Established after World War II to prevent future world wars, the United Nations remains central to the pursuit of global harmony and stands as a symbol of democracy and human rights. However, in 2024, worldwide conflict and rising power tensions pose major challenges to multilateral cooperation, making the organization's role in managing international peace and security increasingly uncertain. While UN operations have helped contain conflict and suffering in several countries, its political influence continues to decrease. Can the UN revive itself to meet the most pressing peace and security challenges of today?
This event is co-sponsored by the Free Speech Project (Georgetown University) and the Future of the Humanities Project (Georgetown University and Blackfriars Hall and Campion Hall, Oxford).
Photo courtesy of Flickr user GPA Photo Archive
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Alynna J. Lyon, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), has authored several books and articles, including U.S. Politics and the United Nations (2016), The United Nations: 75 Years of Promoting Peace, Human Rights, and Development (with Kent Kille, 2020), and The United Nations in the 21st Century (with Karen Mingst and Margaret Karns, 2022). She is editor-in-chief of Global Governance and a faculty fellow for the Global Racial and Social Inequality Lab at UNH.
Laurie Nathan directs the Mediation Program at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has completed extensive research on international mediation. As a practitioner, he participated in South Africa's negotiations to end apartheid, was a member of the African Union mediation for Darfur, and has been a senior mediation advisor to the United Nations, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and different governments.
Barnaby Powell is a writer and speaker on China and a veteran of development banking in Europe and East and Southeast Asia, with particular experience in the strategic nature of Asian negotiations. He was the initial secretariat director of the Asia-Invest Programme for the European Commission and also served as secretary-general of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan.
Michael Saks, emeritus professor at the University of Suffolk, currently chairs the United Nations-endorsed Institute for Responsible Leadership (IRL) and is an appointed member on the World Health Organization Technical Expert Group on Global Health Practitioner Regulation. He has led many health committees for the U.K.'s National Health Service, and he frequently advised professional bodies and governments. Saks is also a member of the Innovation Council.
Michael Scott (moderator) is senior dean, fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, college adviser for postgraduate students, and a member of the Las Casas Institute. He also serves as senior adviser to the president of Georgetown University. Scott previously was the pro-vice-chancellor at De Montfort University and founding vice-chancellor of Wrexham Glyndwr University.
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in American education, government, and civil society. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was also dean of the American University School of Communication and is a former co-host of All Things Considered on NPR.
