The Role of the UN Secretary General

IILJ Publications

Abstract

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is a unique figure in world politics. At once civil servant and the world’s diplomat, lackey of the UN Security Council and commander-in-chief of up to a hundred thousand peacekeepers, he or she depends on states for both the legitimacy and resources that enable the UN to function. The tension between these roles - of being secretary or general - has challenged every incumbent.

This book brings together the insights of senior UN staff, diplomats, and scholars to examine the normative and political factors that shape the role of the Secretary-General, with particular emphasis on how that role has evolved in response to changing circumstances after the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the “war on terror”. Such geopolitical transformations define the contours of the Secretary-General’s universe - a universe shaped also by the economic forces of globalization, and increasingly by tensions between the industrialized North and the developing South. Across these various influences, the difficulties experienced by each Secretary-General reflect the profound ambivalence of states towards entrusting their security, interests, or resources to an intergovernmental body. The ambiguities in the job description are far from accidental.

Table of Contents

Forward Kofi Annan

Introduction Simon Chesterman

Part I. Defining and Refining the Job Description

1. The Evolution of the Secretary-General - Brian E. Urquhart
2. “The Most Impossible Job” Description - Shashi Tharoor
3. Selecting the World’s Diplomat - Colin Keating

Part II. Maintaining Peace and Security
4. Relations with the Security Council - James Cockayne and David M. Malone
5. Good Offices and “Groups of Friends” - Teresa Whitfield
6. The Bully Pulpit - Quang Trinh

Part III. Normative and Political Dilemmas
7. The Secretary-General as Norm Entrepreneur - Ian Johnstone
8. Pope, Pharaoh, or Prophet? The Secretary-General After the Cold War - Adekeye Adebajo
9. Leader, Clerk, or Policy Entrepreneur? The Secretary-General in a Complex World - David Kennedy

Part IV. Independence and the Future
10. The Secretary-General’s Political Space - James Traub
11. The Secretary-General in a Unipolar World - Edward C. Luck
12. Resolving the Contradictions of the Office - Simon Chesterman and Thomas M. Franck

Appendices

Bibliography

Abstract

As the dust settles from the 2005 UN reform jamboree and Kofi Annan enters the twilight months of his second term as Secretary-General, the United Nations has created two new institutions - a Peacebuilding Commission and a Human Rights Council - but has anything really changed? This Strategic Insight examines the context within which recent efforts at reform should be understood and then assesses the key institutional and normative achievements of the last few years. Considered in the abstract, those achievements are underwhelming. But when contrasted with the divisions over Iraq that split the United Nations in 2003, the better evaluation might not be whether the glass is half-empty or half-full, but how it is that we continue to have a glass at all.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is an independent, non-partisan policy institute. It was established by the Australian Government to provide fresh ideas on defence and strategic policy choices. ASPI is charged with the task of informing the public on strategic and defence issues, generating new ideas for government, and fostering strategic expertise in Australia. It aims to help Australians understand the critical strategic choices which our country will face over the coming years, and will help Government make better-informed decisions. For more information, visit ASPI's web site at www.aspi.org.au.