How has the role of the United Nations and its Secretary-General changed with the end of the Cold War? With the beginning of a New World Order? These questions are increasingly significant as the threat of nuclear-bloc confrontation is replaced by ethnic tensions and civil conflicts. In this first study of the office of the UN Secretary-General in this new era, Rivlin and Gordenker bring together leading scholars and practitioners to analyze these issues. The fifteen essays in this volume discuss the new complexity and salience of the role of the UN Secretary-General and its current incumbent, Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Not only is the role analyzed in relationship to a rapidly changing climate of world politics, but it is also examined in relationship to the backgrounds and experiences of the earlier Secretaries-General from Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjold, U Thant, and Kurt Waldheim, to Javier Perez de Cuellar. All those concerned with the UN, international organizations, and international administration will find this volume interesting reading.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is a unique figure in world politics. At once civil servant, 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 this unique office with particular emphasis on how it has evolved in response to changing circumstances such as globalization and the onset of the 'war on terror'. The difficulties experienced by each Secretary-General reflect the profound ambivalence of states towards entrusting their security, interests or resources to an intergovernmental body.

Once described by Trygve Lie as the "most impossible job on earth," the position of UN Secretary-General is as frustratingly constrained as it is prestigious. The Secretary-General's ability to influence global affairs often depends on how the international community regards his moral authority. In relation to such moral authority, past office-holders have drawn on their own ethics and religious backgrounds—as diverse as Lutheranism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Coptic Christianity—to guide the role that they played in addressing the UN's goals in the international arena, such as the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of human rights. In The UN Secretary-General and Moral Authority, contributors provide case studies of all seven former secretaries-general, establishing a much-needed comparative survey of each office-holder's personal religious and moral values. From Trygve Lie's forbearance during the UN's turbulent formative years to the Nobel committee's awarding Kofi Annan and the United Nations the prize for peace in 2001, the case studies all follow the same format, first detailing the environmental and experiential factors that forged these men's ethical frameworks, then analyzing how their "inner code" engaged with the duties of office and the global events particular to their terms. Balanced and unbiased in its approach, this study provides valuable insight into how religious and moral leadership functions in the realm of international relations, and how the promotion of ethical values works to diffuse international tensions and improve the quality of human life around the world.

An analysis of the leadership problems of the U.N. & its agencies. Contents: United Nations leadership (introduction; the international agenda for the 1990s; the Secretary-General; the selection process 1945-1991; conclusions); a system in need of leadership (introduction; the salient problems; screening; what is a nomination? terms of office; finding the best; searching; examining the candidates; campaigning for offices; appointments to the senior echelon); conclusions & recommendations. Glossary, index, authors & sponsors. Diagrams & tables.