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The Ukraine War and UN Reform
The text below is an extended version of a lecture given to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy on 3 May 2022.
The war in Ukraine has led diplomats, UN officials and pundits to ask if we are approaching a “new San Francisco moment”: an historical juncture like 1945, when it is possible for states to rewrite the rules of global governance from scratch.
- Richard Gowan
- ICG
There is little doubt that we will hear a great deal about the need to reform – or replace – the UN in the coming months and years, with an emphasis on making changes to the Security Council to avoid the sort of deadlock we have seen over Ukraine.
But there are reasons to be sceptical about what this talk will achieve.
Instead, I will…