GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NEEDEDTO ADDRESS CHILD MALNUTRITION

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 2 > 2013

membership info > commentary > AM13 in Lund, Sweden ENJOY as part of

your ACUNS membership

Governance Trumps Democracy:Examining the African Experience

FEATURE ONE: GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NEEDED to address child malnutrition | 3Zahra Popatia Consultant, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

FEATURE TWO:GOVERNANCE TRUMPS DEMOCRACYExamining the African Experience | 7Robert I. Rotberg Fulbright Research Chair in Political Development at the Balsillie School of International Affairs

PLUS:

IN MEMORIAM GENE LYONS, architect of ACUNS | 5THE IO BIO PROJECT Lives and careers of Secretaries-General | 9

1 A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !

Q > CONTENTSQUARTERLY

AM13 details and updates

JUNE 17-19, 2013

LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

LUND UNIVERSITY | SWEDEN

A C U N S . O R GBooking information, schedules and more information can be found online at

AM13 PLENARY SESSIONS

Join us for our plenary sessions including:

PLENARY I: WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

PLENARY II: ETHICAL LEADERS AND GLOBAL LEADERSHIP: BUILDING ON THE LEGACY OF DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD

PLENARY III: ACCOUNTABILITY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

PLENARY IV: LEADERS LOOKING OVER THE HORIZON

A C U N S Q U A R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R > I S S U E 2 > 2 0 1 3 A C U N S . O R G 2

WELCOME TO ACUNS

STARTING POINT

up2date news & opinions

SECRETARIAT STAFFAlistair Edgar Executive Director, ACUNS Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityT > 226.772.3167 F > 226.772.3004 E > aedgar@wlu.ca

Brenda Burns Co-ordinatorT > 226.772.3142 F > 226.772.3004 E > bburns@wlu.ca

ACUNS SECRETARIATWilfrid Laurier University75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3C5

BOARD MEMBERS 2012-2013

Chair: Abiodun Williams, The Hague Institute for Global Justice

Past Chair: Christer Jönsson, Lund University

Vice Chairs: Roger Coate, Georgia College and State University Rama Mani, University of Oxford

M E M B E R S

Hugh Dugan, US Mission to the UN

Mary Farrell, University of Greenwich

Kirsten Haack, Northumbria University

Sukehiro Hasegawa, Hosei University

Lise Morjé Howard, Georgetown University

Melissa Labonte, Fordham University

Jan Wouters, University of Leuven

2013-2014 Board Members

> We will announce the new Board Members for June 2013-2014 in the upcoming edition of our newsletter.

On the move and flying high New faces and new initiatives are marking our growth

Dr. Alistair Edgar, ACUNS

Freshly returned from a too-brief but very productive visit to the ISA meeting in San Francisco, and already it is time to write my short piece for the next newsletter.

First, it is worth noting that the second five-year term of the ACUNS Secretariat being hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University comes to a close on 30 June, 2013. It does not feel like ten years (or eleven, if you count from the 2002-3 transition year when the incoming team worked closely with Jean Krasno as the then-outgoing Executive Director) working for, and with, ACUNS. Of course, 1 July, 2013 marks the beginning of the third five-year term, through to 2018, with your secretariat team still supported by Laurier. Now with our offices housed in the recently-opened Balsillie School of International Affairs, we rub shoulders with senior scholars and practitioners including Thomas Homer-Dixon, James Orbinski, Rianne Mahon, janet Lang, Simon Dalby, David Welch and others familiar to ACUNS members - Robert Rotberg and Robert Cox both recently completed research terms in offices next to ours - as well as an amazingly talented cadre of young doctoral and Master’s students. As we hire a new, second full-time staff member and engage our PhD intern, we look forward to expanding our support for ACUNS members and programs and to pursuing new projects in the coming five years.

Second, I want to thank all of the participants of our New York seminar in early March, sponsored by TECONY, on the topic (also the 2013 CSW theme) of ‘Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls’. Dr. Soon-Young Yoon, Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY, and Dr. Pamela S. Falk, President of the UN Correspondents Association and UN Resident Correspondent for CBS News TV & Radio served as Opening Keynotes, followed by an excellent panel that included ACUNS Vienna Liaison Officer Michael Platzer and H.E Ambassador Carlos Enrique Garcia Gonzalez of El Salvador, Vice Chair of the CSW. We look forward to the next seminar, on Friday, 24 May examining global health challenges in the post-2015 development agenda.

