‘The Hand that Holds the Pen’: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Peacekeeping, and American Influence Over the United Nations Secretariat in the Early 1990s

ABSTRACTThis article reviews the creative ways in which the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, used the UN Secretariat to achieve his goals, as well as the obstacles he faced in doing so. Using new sources – including confidential UN memos, elite interviews, and private archives – the paper suggests that, in the context of peacekeeping, the former Secretary-General engaged in parallel processes of ‘politicization’ and ‘depoliticization’: on the one hand he minimised, avoided and concealed the substantive dimensions of certain decisions, units and issues with the aim of marginalising those departments and officials that he saw as too close to the United States, while on the other he empowered those bureaucratic units which he felt he could more easily control. Specifically, by bestowing upon the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) a sweeping mandate while painting the role of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as merely ‘operational’, Boutros-Ghali used ‘technicization’ as a means to strengthen the Secretary-General's office.KEYWORDS: Boutros Boutros-Ghali; peacekeepingpeacebuildingUnited Nations SecretariatSecretary-Generalbureaucracypoliticisation and depoliticisationtechnicisation Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Albrow, Bureaucracy, 57.2 Ibid.3 Myint-U and Scott, The UN Secretariat, 84.4 Hill, The Papers of United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 2 (emphasis added).5 Kille, From Manager to Visionary.6 Hill, The Papers of United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 3 (emphasis added).7 Boutros-Ghali, Mes Années à la Maison de Verre.8 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, “Review of the Efficiency of the Administrative and Financial Functions of the United Nations and Restructuring of the Secretariat.”9 Boutros-Ghali, En Attendant la Prochaine Lune.10 Boutros Boutros-Ghali, “Restructuring of the Secretariat”, in Hill, vol. 1, 30–33.11 Ibid., 31.12 Ameri, Politics of Staffing the United Nations Secretariat, 50.13 Chesterman, Secretary or General?.14 Boutros-Ghali, Mes Années à la Maison de Verre, 18.15 Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace.16 Louis and Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics, 5; Barnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World, 21.17 Guterres, A New Agenda for Peace, also available at https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/our-common-agenda-policy-brief-new-agenda-for-peace-en.pdf (accessed August 18, 2023).18 Levi, “On Microhistory.”19 Boutros-Ghali, Mes Années à la Maison de Verre, chap. 1.20 Boutros-Ghali, “Memorandum,” 1 (MIG-PA).21 Albrow, Bureaucracy, chap. 1.22 Burgess, The United Nations Under Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1992–1997.23 Boutros-Ghali, “Memorandum,” 2.24 Ibid. (emphasis added).25 Steffek, International Organization as Technocratic Utopia.26 Nicholas, The United Nations as a Political Institution, 169.27 Luard, The United Nations, 95.28 Miller, “What Does ‘Political’ Mean?,” 64.29 Louis and Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics, Introduction and Chapter 1.30 Boutros-Ghali, “Memorandum,” 2 (emphasis added).31 Dufournet, “Quand techniciser c’est faire de la politique ‘sans le dire’,”, 43.32 Flinders and Wood, “Depoliticization, Governance and the State”, 143.33 Chesterman, Secretary or General?, chap. 1.34 Boutros-Ghali, “Memorandum,” 2–3.35 My interview with James Jonah, CitationJuly 20, 2011, New York, USA.36 Goulding, Peacemonger, 334.37 Goulding, “Peacemonger: Book Proposal,” 7.38 Ibid.39 Ibid.40 Claude, 193.41 Arendt, The Human Condition, 26.42 Goodrich, “The Political Role of the Secretary-General,” 720–735.43 Boutros-Ghali, En Attendant la Prochaine Lune, 191.44 My Interview with Yasushi Akashi, CitationFebruary 18, 2022, Tokyo, Japan.45 MIG-PD-B, January 10, 1993 (emphasis added).46 Goulding, “Personal: Note to Mr. Aimé,” July 19, 1993 (MIG-PA), 1.47 Ibid.48 Goulding, “The Establishment and Conduct of United Nations Field Operations,” July 17, 1993, 2 (MIG-PA) (emphasis added).49 Ibid, 1.50 Ibid, 2 (emphasis added).51 Ibid.52 Ibid. (emphasis added).53 Ibid, 2.54 Ibid, 3 (emphasis added).55 See, for instance: “Political aspects of peace operations,” (1); “political ends defined by DPA,” 2; “politically feasible,” 3; “political advice,” 4.56 See Louis and Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics, chap. 1.57 Ibid, 2.58 Ibid, 114.59 Goulding, “Personal: Note to Mr. Aimé,” 1.60 Boutros-Ghali, Memorandum, October 2, 1993, §5 (MIG-PA).61 Ibid, §5 (emphasis added).62 MIG-PD-B, October 1, 1993.63 Allison and Halperin, “Bureaucratic Politics,”, 40–79.64 Hannay, New World Disorder.65 Barkin, International Organization.66 Salton, Dangerous Diplomacy.67 See https://dppa.un.org/en/what-we-do (Accessed November 7, 2021).68 MacGregor Burns, Leadership.69 Britan, Bureaucracy and Innovation, 11.70 My interview with James Jonah, CitationJuly 20, 2011, New York, USA.71 Ibid.72 Louis and Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics, 5.73 Barnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World, 37.74 Interview with UN Official, United Nations Headquarters, New York, July 14, 2011.75 Foot et al., US Hegemony and International Organizations.76 See, in the same sense, Meron, 91.77 Kofi Annan, PBS Frontline Interview, February 17, 2004.78 MIG-TD-X, September 26, 1994.79 Meisler, Kofi Annan, 80.80 Ameri, Politics of Staffing the United Nations Secretariat, chap. 1.81 Gharekhan, 34.82 Védrine, “Les États-Unis,” 139–151.83 Meisler, Kofi Annan, 63.84 Boutros-Ghali, PBS Frontline Interview, January 21, 2004.85 Gharekhan, Chinmaya. The Horseshoe Table: An Inside View of the UN Security Council. New Delhi: Pearson Longman, 2006..86 Jonah, James. What Price the Survival of the United Nations? Memoirs of a Veteran International Civil Servant. Ibadan: Evans Brothers, 2006.87 Albrow, Bureaucracy, 57.88 Meisler, Kofi Annan, 65.89 My Interview with James Jonah, CitationJuly 20, 2011, New York, USA.90 MIG-TD-XII, June 13,1995.91 Public Broadcasting Service, Frontline Interview, February 17, 2004.92 See MIG-PD-B, October 12, 93.93 See, for instance, Mason, “Lessons-Learned Seminar on UNOSOM for DPKO Staff,”; Peacebuilding Support Office, “Lessons Learnt from the Strategic Assessment for Somalia”; United Nations, “The Comprehensive Report on Lessons Learned from United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM).”94 Salton, Dangerous Diplomacy, 44, 89.95 MIG-TD-IX, February 12, 1994.96 Ibid. See also Meisler, Kofi Annan, 65.97 MIG-TD-X, July 24, 1994.98 Washington Post, “Boutros Boutros-Ghali, U.N. Secretary-General Who Clashed with U.S., Dies.”99 de Soto, “Confidential: End of Mission Report.”100 MIG-TD-X, July 31, 1993.101 Ibid.102 MIG-PD-B, March 20, 1993.103 Ibid.104 Goulding, “Peacemonger: Book Proposal,” 4.105 Cavalcante, Peacebuilding in the United Nations.106 Kustermans et al., A Requiem for Peacebuilding?.107 Louis and Maertens, Why International Organizations Hate Politics, chap.1.108 Miller, “What Does ‘Political’ Mean?,” 64.109 Barnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World, 21.110 Claude, “Peace and Security,” 289–298.111 My Interview with Álvaro de Soto, CitationJuly 20, 2011, New York, USA (and via email on 4 June 2012).112 Ibid.113 My Interview with UN Official, United Nations Headquarters, New York, July 14, 2011 (and via email).114 MIG-TD-IX, January 20, 1993.