The United Nations is a deeply dysfunctional organization. Successive secretaries-general have viewed their position to travel the world in luxury and opine on the issues of the day; they neglect their primary function, to run the United Nation’s unwieldy bureaucracy. Adding to the chaos, protocol trumps competence: The UN Security Council traditionally rotates the position among its various geographic groupings so that nationality trumps competence. This is how the UN got Europeans like Kurt Waldheim, a former Nazi war criminal-turned-Austrian foreign minister, as its head between 1972 and 1981 or how António Guterres, a relatively unaccomplished Portuguese foreign minister, and Socialist International president, became its current leader. A desire for an African secretary-general led to the selection of Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian foreign minister and the UN bureaucrat most responsible for Rwanda’s anti-Tutsi genocide; his legacy became presiding over the UN’s worst corruption scandal to date.
As Guterres nears the end of his final term, the unofficial campaign to succeed him has already begun. The next secretary-general will likely come from the Americas. In addition, many states and UN officials themselves say that they will only select a woman. To transform the UN into an organization that prioritizes competence over national quotas or identity politics may be a bridge too far in the short term, but competence can nevertheless be a priority.
Enter Mia Mottley
Here, both the United States and those who seek a UN that fulfills its mission should rally around Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. The problem with identity politics-based selection, like affirmative action, is it raises questions about the competence of the selectee: Did the selectee win a position to fulfill a quote or because he or she was the best for the job?
Diplomats can ask no such question about Mottley. As Barbados’ leader, she has led the country through its transformation from constitutional monarchy to republic, a commonwealth member wholly separate from Great Britain. She is popular; in her last election, she won over 70 percent of the vote. Transparency International ranks Barbados as less corrupt than Portugal, South Korea, Ghana, or Egypt, home of the last four secretaries-general. Every candidate speaks about transparency, only to reinforce UN opacity when they take office. Mottley could be different. Whereas her predecessors hid the true indebtedness of Barbados, Mottley revealed previously undisclosed obligations. Her default on Eurobond payments may be a black mark, but better to confront the issues head on rather than engage in the creative accounting that has led the UN to such waste and fraud in the UN.
She has also demonstrated the promise of small state diplomacy, helping tie Caribbean nations to African states like Rwanda, creating new linkages, economic opportunities, and amplifying Bajan influence.
Mottley’s obsession with climate change could be a distraction if she believes her job is to preach rather than manage. Guterres has diminished himself and his brand with his anti-Semitic moral equivalency and reproach of Israel, and Ban Ki-Moon did the organization little good seeking to out John Kerry himself on climate change hypocrisy, lecturing the world while jet setting on private planes.
Perhaps then the Security Council in their formal appointment, if they want the UN to survive and with it, the permanent five Security Council members’ special privileges, should make clear that another figure who believes grandstanding trumps competent management could mean the end of their contributions to the UN, if not the UN’s very existence. Mottley, however, may be wise enough to recognize how precarious the UN today is, and perform another Barbadian miracle.
About the Author: Dr. Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum. A former Pentagon official, Dr. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, and pre-and postwar Iraq. He also spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. For over a decade, he taught classes at sea about the Horn of Africa and Middle East conflicts, culture, and terrorism to deployed US Navy and Marine units. Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics. The opinions and views expressed are his own.
