Secretary or General? The UN Secretary-General in World Politics

Secretary or General?

The UN Secretary-General in World Politics

Cambridge University Press, 2007

Edited by Simon Chesterman

“This is a timely book on an exceedingly important subject at the current juncture in world affairs: the role of the UN Secretary-General, the personification of ‘the international community’. It offers significant insights from scholars and practitioners alike, and will be required reading for Kofi Annan's successor.”

John G. Ruggie, Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

“The authority and responsibilities of the Secretary-General need to be better understood — the basis of any fair standard of accountability. This book shows that the issue is both complex and sensitive. It should be a useful reference tool for anyone interested in the future of the United Nations.”

Louise Fréchette, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1998-2006

“A wide-ranging and insightful portrait of the most impossible job on the planet. The office of Secretary-General — designed by the UN's founders to be half-‘secretary’, half-‘general’ — receives here the careful assessment by both insiders and outsiders for which the importance of the position has long called.”

Michael Doyle, Harold Brown Professor at Columbia University and co-author of Making War and Building Peace

“Books about the United Nations are all too often written in a prose as dense as the UN management structure. This book is a refreshing change! Of particular value are the chapters on the ways in which the Secretary-General himself (or herself) can help crystallize norms and mobilize coalitions — not against member state interests but alongside them. In this role the Secretary General serves as both secretary and general, secretary to the global public and general of a process to make the voices of that public more clearly heard.”

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

“The position of Secretary-General is a job like no other. The person requires the skills of a general, yet the humility to serve as a secretary. Whether dealing with disasters that are natural or man-made, the Secretary-General is expected to conduct the world orchestra of nations. As a long-time participant and observer at the United Nations, I can say that this book is most timely, and much needed.”

José Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

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 United Nations 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:

Foreword — Kofi A. 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