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ABSTRACT
This article reviews the interplay of bureaucratic, power-political, and conceptual challenges that affected the UN Secretariat during the tenure of Kofi Annan (1996–2006). Through fresh sources – including the diaries and private papers of the late Sir Marrack Goulding – it considers the case of the two largest and most influential administrative units in New York in charge of peace missions, the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). It argues that the reason for their notoriously conflictual relationship goes beyond bureaucratic rivalries and involves a host of systemic factors – including technocratic rationality, great powers influence over the Secretariat, UN financing, and the porous borders between peacekeeping and peacebuilding. These factors affected the ‘balance of bureaucratic power’ in New York, a balance which under Annan shifted from DPA and peacebuilding towards DPKO and peacekeeping, and which the reforms of Ban and Guterres have not fundamentally altered.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Hélène Dufournet, ‘Quand techniciser c’est faire de la politique “sans le dire”’. Récit d’une ‘technicisation réussie au ministère de la Défense’, Gouvernement et Action Publique 3, no. 1 (2014): 29–49, 43.
2 ibid.
3 Marieke Louis and Lucile Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics: Depoliticizing the World (London: Routledge, 2021), 7.
4 António Guterres, Our Common Agenda: Report of the Secretary-General (New York: United Nations, 2021).
5 See for example G. John Ikenberry, ‘The End of Liberal International Order?’, International Affairs 24, no. 1 (January 2018), 7–23; and, by the same author, ‘Three Worlds: The West, East and South and the Competition to Shape Global Order’, International Affairs 100, no. 1 (January 2024), 121–38.
6 Marieke and Maertens, 7.
7 Matthew Flinders and Matt Wood, ‘Depoliticization, Governance and the State’, Policy and Politics 42, no. 2 (2014): 143.
8 Xu Yi-chong and Patrick Weller, The Working World of International Organizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 116 (emphasis added).
9 Xu and Weller, Ch.7.
10 Rob Jenkins, Peacebuilding (London: Routledge, 2011).
11 Silke Weinlich, The UN Secretariat’s Influence on the Evolution of Peacekeeping (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014).
12 Giovanni Levi, ‘On Microhistory’, in New Perspectives on Historical Writing, ed. Peter Burke (University Park: Penn State University Press, 1991), 107.
13 Marrack Goulding, Talking Points for the SG at the ACC Meeting, (October 12, 1995), 2 (MIG-PA).
14 Mark Mazower, Governing the World (London: Penguin, 2012), 379.
15 Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004), 33.
16 John Paul Lederach, The Moral Imagination (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
17 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, ‘Memorandum: The Establishment and Conduct of United Nations Field Operations’, (October 2, 1993), §2 (MIG-PA).
18 Marrack Goulding, Peacemonger (London: John Murray, 2002), 344.
19 Marrack Goulding, ‘Peacemonger: Book Proposal’, 7 (MIG-PA).
20 My Interview with James O. C. Jonah, (July 20, 2011), New York.
21 Michael Doyle and Nicholas Sambanis, Making War and Building Peace (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006),
22 Oliver P. Richmond, Peace: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), Ch.1
23 Erin McCandless and Vanessa Wyeth, ‘Seeking the Forest through the Trees: Institutional Arrangements and Tools for Peacebuilding’, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development 4, no. 2 (2008), 1–6.
24 Marrack Goulding, ‘Peacemonger: Book Proposal’, (June 15, 1998) (MIG-PA).
25 Kofi Annan, Letter to Marrack Goulding, (December 19, 1996) (MIG-PA).
26 Ibid.
27 Goulding, Peacemonger, 333.
28 Marrack Goulding, ‘Practical Measures to Enhance the United Nations’ Effectiveness in the Field of Peace and Security: A Report Submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations’, (June 30, 1997), §1.5 (MIG-PA).
29 Ibid., §5.12.
30 Ibid., II(1).
31 Simon Chesterman, ‘Does the UN Have Intelligence?’, Survival 48, no. 3 (2006), 152; Bram Champagne, The UN and Intelligence (New York: UN Peace Operations Training Institute, 2006) 4; Walter Dorn, ‘The Cloak and the Blue Helmet: Limitations on Intelligence in UN Peace-Keeping’, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 12, no. 4 (1999), 414–17.
32 Goulding, Practical Measures, §7.16 (emphasis added).
33 Goulding, Letter, (September 18, 1997) (MIG-PA).
34 Ibid.
35 My Interview with Àlvaro de Soto, (July 20, 2011) (emphasis added).
36 Interview with de Soto, (July 20, 2011).
37 Kofi Annan, Interventions (London: Allen Lane, 2012), 38.
38 Annan, Interventions, Ch.2.
39 Louis and Maerten, Introduction.
40 Iqbal Riza, Letter to Bernard Miyet, (September 16, 1998), §3 (MIG-PA).
41 John Renninger, Note to Mr. Prendergast, (September 17, 1998), §1 (MIG-PA).
42 Ibid., §2.
43 Ibid., Handwritten note on lower margin.
44 Kieran Prendergast, ‘Confidential Note to the Secretary-General: Organizing for the Challenges Ahead’, (August 30, 1999), §5 (MIG-PA) (emphasis in the original).
45 Ibid., §8.
46 Hédi Annabi, ‘Confidential: Note to the Secretary-General: Organizing for the Challenges Ahead’, (September 1, 1999), §3–6 (MIG-PA). (emphasis added).
