Knew at the Humble Establishment

¶ … knew at the humble establishment of the United Nations that it would one day become one of the most important bodies governing international politics. However, in the past six decades this is exactly what the United Nations as become, an institutional force that has promoted world peace, proper governance and humanity through all of its member states. However in recent years, the United Nations has been suffering what some within the international community call a "brand crisis," it is no longer perceived as an effective global body whose legitimacy and authority is respected (BusinessWeek, npg). Due to America's disobedience in the war on Iraq as well as numerous other international calamities, the United Nations has appeared to lose its allure as the avenue of world conflict resolution. Despite these claims however, the effectiveness of the United Nations cannot be ignored. There has not been a major global conflict since the Second World War, and the United Nations has changed the face of humanitarian, economic, and political efforts throughout the world. The following analysis will take a close look at the United Nations and examine why it has become such a dominant and important factor within global affairs. More importantly, how the leadership of the United Nations has helped to make the organization the premier leader within international relations.

The United Nations until recently was lead by Secretary General Kofi Annan, considered the United Nation's strongest leader, and one of the foremost respected individuals in world politics. Annan was born in 1938 in Ghana, and was a Ghanaian diplomat until he served as the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations. After ten years of service he finally has stepped down, having collected a Nobel Peace Prize among numerous other accomplishments in his United Nations involvement. His inspired leadership was the direct reason for the strength of the United Nations in the past decade. The fact that Annan, a Ghanaian could become the Secretary General of the United Nations represents the multi-cultural focus of the UN. The organization's strength lies in its diversity and its ability to focus conflicting social, cultural and political opinions from a wide spectrum of nations to come to important compromises on the world stage.

The focus of diversity and its role within the United Nations is built in within its core founding concepts. As an organization of global importance it must recruit and maintain membership from as diverse a source of leadership and diplomacy as possible. Article 101(3) of the UN Charter states, "Due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible." This conceptual acceptance and promotion of diversity has been true as a core recruiting philosophy within the United Nations. In 2001, 39.8% of all UN employees were women. On a yearly basis, the UN creates a mission plan on recruiting members from nations that are "unrepresented and under-represented"; through this yearly review they determine how best to maintain equality of access to the United Nations for all countries. Article 8 of the Charter best sums up the United Nations stance on diversity, "the United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs." As an institution, no one country has more than 5% of all representatives within the UN. All of this points to how prominent the emphasis on diversity (Arnold, 41). However, the implicit question within this detailed study is why diversity should matter, and how it has helped the UN become an institution of impact within world affairs.

The realization of UN's diversity charter can be symbolized in the selection of Kofi Annan as the Secretary General. His background and stature within the world community before his ascension would not have merited his position had the UN not been profoundly focused on cultural diversification. Annan's selection not only was one of the UN's smartest decisions, but fully exhibits why it is crucial for diversified leadership.

As a leader within the African sphere he was able to fully empower the United Nations to resolve one of the worst human rights trouble spots on the planet. Annan threw the full support of UN peacekeeping missions to Darfur, Sudan, Ethiopia and many other African trouble spots. Without his strong leadership within this area, the problem of civil war within these nations may never have been fully resolved. Annan's understanding of the geo-political conflicts within Africa was of crucial importance in swaying United Nations members to send peace keepers to Africa, as a result of his actions, three of the worst conflict zones in Africa were defused. Sudan was a primary example of Annan's diplomacy and leadership. Since he was intimately aware of the problems within African politics he was able to negotiate a compromise over government stability. He helped Sudan to transfer its power from the African Union peacekeeping Mission, which was failing due to a lack of political agreement, into an UN peacekeeping government. Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland once said of Annan, "I imagine that if Kofi Annan saw somebody abusing human rights he would kick them in the knee." Annan's efforts in resolving conflict within Africa helped him attain the accolade of a Nobel Peace Prize. Under his ten-year reign, he was able to decrease tensions between civil war parties, as well as promote stable government within the Northeastern region of Africa.

Annan's leadership style was strongly reliant on his personal character; he showed consistency of leadership throughout his organization, allowing any and all political leaders to present their positions. His strong values were fundamental to his success as the Secretary General. This was exhibited through several of his actions, but most notably through the "Food for Oil" scandal.

During 2004, reports surfaced that Kojo; Annan's son had received payments from a company that won lucrative contracts under the UN Oil for Food Program (Rousenhau, npg). Annan immediately called for an investigation into the matter, in the end Annan was exonerated of all personal involvement in the matter and his reputation was untarnished. His transparency and dignity throughout the entire affair was an important reason for why his leadership is admired and respected throughout the world.

The importance of Annan to the United Nations cannot be underestimated. Since he is from an under-represented nation and also within one of the world's biggest trouble spots, he was able to bring his experience and vision into light on how to solve major UN crisis. One such example is his leadership in rallying the world around the cause of the HIV / AIDS epidemic. As an African, he realized that HIV / AIDS was a global problem that was especially evident within Africa and Asia. As a result, in 2001 he issued a five point "Call to Action" that addressed the HIV / AIDS pandemic. Through his efforts he established the Global AIDS and Health Fund which rallied funding from the UN and all major member states to deal with the onslaught of aids. Without his experience as an African from an under-represented nation, this problem which is not as developed in first world nations, may have gone unnoticed until the epidemic spread beyond controllable proportions (Ayoob, npg). Annan, along with other leaders within the United Nations brings with them the experience of nations that do not necessarily play a prominent role within world affairs. As a result, they bring the United Nations to task in accomplishing its mission of helping the world order. Their direct leadership has increased globalization by promoting the rise of developing nations through both funding as well as expert experience.

Globalization has resulted in the increased need of the United Nations to understand precisely what the conflict and problems are inherent within their political arena. Annan as well as other leaders within the UN have created a forum where conflict resolution does not only start and end with first world nations. This has become extremely important in resolving modern global problems. The current state of globalization means that there are severe economic, social and political problems occurring between nation-states. It is no longer true that certain nation states have far more access or importance than any other. Professor Tim Arnold explains, "Globalization has changed the needs of world organizations, now communication is more important than ever. The diversified leadership within the UN has been crucial to the development of strong political ties between developing and developed nations." (Arnold, 141). The United Nations does not have direct leverage upon the sovereignty of other nations. As a result, Annan and his cohorts view the United Nations as a pure leadership challenge, because they must utilize their influence with other nations to develop an agenda for greater harmony and world integration. The focus on diversity within the United Nations has been crucial to accomplishing this goal (Boutros, npg). Since they understand the perspectives of many different national representatives they have been able to rally the support of such organizations to find solutions that satisfy both developed and developing nations. One of the most crucial areas that they have helped develop is the integration of Asian development into the world arena. The current explosion of economic growth and social change within Asia has had a profound affect on world politics; Annan has been a crucial player in helping to shape the transition to include Asian players within the new United Nations. This has been evidenced by the new selection of a South Korean diplomat as the next Secretary General of the United Nations.