The UN, the perma-polycrisis, and our shrinking moral imagination The United Nations, the world’s most ambitious peace project, is once again on the brink of running out of money. But this time, it feels different, big time. We’re living through what many now call a perma-polycrisis, a constant layering of political instability and conflicts, economic…
Those who believe in the need for a stronger and more efficient UN are increasingly concerned about its future. The whole humanity should be concerned. The horizon shows growing selfish nationalisms and arms race, no appetite for more multilateral cooperation, and in particular a paralysed Security Council. While in the UN in New York pessimism…
The annual meeting of the “global village chiefs”, also known as “General Debate” of the United Nations General Assembly is due to start this coming Tuesday, 21 September 2021. It is the opening of the 76th session of the world body and is planned as a hybrid event, because of the continuing pandemic concerns. Nonetheless,…
By Richard Kinley, Georgios Kostakos and Harris Gleckman* With Joe Biden set to assume office on 20 January, there is great expectation at the return of the US to the multilateral fold, to reclaim its leadership position with active engagement on global challenges, notably climate change. All is well, then, and the world no…
Calculations by the London School of Economics show it clearly. If early on Wuhan could have directly informed a truly “global health organisation” and the epidemic thus been restricted to its city of origin, the world economy could probably have avoided more than 8 trillion dollars worth of damage and possibly thousands fewer lives would…
This article was originally published on Passblue and can be accessed by clicking here. Covid-19 has pretty much shut down important negotiations at the United Nations, ranging from climate change to biodiversity. The General Assembly has not been able to meet as a group physically, but Security Council meetings have migrated online, with the Secretariat…
The final weeks of 2015 saw remarkable activity at the global level producing concrete results, for a change. The UN climate change conference in Paris (COP 21) ended in mid-December with the adoption of an ambitious Paris Agreement that will guide climate action starting in 2020 and carrying on for many years thereafter. A few days later the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on the way forward in Syria, while an agreement among the Libyan factions was endorsed by the UN Security Council…