Third, returning to the ISA meeting, ACUNS again was pleased to co-sponsor the very well-attended International Organization (IO) Section reception on the Friday evening, held together with a number of other sections. This year, we also were pleased to sponsor for the first time, the Global South Caucus as it presented its 2013 Distinguished Scholar award to the remarkable Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, who currently serves as ADG, Economic and Social Development Department at the Food and Agriculture Organization. Though not an ACUNS-sponsored event, we were very happy to see Craig N. Murphy receive the IPE Section’s Distinguished Scholar award for his outstanding (and continuing) career.

Last but not least, ACUNS’ programs continue to develop very well. I am happy to report that the 2013 Annual Meeting program is filling out both at the Plenary Session and Workshop Panel levels. There are a few individual Workshop Panel slots still available, but otherwise all 24 panels have been populated with at least 2-3 papers and details are being formatted for circulation. Our new Book Reviews section on the ACUNS website is gaining attention from scholars and publishers alike; while the UN Security Council Annotated Bibliography section has received more interest from potential contributors – please take a look at both, and consider becoming part of the development of each project.

to addressCHILD MALNUTRITION

FEATURE STORY

> Z A H R A P O PAT I ACONSULTANT,

GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NEEDED

is one of the world’s most serious health problems. The consequences are immense: poor nutrition is not only

a major risk factor for disease1, but it also impedes full cognitive development. Maternal and child under-nutrition

is the underlying cause of 35% of the disease burden in children younger than 5 years. Moreover, the financial

implications are severe: productivity lost and health care spending related to malnutrition are estimated to be in the

billions annually, both in developing and developed countries.

UNDER- NUTRITION

3

In each Issue of our ‘new look’ newsletter, the ACUNS Secretariat hopes to feature an article by at least one young scholar and/or practitioner (and ACUNS member!). We have decided as well, because these young contributors will not be as well known to our readers as are our senior contributors, that we will include a short “About Me” note to help introduce them and their work. In this Issue, we introduce Zahra Popatia – and in this particular case, your executive director admits to being pleased to be able to introduce a former student. However, we look forward to engaging with many more young members and contributors from around the world in forthcoming newsletters.

C hildren are particularly hard hit. Almost 300 million children under five are anemic (mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia) and 178 million children under five suffer from stunting, a primary manifestation of poor nutrition. The rates of exclusive breastfeeding in children less than six months – a crucial driver of child nutrition – have not changed significantly in 15 years.2 The plight of children is particularly troubling because of the overwhelming evidence that the key period of intervention to secure life-long health is from conception to 24 months – the first 1000 days – after which significant and potentially irreversible damage will have been done.

For children, vitamin and mineral deficiency is the main cause of malnutrition and is usually driven by the improper balance of nutrients including the under-consumption of animal source foods (such as meat and eggs) and fruits and vegetables. Among the many nutrients needed for a balanced diet, the specific vitamins and minerals that are the key to optimum growth and development are vitamin A, iodine, iron, zinc, and folate.

In addition to the significant evidence on the benefits of a range of nutrition interventions, investments in micronutrients are remarkably inexpensive. Indeed, according to The Copenhagen Consensus 2012, an expert panel comprising of economists including four Nobel laureates, fighting malnourishment should be the top priority for policy-makers and philanthropists based on its cost-effectiveness.

So then why do millions of children suffer every year? Three reasons stand out.

First, malnutrition requires a multi-pronged approach. Simply producing more food will not solve the problem. Families most at risk need diverse and higher quality food that is also affordable. In addition, access to clean water will help prevent children from getting diarrhea so that they are better able to absorb the nutrients in the food they are eating. Infants need to be cared for and stimulated so that they are able to convert nutrition into growth. The economic burden on women drives them outside the home to find employment soon after giving birth, reducing their ability to exclusively breastfeed their infant for the first six months. Caregivers are forced to give formula, which is often diluted and mixed with tainted water, further compounding malnutrition. The situation is worse if the mother does not receive adequate care during her pregnancy and is also malnourished.

Second, there is a widespread assumption that economic growth alone will solve the problem of under-nutrition. This is erroneous. The evidence shows that improvements in nutrition lag far behind

income growth3, including for the very poor, whose incomes grow more slowly.4 Even in families with adequate overall incomes and food availability, poor nutritional practices and inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals mean high levels of under-nutrition.