47 Bob Reinalda, International Secretariats: Two Centuries of International Civil Servants and Secretariats (London: Routledge, 2020) Ch.7.
48 Ibid., §9–11 (emphasis).
49 See Document A/46/882, (January 21, 1992), §7.
50 Ibid., §13. (emphasis added).
51 Kieran Prendergast, ‘Confidential Note to the Deputy Secretary-General: DPKO-DPA Interface’, (January 24, 2000), §2 (MIG-PA).
52 Prendergast, Note, §3.
53 Ibid., §6 (emphasis added).
54 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, ‘Memorandum: The Establishment and Conduct of United Nations Field Missions’, 2 October 1993, 1 (MIG-PA). Issued on 2 October 1993, this document was dated and signed by the SG on (October 3, 1993).
55 Prendergast, Note, §7.
56 Ibid., §14.
57 Bernard Miyet, ‘Confidential Note to the Deputy Secretary-General: DPKO-DPA Interface’, (February 22).
2000, §1 (MIG-PA).
58 Miyet, Note, §26 (emphasis added).
59 Ibid., §5.
60 Miyet, Note, §6 (emphasis added).
61 Ibid.
62 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, ‘Memorandum’, cit.
63 Miyet, Note, §26.
64 Ibid.
65 Kieran Prendergast, ‘Note to All DPA Staff’, (June 30, 2002), §3 (MIG-PA).
66 Hans Corell, Draft Secretary-General’s Bulletin for the Organizational Structure of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, (March 24, 2000), §2 (MIG-PA).
67 United Nations, Secretary-General’s Bulletin: Organization of the Department of Political Affairs, (May 15, 2000), §2.1(b), in Jean Krasno, ed., The Collected Papers of Kofi Annan (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2012), 1092 (emphasis added).
68 United Nations, Secretary-General’s Bulletin, (May 15, 2000), §3.2 (emphasis added).
69 Ibid., §4.1(c) (emphasis added).
70 Ibid., §6.2(d) (emphasis added).
71 ST/SGB/2000/10, §2.1(a) (emphasis added).
72 United Nations, Guidelines for the Implementation of the Lead Department Concept Concerning Field Operations, (June 30, 2000), §2 (MIG-PA) (emphasis added).
73 Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace, §20–21 and §55–99.
74 Ibid.
75 Department of Peacekeeping Operations, ‘Mission Statement’, https://unngls.org/index.php/engage-with-the-un/un-civil-society-contact-points/23-department-ofpeacekeeping-operations-dpko (accessed May 1, 2017) (emphasis added).
76 Jean-Marie Guéhenno, The Fog of Peace (Washington: Brookings Institution 2015), xvii.
77 Jenkins, 21.
78 MIG-PD-C, August 7, 1996.
79 See United Nations, ‘United to Reform: Peace and Security Pillar’, https://reform.un.org/news/peace-and-security-pillar (accessed July 12, 2023).
80 Herman T. Salton, Dangerous Diplomacy: Bureaucracy, Power Politics, and the Role of the UN Secretariat in Rwanda (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 61.
81 Navy Pillay, ‘Statement to the Introduction of the Annual Report’, (March 3, 2011).
82 Jacques Klein, ‘Outgoing Code Cable: Panel on UN Peace Operations’, (May 9, 2000), §7 (MIG-PA).
83 Dennis McNamara, ‘Outgoing Code Cable: Panel on United Nations Peace Operations’, (May 3, 2000), §6 (MIG-PA) (emphasis added).
84 Jean Arnault, ‘Outgoing Code Cable: Panel on United Nations Peace Operations’, (April 27, 2000) (MIG-PA).
85 Klein, §8.
86 Marrack Goulding, ‘Hand-written note at the back of Bernard Miyet, Note to the Deputy Secretary-General’, (February 22, 2000), §1–3 (emphasis in the original, MIG-PA).
87 David Easton, The Political System: An Inquiry into the State of Political Science (New York: Knopf, 1970).
88 Marrack Goulding, Letter to N. B., (May 28, 2001) (MIG-PA).
89 Trygve Lie, Au Service de la Paix (Paris: Gallimard, 1957), 56.
90 Thant Myint-U and Amy Scott, The UN Secretariat: A Brief History (New York: International Peace Academy, 2007), 122.
91 MIG-PD-B, (December 16, 1996).
92 MIG-PD-B, 16-Dec-1996.
93 See, among others, Stanley Meisler, Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War (London: Wiley, 2007).
94 Aaron Wildavsky, cited in Jean E. Krasno, The United Nations: Policy and Practice (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2023), 197.
95 Myint-U and Scott, 128–9.
96 My Interview with S.P., (July 14, 2011), New York.
97 My Interview with Alvaro de Soto, (July 20, 2011), New York.
98 Traub, 69.
99 James Q. Wilson, Bureaucracy (New York: Basic Books, 1989), xvii.
100 See United Nations General Assembly, ‘Restructuring the United Nations Peace and Security Pillar: Report of the Secretary-General’, Document A/72/525, https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n17/328/97/pdf/n1732897.pdf?token=BtoKcUGb5dmNVttwUP&fe=true (accessed October 13, 2017).
101 United Nations, Reorganizing Peace and Security, https://reform.un.org/news/peace-and-security-pillar#:~:text=The%20Department%20of%20Political%20and,missions%20and%20non%2Dmission%20settings (accessed December 31, 2023).
102 Marieke Louis and Lucile Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics: Depoliticizing the World (London: Routledge, 2021).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Herman T. Salton
Herman T. Salton is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan.