Reviews for Profiles of World Leaders 2007

The average rating for Profiles of World Leaders 2007 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-11 00:00:00 Dustin Robinson This biography of Koffi Annan was published in 2007. Annan, the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations, peacefully past on to eternal glory on 18 August 2018. He lived a successful life, rising from a schoolboy in Ghana to world statesman and Nobel prize winner. He headed the UN at a tumultuous time, but rises to the occasion and triumphed. Stanley Meisler, who also authored the "United Nations: The First Fifty Years" has known Annan for many years as a journalist (of the Los Angeles Times) portrays the former Secretary-General as someone who is not an ideologue, but as a pragmatic leader who adhered to some core values and unconditionally - almost religiously - promoted the letter and spirit of the charter of the UN during his terms as chief functionary of the world organisation from 1997-2008. The book follows a chronological order of Annan's life, starting from the special relationship that existed between the US and Ghana in 1950s/1960s, and his family root up to his final hours in the UN. Koffi Annan as a child dreamed of following his father's footsteps in the private sector. From an early age, he shows signs of leadership and organisational skills. After finishing high school in his home country, Ghana, he went to study Economics in Macalester College, United States, sponsored by the Ford Foundation Foundation. He enrolled at the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales (Graduate Institute of International Studies) in Geneva, but couldn't finish, instead, went to work for the UN. He eventually received an M.S. in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A number of interesting facts and issues about Annan are presented and highlighted in the book. For instance, Annan, who joined the UN as an employee at a fairly young age, had his first substantive diplomatic assignment in 1991 at the age of fifty-two when he was asked to persuade Iraq to let go nine hundred UN workers and dependents that were taken, hostage. Before that he spent much of his time pushing folders around a desk or poring over budget figures as a personnel and budget specialist in the UN bureaucracy. In 1993 he took over as UN head of peacekeeping under Boutros Boutros-Ghali in order to strengthen Africa's presence in the higher echelons of the UN. It had taken him more than thirty years to climb from the lowest rank in the UN to the rank of Undersecretary-Secretary. Annan worked in several capacities in the UN, and also had a short stint as managing director of Ghana Tourism Agency in 1974. His election to the number one post in the UN reveals some fascinating behind-the-scenes-politics. There were significant differences between the Secretary-General and the United States (US) towards the end of Boutros-Ghali's first term. Moreover, the conflict between Boutros-Ghali and Madeleine Albright, former US Ambassador to the UN, was taken to personal levels. The US, therefore, decided to block a second term for Boutros-Ghali. Apparently, many Africans felt cheated when the first African Secretary-General turned out to be an Egyptian from North Africa and decided that if they were going to get another chance at the job, they would prefer a black African from south of the Sahara. The US campaign favoured Annan and after several ballots in the Security Council which brought Annan to the fore as the primary and later sole candidate, the French Ambassador (and his right to veto) stood between Annan and the top UN position. However, after some further diplomatic footwork, Annan was elected by the Security Council as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN. In this regard, Meisler presents some insightful information on the international political bickering that led to Annan supplanting Boutros-Ghali. The enormous political influence of the US as the world's only superpower is also evident from this part of the book. Meisler argues that despite the many challenges and crises that Annan had to face, his administration should actually be credited with an impressive handful of major achievements. He established the principle of the right of the international community to intervene politically and militarily when a government abuses its own people. Annan also revived a weakened peacekeeping department and increased the deployment of troops to near-record levels. He injected openness and transparency into the UN system. The UN's role as the main coordinator of international relief was further solidified under Annan. In the final instance, he presided over an organisation that could not be described as irrelevant. The point is also made that the UN works best when the US and the Secretary-General are in harmony - a wedding of American power and political influence with a moral force reflecting the needs and desires of the rest of the world. Kofi's term in the UN had ups and downs. Notably, his first marriage to Titilola Alakija, a Nigerian, crashed after 11 years. His son, Kojo got mired in a scandal, taking a job in what looked like a tawdry scheme to cash in his father's station and influence. (The independent UN commission headed by Paul Volcker found no evidence that Annan used his influence to help Cotecna, his son's employer to win a contract in Iraq's Oil for Food Programme.) Annan's well known sad moments as Secretary-General of the UN was his inability to prevent the US-led invasion of Iraq. And other conflicts and genocides during his term as UN undersecretary in charge of peacekeeping operations in Rwanda, Bosnia, etc that he couldn't avert. This book is good reading material for scholars, students and all those interested in diplomacy, international affairs, international organisations, war and peace, or anyone interested in the affairs and functioning of the UN as the pre-eminent organisation responsible for international peace and security. I picked this book to read to study the life of Annan and to also mourn his death. I'm grateful I did because it's most stimulating, lucid and insightful. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-22 00:00:00 Shawn Wright At bogen ville være interessant, var jeg ikke i tvivl om, men at den også var så fængende var en positiv overraskelse.