Third, those with influence on government policies do not yet adequately appreciate the consequences of under-nutrition among children because the most common forms of malnutrition – moderate malnutrition - are invisible. These children may look happy and well, but they are not functioning at full capacity. They have a less developed immune system and find it difficult to battle infections and diseases. If they make it past their fifth birthday, many of these malnourished children will grow up to develop chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease as adults, limiting their productivity and therefore repeating the cycle of poverty.

There are success stories in reducing malnutrition such as in Mexico where a cash transfer program is coupled with regular visits to health centers, leading to improvements in nutrition rates among children. And in Peru, where a citizen led coalition made all presidential candidates sign a pledge to improve malnutrition if elected. The winning candidate was bound by the pledge to make a number of policy changes that reduced malnutrition.

Established by the UN Secretary-General, a relatively new initiative called Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) is leading the way in making nutrition visible and in generating new resources for countries to address malnutrition. With the prerequisite of obtaining support from the highest levels of government, the governments of thirty countries are integrating nutrition goals into many sectors of development policy. The true test will be if malnutrition rates fall in the coming years. In most countries malnutrition is measured every five years. Will five years be too long of an interval? Will the international community get impatient for results and move on to another cause?

Malnutrition is an unusual international development issue: the scientific evidence, the economic analysis, and global political rhetoric are all in happy agreement. What is needed now is to convert all of this into sustained, long-term action in the interests of the world’s children. Their future as contributing adults depends on it.

* Zahra Popatia is a consultant in international health and nutrition.With a focus on performance measurement, project design, and monitoring and evaluation, her projects have included travel to a number of countries including: India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the Philippines, Ghana, South Africa and North Korea.

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FEATURE ONE

Zahra PopatiaBA(Hons) Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University, MES, York University, MSc Public Health in Developing Countries, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

MY INTEREST in international development peaked during my undergraduate studies at Wilfrid Laurier University where I took a course on Politics in Developing Countries. Late that year, a professor from Laurier took a handful of students on a two-month work-study program in Zimbabwe. I haven’t looked back since. Upon graduation,

I spent a year in India working with a grassroots organization on projects that empower women, which led me to an interest in maternal and child health. Over the past 15 years, I have acquired skills in designing, managing and evaluating public health projects while working for the Canadian International Development Agency, Focus USA, Aga Khan Foundation USA, the Micronutrient Initiative and now as a consultant in public health and nutrition. I enjoy working on performance measurement and program evaluations. Working on complementary feeding for infants for Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

has been especially satisfying because addressing malnutrition at this age can last a lifetime. My most challenging assignment was reviewing the health and nutrition projects that the European Commission funded in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). Information was tightly controlled and I was not at liberty to speak to many women to get their perspectives on the projects.

Going forward, my aim is to work increasingly on food security and nutrition, and its impact on women and children.

1 Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murry CJL, Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet 2006; 367:1747-57.2 In fact, the global rate increased slightly between 1991 and 2002. Dr. Francesco Branca, WHO Nutrition Strategy Paper, 2009.3 Lawrence Haddad, Harold Alderman, Simon Appleton, Lina Song and Yisehac Yohannes, “Reducing Child Malnutrition: How Far Does Income Growth Take Us?” The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, 107-131, 2003 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank4 H. Alderman, “Improving Nutrition Through Community Growth Promotion: Longitudinal Study of the Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Program in Uganda”, World Development, 35, 8, 2007, pp. 1376-1389.

If any one person had a substantial claim to have been the architect of ACUNS, it was Gene (Eugene Martin) Lyons who died on January 10 in Lebanon, New Hampshire at the age of 88. It was at nearby Dartmouth College, where his academic career of more than 45 years was centered, that the idea of ACUNS was nurtured and in 1987 emerged as reality.

From its beginning, ACUNS aimed to identify and sustain a new generation of scholars who would deepen understanding of international cooperation based on the ever-elaborating web of global and regional organizations. Both that aim and Gene’s devotion to teaching and application of scholarship fitted with and reflected his life and times. After a quarter century, members of that new generation envisaged by Gene and his fellow founders lead ACUNS and are helping to develop their own successors.

