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German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a meeting of the German Bundestag, Berlin, Germany, Feb. 25, 2016 (AP photo by Michael Sohn).
ColumnEurope
Thanks, but No Thanks: Don’t Count on Merkel as Next U.N. Chief

Could Angela Merkel become the next secretary-general of the United Nations? The notion that the German chancellor, now at the epicenter of Europe’s refugee crisis, could replace Ban Ki-moon at the helm of the U.N. is suddenly curiously widespread. “No candidate could magically restore the United Nations’ prestige,” Mark Seddon, a former adviser to Ban, noted in The New York Times earlier this month, “but there is a compelling logic in favor of a Merkel candidacy.” Or, as Gideon Rachman observed less charitably in the Financial Times, Merkel’s critics in Berlin could use this as “a graceful way to ease […]

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the Supporting Syria and the Region conference, London, Feb. 4, 2016 (U.N. photo Eskinder Debebe).
PodcastGlobal
Is the International System Equipped to Deal With 21st-Century Crises?

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, Ellen Laipson, president emeritus of the Stimson Center and a WPR weekly columnist, joins host Peter Dörrie for a discussion on current trends in the international system, including the changing roles of the United Nations, regional powers and the United States in crisis management and conflict resolution. Listen: Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant WPR articles: For Gulf States, Forging National Identity Trumps Regional Integration In War Against the Islamic State, U.S. Values Must Not Be a Casualty U.N. Peacemakers Wind Up Tough Year With a Flurry of Progress Can Regional Powers Mediate the […]

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, New York, Dec. 18, 2015 (AP photo by Bebeto Matthews).
ColumnGlobal
Still Want the Job? The Next U.N. Secretary-General’s Daunting To-Do List

It is difficult to see how the United Nations can get through 2016 without taking the blame for one or more major catastrophes. Its latest efforts to make peace in Syria have gone off the rails. The Security Council is fretting about the risks of mass violence in Burundi. U.N. peacekeeping operations have had a shaky start to the year. Terrorists have kept up attacks on peacekeepers in Mali. Last week, violence in a U.N. camp in South Sudan spiraled out of control, claiming at least 18 lives. It may just be a matter of time before a similar incident […]

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses delegates during the donor conference 'Supporting Syria & The Region,' London, U.K., Feb. 4, 2016 (AP photo by Dan Kitwood).
ColumnGlobal
With the U.N. Hobbled Over Syria, Should Ban Resign?

Is it time for Ban Ki-moon to quit? This is not an obvious moment for United Nations secretary-general to do so. His second term is set to finish at the end of this year anyway. The race to replace him is heating up, with a posse of politicians from Eastern Europe jostling for the lead. Ban is not very secretly planning to run for the presidency of South Korea next year, and there has been speculation that he could leave New York early to campaign. But for now, U.N. officials and diplomats seem to think he’ll last the course. Having […]