United Nations

Angle of Defection

Was Shahram Amiri's return to Iran politically motivated, or was he just miserable?

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | JULY 16, 2010

The Silent Palestinian Refugee Crisis

Lebanon, which has long placed severe restrictions on the Palestinians in the country, may finally give them the rights they deserve.

BY TAYLOR LONG , ALISTAIR HARRIS | JULY 16, 2010

Don't Even Think About It

The Cold War was scary enough. Now try to imagine a nuclear arms race between China and India.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | JULY 13, 2010

Congo’s New Mobutu

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo turns 50 this month, its leader is taking a page from Mobutu Sese Seko’s playbook on repression. And the West is helping him.

BY JOE BAVIER | JUNE 29, 2010

What's the Frequency, Nkurunziza?

In central Africa, where on-air demagogues caused chaos in the 1990s, a Burundian radio broadcaster is playing with fire.

BY JINA MOORE | JUNE 25, 2010

Why the Irish Support Palestine

Once upon a time, Ireland was a huge supporter of Jewish aspirations in the Promised Land. What happened?

BY RORY MILLER | JUNE 23, 2010

It's Not Too Late to Save Kyrgyzstan

Russia and the United States weren't able to stop the recent outbreak of violence and ethnic cleansing in Osh. But there's still time to prevent the worst.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JUNE 22, 2010

Saving Failed States

How the United Nations let countries fall apart -- and how it needs to adapt if it wants to put them back together. (Originally published in the Winter 1992-1993 issue of Foreign Policy.)

BY GERALD B. HELMAN, STEVEN R. RATNER | JUNE 21, 2010

Help Wanted

Now is no time for the world to go wobbly on Somalia.

BY OMAR ABDIRASHID ALI SHARMARKE | JUNE 21, 2010

Where Autocrats Don't Fear to Tread

Why dictators love the United Nations.

BY JEFFREY HERBST | JULY/AUGUST 2010

Beijing's Coalition of the Willing

For the West, failed states are a problem. For China, they're an opportunity.

BY STEFAN HALPER | JULY/AUGUST 2010

Dangerous Weakness

Somalia is the quintessential "failed state" -- and not just because it has topped Foreign Policy's Failed States Index since 2008.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JULY/AUGUST 2010

Why the Iran Sanctions Matter

It's easy to criticize the U.N. Security Council's new resolution targeting Iran. But it might prove a surprisingly effective tool in tightening the noose on the regime in Tehran.

BY MATTHEW LEVITT | JUNE 11, 2010

Weak Tea

The U.N. sanctions against Iran have been watered down to almost nothing.

BY CHRISTOPHER R. WALL | JUNE 8, 2010

Drone Wars

The Obama administration won't tell the truth about America's new favorite weapon -- but that doesn't mean its critics are right.

BY C. CHRISTINE FAIR | MAY 28, 2010

The U.N’s Go-To Guy

Samantha Power's new film offers a gut-wrenching portrait of the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, a man whose loss the United Nations is still struggling to overcome today.

BY BLAKE HOUNSHELL | APRIL 20, 2010

Interview: António Guterres

From Darfur to Afghanistan, the U.N.’s point man on refugees says, the world’s conflicts are getting “more worrisome and more difficult to solve.”

INTERVIEW BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | MARCH 23, 2010

Case Raises Questions About U.N.'s Role in Zimbabwe

A former U.N. official claims his warnings of a coming calamity were stifled by a U.N. bureaucracy intent on keeping good relations with Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | FEBRUARY 22, 2010

The U.N.'s Dictator Envoy

Meet Ibrahim Gambari, diplomat to the autocrats.

BY COLUM LYNCH | MARCH/APRIL 2010

Solomon's Baby in the Middle East

A trip to a village literally cut in two by war.

BY ANDREW J. TABLER | FEBRUARY 2, 2010

The Ghosts of Port-au-Prince

Why is Haiti so haunted? 

BY DANIEL P. ERIKSON | JANUARY 14, 2010

No More Representatives, Please

The last thing we need is a new big shot envoy in Kabul.

BY NICK HORNE | DECEMBER 11, 2009

Interview: U.N. Undersecretary-General John Holmes

The top humanitarian official for the United Nations tells FP how to do aid in a time of war. Here’s a hint: it’s not pretty.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | NOVEMBER 5, 2009

A Royal Afghan Mess

As I witnessed firsthand while working as a poll monitor, the Afghan elections has been a disaster every step of the way. Here's how not to repeat the error.

BY EVELYN N. FARKAS | NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Think Again: The U.N. Security Council

With a U.S. president chairing the world’s top security body for the first time, it’s worth asking: What does the U.N. Security Council do, exactly? The answer, it turns, out, is more than you think, and less than you might hope.

BY DAVID BOSCO | SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama's Remarks on Climate Change

As prepared for delivery at the United Nations climate-change summit in New York.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Defending Ban

Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff to the U.N. secretary-general, says Jacob Heilbrunn's criticism of his boss in "Nowhere Man" is unfairly focused on style, not substance.

SEPT. / OCT. 2009

The Mona Juul Memo

Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Mona Juul, a high-ranking Norwegian diplomat, wrote this confidential internal memo to her country's Foreign Ministry. The leading Norwegian daily Aftenposten published it yesterday.

AUGUST 21, 2009

Still Going Nowhere Man

A brutally frank memo from a high-ranking Norwegian diplomat to the United Nations leaked this week, ripping Ban Ki-moon's performance to shreds. The evidence against the U.N.'s feckless leader is mounting.

BY JACOB HEILBRUNN | AUGUST 21, 2009

Not Enough?

Susan Rice's speech was a good start toward global re-engagement. But it was only that -- a start.

BY JOHN NORRIS | AUGUST 13, 2009