Gene’s generation was that of the now thin cohort that directly took part in World War II and observed at first hand the disastrous consequences on civilians as well as soldiers. For them, the scholarly abstractions of higher education were backed by indelible memories. Gene’s undergraduate study at Tufts University was interrupted by military service that earned a decoration and brought him directly into contact with the protection and care of displaced persons. After his discharge, he returned to Tufts to finish his degree. He then went back to Europe to earn a degree at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. It was a short step from there in 1948 to joining the staff of the temporary International Refugee Organization that would soon become the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Four years later, the now barely remembered UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) recruited him and gave him more insight into the impact of modern weapons and big armies on civilian populations. He returned to the United States with his bride, the late Micheline Pohl, and a fluent competence in French. He completed his graduate study at Columbia University. His eventual doctoral dissertation, published in 1961, dealt with the political activity that fatally drained away support for UNKRA.

When Gene joined the faculty of Dartmouth College in 1958 he had consulted the scholarship about international cooperation that had roots in international law and in the studies of the League of Nations. His Ph.D. program at Columbia was taught by such authorities as Leland M. Goodrich and Philip Jessup. Both had personally contributed to the success of the San Francisco Conference that led to the establishment of the United Nations Organization. Goodrich supervised his dissertation. Moreover, Gene’s own staff work with new international agencies, which provided novel services designed to reach individual persons, offered insights into what became the UN system. Dartmouth itself, then led by President John Sloan Dickey, was a welcoming venue. As an American

official, he had built into the San Francisco Conference active, visible participation by what the UN Charter called non-governmental organizations.

Gene taught popular courses on international organization, international relations, American foreign policy and civil-military relations. His humor, friendly manner and genuine interest in his students’ progress soon brought him into contact with some who would later become ambassadors, think-tank researchers and university scholars. At the same time, he extended his network of academic contacts and published and edited research results. Within Dartmouth he had significant roles in the Dickey Center for International Understanding which had been founded in 1982 as a memorial to its erstwhile president’s interest in promoting public attention to international relations and foreign policy.

Despite his enthusiasm for his subjects, during the 1970s Gene as well as other university scholars detected waning interest in courses and research on international organization and specifically on the burgeoning UN system. In his history of the birth and first years of ACUNS, published by the secretariat, he wrote:

By the late 1960’s, after the Korean War and a decade of success in mounting peacekeeping operations, the UN seemed increasingly irrelevant to the major issues of international security…the cold war seemed to give credence to the basic principles of classical realism that the world was indeed anarchical, that states were the fundamental units of analysis and that international politics was essentially a struggle for power…moreover the UN also became marginal to problems of international political economy. The processes of decolonization into which the UN had been closely drawn were virtually completed and new members from the developing world began to create their own agenda that emphasized redistributive policies and threatened the interests of the more powerful western states.

In the broader context of politics in the United States, he noted, that “UN bashing” had become fashionable; it understandably provoked serious worry at the top of UN Secretariat. In a meeting in 1986 in New York, Lyons and the head of the Dickey Center, Elise Boulding, then professor emeritus of sociology and a strong advocate of international cooperation, heard these concerns in person.

Their reaction was to sketch the framing of a new organization based on academic scholarship. It was to be independent of the UN system, free to criticize or praise, and keen on independent research and contact with the experts who worked in the secretariats and missions at the various headquarters of the UN system. It was not to serve as an applause machine but rather a transmission channel for dispelling ignorance of the accomplishments as well as accounting for the failures of the ever-widening UN system. Nor was the intention that this should be an

American organization. Rather it would involve scholars from the rest of the world even if the preponderant sources of research and publications were in the United States. Gene took charge of the process of constructing ACUNS with moral and financial support from the Dickey Center.

By this time, Gene had twice on leaves from Dartmouth broadened his direct experience with national policy-making and international cooperation. In 1966, he was appointed executive secretary of an advisory committee on behavioral science programs that reported in 1968 to the US National Academy of Sciences. In 1970-72, he directed the social science department in Paris of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Later he was a member of the US National Commission for UNESCO and part of the US delegation to the UNESCO General Conference.

For the full development of the foundational elements of ACUNS, informal consultations led by Gene took place at Dartmouth and in New York. There new support was found in the Ralph Bunche Institute at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). It was headed by Prof. Benjamin Rivlin, long a student of UN affairs, and another of the founders of ACUNS. It was also time for contacts with various foundations that encouraged Gene, Ben and others. Gene, Ben Rivlin and Elise Boulding issued invitations to scholars and experts for a more formal exploratory session in June 1986 at CUNY. This resulted in the formal conference in June 1987 at the Dickey Center at Dartmouth that established ACUNS. Some 40 invitees from academia and government in Canada, Mexico and the United States attended.

