UN secretaries-general
- Dawn Clancy
- • January 18, 2023
Hans Corell knows how to establish war crime tribunals. The Swede is a former top legal expert for the United Nations who served under Secretaries-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan and, on behalf of the institution, was instrumental in…
- Categories: General Assembly, ICC, International Justice, Security Council, US-UN Relations
- Stephen Schlesinger
- • December 14, 2022
Over the last few months, there has been a lot of loose talk from President Joseph Biden and others comparing the Ukrainian crisis with the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Lately, that talk has died away. There may be many…
- Categories: Secretary-General, Ukraine-Russia War, WORLDVIEWS
- Stephen Schlesinger
- • May 8, 2019
Sir Brian Urquhart has celebrated his 100th birthday this year. This is an eventful moment. Sir Brian is one of the most notable figures in the history of the United Nations. Urquhart has spent most of his entire life…
- Categories: WORLDVIEWS
- Herman T. Salton
- • March 20, 2018
Bureaucracies do not have a great reputation, and the United Nations bureaucracy is no exception. They are seen as inefficient, cumbersome and rigid, adjectives that are also routinely associated with the UN Secretariat. At best considered a “necessary evil,”…
- Categories: Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS
- Dulcie Leimbach
- • December 12, 2016
António Guterres was sworn in as the ninth United Nations secretary-general on Dec. 12 in a low-key ceremony played out in the General Assembly Hall, featuring moving tributes by ambassadors to the 10 years that Ban Ki-moon has led…
- Categories: General Assembly, Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, Women
- Helmut Volger
- • July 1, 2015
BERLIN — If you take a close look at the public schedule of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, it becomes evident that he travels a lot to member states, even more than his charismatic and most active predecessor Kofi…
- Categories: WORLDVIEWS
- Lucia Mouat
- • January 21, 2015
The post of United Nations secretary-general may or may not be “the world’s most impossible job,” as its first occupant, Trygve Lie, a Norwegian, once described it. In any case, UN members must choose a successor to Secretary-General Ban…
- Categories: Secretary-General, Security Council, US-UN Relations
- Barbara Crossette
- • April 17, 2014
There have been eight secretaries-general of the United Nations in the 68 years since the first of them, Trygve Lie of Norway, took on this unique global position. All eight — all men — have been very different in…
- Categories: BOOKS
- Helmut Volger
- • August 13, 2012
BERLIN — When the United Nations has been fortunate to have a secretary-general who has great charisma and skills in settling conflicts, the world tends to consider him a figure with his own political status and powers. People like…
- Categories: General Assembly, WORLDVIEWS