and Christoph Heusgen, will take turns — in alphabetical order — presiding over the Security Council, marking the first time for twin Council … Read more

UNGA72

Myanmar, North Korea, Gender Parity: Guterres Highlights the Topics of the UN Debate

September 21, 2017September 13, 2017 by Dulcie Leimbach

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general

António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, said the top two problems he would highlight the most at the opening session of the General Assembly next week were Myanmar’s rapidly unfolding humanitarian disaster and North Korea’s nuclear-weapons provocations. “The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” Guterres said at a media briefing on Sept. 13 at UN … Read more

GEOPOLITICS

On Climate Change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres Swipes at the US

June 11, 2017May 30, 2017 by Dulcie Leimbach

“Allow me to be blunt,” António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, told his audience to an uneasy laugh. “Our world is in a mess.” Although Guterres could have been speaking to any audience anywhere, he was addressing a crowd gathered at the Stern Center for Sustainable Business at New York University on May 30, one … Read more

TOPIC: WOMEN

Nikki Haley, Seeking the Right Style to Make Big Statements

May 20, 2017 by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

If Nikki Haley is dressing for attention, honestly, it would be hard to fault her. One of the few women named to President Trump’s administration, Haley, a former governor of South Carolina who is the ambassador to the United Nations, has been set adrift in a different region of the country, in foreign policy for … Read more

TOPIC: WOMEN

Feminists Made the Difference: How Women Won National Leadership Roles

May 11, 2017April 23, 2017 by Torild Skard

Hillary Clinton did not make it to the top, but Theresa May, the British prime minister, and Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, did. Since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first female prime minister, in Sri Lanka in 1960, one-hundred women have been heads of state or government around the world. How did they get to … Read more

BOOKS

Misogyny Didn’t Stop Them: The World’s Most Important Female Leaders

May 23, 2017April 1, 2017 by Joanne Myers

From Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas, women remain important forces of change as government leaders in the modern era. Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister after its independence, was one of the earliest — and the only woman in India — to hold that position, from 1966 to … Read more

A New Year at the UN: Getting Serious About Global Disorder?

September 24, 2016September 12, 2016 by Barbara Crossette

Government leaders from around the world are gathering in New York for the opening on Tuesday of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, an event haunted by momentous crises demanding undivided attention and action from all member countries. Responses in both the General Assembly (whose powers are limited) and the Security Council (stalemated … Read more

The Field Grows and Shifts in the Race for UN Secretary-General

July 1, 2016June 1, 2016 by Barbara Crossette

The second crop of campaigners making a pitch to replace Ban Ki-moon in January is now being assembled, and it looks like the first declared candidate on the list may well shake up the race. She is Susana Malcorra, Argentina’s foreign minister and a well-respected, internationally known former United Nations official. The next round of … Read more

The Next UN Secretary-General: Views From UN Watchers

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 by Stephen Browne, Fiona Curtin and Thomas G. Weiss

The results of the latest FUNDS survey of global experts, conducted during the winter of 2015-16, contains clear messages about the next United Nations secretary-general: s/he should be a world leader with integrity and political courage who will prioritize UN reform; and the election process should be open and transparent. There is more room for … Read more

A New Plan to Recruit Candidates for UN Secretary-General Emerges

March 4, 2016March 3, 2016 by Dulcie Leimbach

For the first time in United Nations history, officially announced candidates for the secretary-general race, underway this year, will be interviewed publicly in the General Assembly along the lines of a standard democratic election. Mogens Lykketoft, the Assembly president and a Dane, is pushing the “unprecedented transparent process,” as he put it, in selecting the … Read more

The Heart of Pope Francis’s Speech at the UN: Don’t Look Past the Poor

October 4, 2015September 25, 2015 by Dulcie Leimbach

Pope Francis spread his gospel of not forgetting the poor at the United Nations on Friday morning, where he spoke in his native Spanish to the 193 member delegations and heads of state gathered before him at the General Assembly Hall. It was his first appearance at the UN during his first trip to the … Read more

Now Is the Time for a Female Secretary-General, Says a New Campaign [Video]

March 21, 2015February 23, 2015 by Dulcie Leimbach

Convinced that after 70 years it is time to choose a woman for the United Nations’ top job of secretary-general, a new movement led by an academic spcialist on the organization has been assembled to formally support the election of a woman for the job. The current secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, a Korean, finishes his second … Read more

Security Council Presidency: Two Old Friends, France and Germany, Now Share an Office