What followed required the talents of an organizational constructor and definer of consensus about activities. For this, Gene was the obvious choice as the first executive director for ACUNS. Lasting parts of the ACUNS program, initially supported by grants from the Dickey Center and Ford Foundation, were shaped during the first five years. This included the summer workshops for young scholars of international law and organization, internationalization of membership, setting up contacts with international officials, and sponsoring and disseminating research especially through the annual meetings and scholarly publications.

With the title of Orvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs emeritus, Gene retired in 1984 from teaching at Dartmouth. His contact with the college continued as senior fellow of the Dickey Center. His interest in ACUNS and its members never wavered and for a quarter of a century he attended almost all of its annual meetings.

Gene will be deeply missed, but his presence will continue through ACUNS programs and individual members.

5 A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !

Architect of ACUNSOut of academia and life experience rises a higher level of international cooperation and active scholarship

IN MEMORIAM

The processes of decolonization into which the UN had been closely drawn were virtually completed and new members from the developing world began to create their own agenda that emphasized redistributive policies and threatened the interests of the more powerful western states.

– Gene Lyons

Gene Lyons, far left

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MEMBER PUBLICATIONS MPub

Land Grabbing and Global Governance

Matias E. Margulis, Nora McKeon & Saturnino M. Borras Jr. (Guest Eds.)

Globalizations vol. 10, issue 1, 2013.

The special issue provides a framework for analyzing land grabbing as struggle for control over local pieces of land concurrent with global processes and the operations of transnational regulatory institutions. Analyzing the present land rush from a global/transnational perspective, it highlights the ever greater flows of capital, goods, and ideas across borders and argues that these flows occur through axes of power that are far more polycentric than those of the North-South imperialist tradition. The special issue features contributions from scholars and from global civil society activists engaged in the present contests to regulate land grabs through global governance instruments. It will be of interest to both of these categories, as well as to policy makers and practitioners. The introductory essay is followed by 8 original research articles and 5 reviews of specific transnational instruments to regulate land grabs.

The Group of Twenty (G20)

Andrew F. Cooper and Ramesh Thakur

This work offers a concise examination of the purpose, function and practice of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit. Providing a comprehensive historical account of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors process, the text then moves on to outline the conditions, events and debates that led to the formation of the permanent, expanded leaders’ level forum. The historical span of the G20 Summit process is not long, but the global transformations that precipitated it are crucial when seeking to understand it.

Cooper & Thakur explore a variety of major debates, including: governance by self-selected groups versus mandated multilateral organizations, the legitimacy of informal leadership, the issue of the G20’s composition of both ‘solution’ countries and ‘problem’ countries, the role of the emerging powers, and new conceptions of North-South relationships.

This work offers a detailed examination of the ongoing shifts in economic power and the momentum toward global institutional reform, illustrating how the G20 has moved from a crisis committee to the premier global forum over this short but intense history, and mapping out its comparative advantages and key challenges ahead.

The launch of the ACUNS book reviews project has been a great success. We have now sent 18 books out to reviewers and will soon be posting completed reviews. The “books available for review” section of the website is updated regularly as we are frequently receiving new books from publishers. If you are interested in writing a review for ACUNS I would encourage you to visit these pages.

Our newest project is the launch of an annotated bibliography on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The database for this project is now available in the publications section of the website. Please consider writing an entry for this project. The database offers a list of suggested titles for entries, and we welcome submissions on any publications related to the UNSC.

There was thus a strong conviction among participants that “the ultimate aim is to encourage a new generation of scholars, teachers and practitioners to give new and critical attention to the role of international organizations in world affairs.”

Courses on international organization posed a series of problems that would only be exacerbated by a lack of well-trained and prepared teachers. Some of these problems were raised in the conference report. “How do we avoid advocacy since teaching about international organizations focuses attention on multilateral cooperation in foreign policy-making and thus may be construed as downgrading more traditional bilateral approaches? How do we maintain objectivity and critical perspective when students have expectations about pro-UN preferences, say, in enrolling in courses about international organizations? Or as an integral part of other courses in order to underscore the role of institutions in dealing with international problems? ... Should the field be approached from the vantage point of the institutions? The problems that they seek to resolve? Or the political processes in which they are involved and through which states decide to cooperate or not?”

