UN - Katoikos

When power refuses to evolve: Rethinking Global Governance

Daryl Swanepoel
World , UN , Peace & Security , China , Politics , Analysis , Foreign Affairs
16 October, 2025

China’s Global Governance Initiative isn’t defiance — it’s a response to paralysis When President Xi Jinping unveiled the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) earlier this year, Western capitals reacted as though the world had just tilted on its axis. The headlines were predictable: China challenges the world order. Beijing builds a parallel system. The liberal rules-based…

The UN Charter must be at the heart and soul of any new peace architecture

On 1 September 85 years ago, Adolf Hitler’s German Reich invaded Poland, igniting theSecond World War and unleashing indescribable misery and suffering across Europe and the world. In its aftermath, the UN Charter emerged, carrying the promise of a world order free from war. Yet, almost simultaneously, humanity developed its most destructive weapon: the nuclear…

Reaching Consensus Is the Foundation of Promoting Women’s Rights

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. To commemorate this, China will soon host the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women in Beijing, where the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted—still the global benchmark for gender equality. Thirty years on, the key question is not only how far…

Fragmentation as Strategy: Why the New Global Order May Leave the UN Behind

Yunis Gurbanov
World , UN , Peace & Security , Economy , Analysis
10 July, 2025

Introduction As the G7 recalibrates its global priorities around economic resilience and geopolitical control, a new architecture of fragmentation is emerging, which is one that sidelines multilateral institutions. This piece examines how recent shifts in trade, security, and climate diplomacy reflect not a failure of global coordination, but a deliberate strategy of selective engagement. Drawing…

UN and peacemaking: It worked in the past. Why not now?

Introduction: The UN, peace and security The quintessential goal of the United Nations, as clearly expressed in its constitutive document, the Charter of the United Nations, is the maintenance of international peace and security. The latter involves not only the management of conflicts, inter- or intra-state, and the absence of violence (negative peace), but also…

Gaza: It’s time to redesign the future!

Many would advise me not to venture into such a minefield as Gaza, literally and figuratively. However, I cannot remain silent in the face of the outpouring of hatred, invective, disinformation and bad faith that distorts and obscures the debate on this issue, which is tragic. I will not engage here in a historical analysis…

Overcoming media opacity regarding UN reform efforts

In this article, we analyze whether the media has been facilitating or hindering public engagement with global governance reform efforts. By scrutinizing media roles, we aim to understand their contributions to the discourse on UN reform, considering their reach, influence, and implications in shaping public opinion. The media section of the September 2023 report of…

Voices from the Middle East: Evaluating the UN’s Role in Peace and Security

Introduction As the Middle East grapples with a myriad of intricate geopolitical challenges, the role played by the United Nations (UN) in ensuring peace and security becomes increasingly pivotal. This article aims to delve into the perspectives of Middle Eastern citizens regarding the capabilities and effectiveness of the UN in addressing the security threats prevalent…

Peace and security threats through the lens of the Global South

Geopolitics and ‘Rough Wooing’

The attack on Ukraine has had tragic consequences for all Ukrainians and many Russians. The horror of families being killed and divided is a spectacle that nearly all Europeans believed had been banished forever from our Continent. Even most of the attacking troops and the Ukrainian population refused to believe it might happen. But the…