These, of course, are the kinds of questions that teachers of international relations face quite regularly. They came up in the conference as part of the discussion of finding ways of drawing younger people into the field and strengthening their preparation. Along these lines, there was special interest in organizing workshops for college and university teachers. The purposes “would mainly be two-fold: to permit teachers to exchange views and experiences on how to deal with international organizations and the problems of multilateral diplomacy in their courses; and to work with them in reviewing the state of scholarly research, the development of course syllabi and the availability of texts and primary source materials in teaching.” Workshops, it was maintained, could raise the level of teaching and strengthen professional networks, not only among younger faculty members but also between academics and UN staff members and, in doing so, would serve as another means of closing the gap between those who thought about IO and those who practice.

– Gene Lyons

Purposeful ScholarshipAn excerpt from “Putting ACUNS Together” by Gene M. Lyons

courtesty of ACUNS

cxd

FEATURE STORY

GOVERNANCE TRUMPS DEMOCRACY

> R O B E R T I . R OT B E R GRESEARCH CHAIR IN

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE BALSILLIE SCHOOL OF

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

7

photo: Justin Ide Harvard News Office

7 A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !

1 See Amy Gutman and Dennis F. Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy? (Princeton, 2004).2 For the standard explanation, see Robert A. Dahl, On Democracy (New Haven, 1998).

E veryone wants and believes in democracy. Those of us who study democracy affirm its utility in the making and maintaining of modern nation-states. Some of our kind attempt to re-examine its roots, to fine-tune its applicability to various national situations and circumstances, and to advocate improved versions, such as deliberative democracy.1

Even so, there is a broad consensus among scholars and politicians. We can specify democratic fundamentals with ease: the ability to campaign for and hold political office freely;

to assemble openly and without constraints; to express oneself without hindrance through speech, action, and in print; and to pursue a personal economic destiny without interference.2 In democracies citizens have “voice.” They can participate freely in the process of politics and have their opinions counted. Politicians in democracies listen to their constituents, consult with them, and metaphorically or actually are in dialogue perpetually with potential voters and other citizens.

Governance is the concept that enables us to discern exactly whether citizens are progressing in meeting life’s goals.

D emocracy has become over the centuries, and especially in this one and the last, a broad church. It includes leaders who are 1) thoroughly democratic in word and deed – persons who indeed walk the walk as well as talking the talk, 2) leaders who profess democratic ideals but curb freedoms and harass opponents, 3) quasi-democrats who pay lip-service to the democratic ideals but honor and pursue them in the breach, and 4) autocrats who come to power democratically and then turn on their constituents. Even brutal dictators – a fifth category – profess to being democrats.

These concerns may not resonate too well in the developed world, except in Belarus, Ukraine, possibly Russia, certainly China, and a few other outliers. But for much of the developing world, focusing on democracy misses capturing critical distinctions between regime practices, and between the impact of those practices on outcomes for the mass of affected inhabitants and citizens. “Democracy” is both too general and too unspecific a concept to provide a full analytical understanding of how the myriad countries of the developing world actually run their affairs and deliver political goods to their citizens. The critical political goods in question embrace and permit democracy to flourish and become meaningful. “It is hard to measure a concept as broad as democracy, and it is hard to say precisely where democratic regimes end and other forms of government3 begin.” Thus, a more nuanced and ideologically-free investigation of how three-fifths of the world operates should dissect governance, not democracy.

Governance trumps democracy if we want to understand whether governments are in fact meeting the expectations of their constituents. Democracy outcomes are much harder to measure in this respect. Equally, if we want to compare how citizens are faring under regime X or regime Y, we need to compare governance in those respective places. Governance, furthermore, is the concept that enables us to discern exactly whether citizens are progressing in meeting life’s goals. Are they better off economically, socially, and politically than they were in an earlier decade? Are their various human causes advancing? Are their governments treating them well, and attempting in many senses to respond to their various needs and aspirations and relieving them of anxiety?

Governance tells us far more about actual results in the different developing societies than would be weighing the varieties of democracy in such places.

Exporting democracy is often a stated goal, but what world powers and the developed world seek to transfer is not only democratic practices but a whole bundle of political goods that amount to good governance. Democracy is at once a narrower and a more abstract notion. Nation-states that have abundantly good governance perform effectively for their citizens. They deliver abundant quantities and high qualities of the essential political goods that comprise governance.

GOVERNANCE: WHAT IT ISAll citizens of all countries desire to be governed well. That is what citizens want from and expect of the nation-states in which they live. Thus, nation-states in the modern world (no less in Africa, which this chapter will use as a regional example) are responsible for the delivery of essential political goods to their inhabitants. That is their purpose, and that has been their central legitimate justification since the Peace of Westphalia. These essential political goods are bundled into five categories: Safety and Security, Rule of Law and Transparency; Participation and Respect for Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and Human Development. Together, these five categories of political goods epitomize the performance of any government, at any level. No one, whether looking to her village, municipality, province, state, or nation willingly wants to be victimized by crime or to live in a society without regulations and laws; to be denied freedom to express oneself and to influence decisions; to be without a chance to prosper; and to be held back from access to decent schools, well-run hospitals and clinics, and carefully-maintained roads.

Of the five categories of political goods, the paramount one is security.4 There can be no economic growth or social elevation, and no societal strength as opposed to weakness and failure, without fundamental security. A nation-state’s prime function everywhere is thus to secure its territory – to prevent cross-border invasions and incursions; to reduce domestic threats to, or attacks upon, the national domain and the national order; to bolster human security or security of person by reducing crime – to make its city streets and rural villages safe; and hence to prevent mayhem by roving gangs, non-state actors, or marauding desperadoes. If a nation-state merely controls its capital city, if it cannot project power to the periphery, if it does not have a Weberian monopoly of the use of force within its borders, and if it cannot repress would-be secessionists and potential rebels, then the nation-state is insecure and verging on failure. Or it is already failed.

The delivery of other necessary political goods becomes feasible only when reasonable provisions of security are obtained. Good governance next requires a predictable, recognizable, systematized method of adjudicating disputes and regulating both the norms and the prevailing mores of the societies and nation-states under inspection. This second political good implies codes and procedures that together compose an enforceable body of law, security of property and enforceable contracts, an effective judicial system, and a set of norms that validate what is called the rule of law. The practical impact of a strong rule of law regime is that it enables citizens to resolve their differences with fellow inhabitants or with an overweening state without recourse to arms or physical coercion.

* Robert I. Rotberg is the inaugural Fulbright Research Chair in Political Development at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Fulbright Fellow at CIGI. The founding director of Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict, he is also president emeritus of the World Peace Foundation.

A C U N S Q U A R T E R LY N E W S L E T T E R > I S S U E 2 > 2 0 1 3 A C U N S . O R G 8

FEATURE TWO

3 Arthur A. Goldsmith, “Ballots, Bullets, and the Bottom Billion,” Journal of Democracy, XXIII (2012), 121.4 This and succeeding paragraphs draw on Rotberg, “Good and Bad Governance,” in Rotberg, Governance and Leadership in Africa (Philadelphia, 2007), 21-24.

For much of the developing world, focusing on democracy misses capturing critical distinctions between regime practices, and between the impact of those practices on outcomes for the mass of affected inhabitants and citizens.

Governance tells us far more about actual results in the different developing societies than would be weighing the varieties of democracy in such places.

9 A C U N S . O R G S i g n u p f o r o u r E > U P D AT E b y b e c o m i n g a m e m b e r !

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTERIssue 2 > 2013

Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Quarterly Newsletter is published four times a year with the support of the Department of Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing (CPAM) at Wilfrid Laurier University.

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What does “IO BIO” stand for and what can readers find in it?

IO BIO stands for Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations, a collection of short biographies of Secretaries-General (SGs), or office-holders with equivalent titles, that provide full life and career descriptions. Entries (between 800 and 3,600 words) are written according to scientific standards. Hence, IO BIO is not a “Who’s Who” which mostly enumerates functions, but instead provides a better understanding of these office-holders. The focus of analysis is: How do SGs perform, both as actors representing their institutions in international relations and as managers of large organizations?

Entries cover those individuals who left a mark for any reason, whether good, bad or unusual, with SGs at three category levels: VIPs, other remarkable leaders and relatively lesser, but important, office-holders. Initial representative entries are now available at the Project’s website, and later as a full collection in book volumes. The Project’s database provides an overview of all SGs of (at this point) over 130 international organizations (IOs).

Who are not included in IO BIO?

For practical reasons the Project does not include non-governmental organizations (NGOs), only intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). The entries do not cover individuals who ranked below the level of SG. Non-deceased SGs are included only if they have been out of office for at least five years (with no current expectation of a return to office).

Does IO BIO allow for group analyses?

Yes, the entries are explicitly designed to allow for group analysis. We do not know much about patterns across these institutional leaders, for instance: where do they come from and how were they trained? Combining IO BIO entries will provide greater comparative information about areas such as their backgrounds (diplomats, politicians, military, or NGOs?), time in office (longer than expected?), connections between them (do they coalesce or compete?), relative successes and failures, and the role of individuals in international relations. Prosopographical analyses of various subgroups are possible: e.g., by generation, type of organization, or gender. Such analyses are available to readers interested in particular issues or categories by reading across the entries.

Who are the IO BIO Editors and why this initiative?

Kent Kille and Bob Reinalda are political scientists interested in IOs and leadership. After having written an encompassing history of IOs, Bob realized that there was hardly room in it for individuals representing their IOs. After a range of research on SGs, with a particular focus on the United Nations (UN), Kent believes that comparative analysis across office-holders has great value but there is limited data available to carry out such investigation. The existing literature on SGs is limited, but growing (as is scientific interest in IOs), and this Project taps into this well.

Who will use IO BIO and how will they benefit from it?

Those studying the functioning of global and regional IOs and specific aspects (e.g., diplomacy, negotiations, psychology, influence, training, learning, or public relations) will use IO BIO, as well as practitioners who want to find specific information about persons and organizations. Users will find essential details and analyses that contribute to the understanding of institutions, interactions and mechanisms.

Is this not a huge Project that will take many years?

Indeed it is, but that is part of what makes the Project so exciting! IO BIO is a young Project that needs, and invites, experts to become engaged with the endeavor. Various entries are ‘under construction’, with 16 already available. The website provides much more information, including tools to help authors: instructions, a model biography, databases (SGs in an alphabetical order, and SGs per IO), helpful links, and relevant dictionaries and Who’s Who.

How can ACUNS members contribute to IO BIO?

They can contribute by writing entries as experts on specific IOs, issues, or individuals, suggesting authors for specific entries or commenting on entries (providing corrections or additions). They can also comment on, and provide ideas about the Project overall, including adding IOs and their SGs to the database and organizing a panel at the ACUNS Annual Meeting. Finally, there is potential for particularly interested and engaged individuals to join the editorial team.

CONTACT US

WEBSITE: www.ru.nl/fm/iobio E-MAIL: iobio@fm.ru.nl

THE IO BIO PROJECT: LIVES AND CAREERS OF SECRETARIES-GENERAL

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Elodie ConvergnePhD Candidate, International Relations. Sciences Po Paris (Institute of Political Studies); Visiting Scholar, Columbia University

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THE JOHN W. HOLMES MEMORIAL LECTURE

Dr. Manuel FröhlichProfessor of International Organizations and Globalization Friedrich Schill University, Jena

Representing the United Nations: Individual Actors, International Agency and Leadership

Manuel Fröhlich is Professor of International Organizations and Globalization at Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena (Germany). He also serves as a board member of the German United Nations Association and its Research Council. He is co-editor of the German Journal of Political Science (Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft) as well as the book series The United Nations and Global Change (Nomos). Manuel Fröhlich has published several books and articles i.a. on the United Nations, Global Governance, the transformation of peace operations and sovereignty as well as the political philosophy of international relations and world organization – topics that have been with him since his dissertation on the Political Ethics of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (Routledge). He currently heads a research project on the work of Special Representatives of the UN Secretary-General (SRSGs) that includes the establishment of a comprehensive database on SRSG assignments since the foundation of the UN.

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Margot WallströmFormer United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict; and Chair of the Board of Lund University

Margot Wallström is Chair of the Board of Lund University, a post she took up in April 2012. Prior to taking this post, she served at the United Nations as Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, taking up this appointment at Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s request in April 2010.

Wallström has had an extensive and varied national and international political and business career. She was a Member of Parliament from 1979-85; Sweden’s Minister for Consumer Affairs, Women and Youth from 1988-1991; Minister for Culture in 1994-1996; and Minister for Social Affairs, 1996-1998. During 1999-2004, she was Environment Commissioner with the European Commission. From 2004-2010, she was First Vice President of the European Commission for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy. Prior to taking up her position as Commissioner in 1999, she worked as executive vice-president of Worldview Global Media based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and in 1993-94 was CEO of TV Värmland, a regional Swedish television network. In November 2007, Wallström became Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders Ministerial Initiative, a position previously held by former US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

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