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[Multilateralism in Action] UN Day: Celebrating MiA's 25 Think-Pieces on Multilateralism

Daniel Naujoks - Thursday, October 27, 2022
 Events   IO/UNS Newsletter 

Happy United Nations Day 2022! The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine have again highlighted the challenges our established forms of multilateral cooperation face. But multilateralism is about more than “the veto” and realpolitik in New York and Geneva. Multilateral institutions work with a broad range of stakeholders in all parts of the world. They support governments, civil society, and the private sector, create norms and guidelines, generate ideas, and establish platforms for discussion and exchange. 

To foster a better understanding of the various ways in which multilateral organizations and processes work toward these goals, one year ago – on UN Day 2021 – we launched Multilateralism in Action (MiA). Our first 25 cutting-edge think-pieces from leading UN and global governance scholars and practitioners provide insights into the determinants, modalities, and outcomes of multilateralism at the global, regional, national, and local levels. 

Over the past year, MiA featured new ideas on climate change governance, the role of global advocacy coalitions for human rights, how to implement the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, how global cooperation needs to help overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN's gender agenda, bargaining practices at the UN Security Council, reform needs and opportunities at international organizations, as well as think-pieces on important aspects of international careers. 

In addition to our authors, we’d like to thank our MiA subscribers for continuously reading and engaging with our blog. The ideas discussed in the various MiA posts highlight the need for in-depth discussions on international organizations, on what works and on how to translate multilateral promises into meaningful realities. 

For your convenience, in this message we have compiled all MiA think-piece to date and we thank you for reading and sharing these ideas. You can also see all blog posts in this Twitter thread.

We will continue to provide a platform for debates on global governance, IO careers, and how to build stronger, more effective, and more just forms of multilateral cooperation. 

Many thanks for engaging with us and for sharing our content with your networks. 


Daniel Naujoks
Editor, Multilateralism in Action 
Director, International Organization & UN Studies Specialization 
School of International and Public Affairs | Columbia University 

Sustainable Development

Saving Lives or Saving Livelihoods? Reflections on the United Nations’ Role for Development in War by Mourad Wahba, Former UNDP Associate Administrator

Reimagining Development Futures: What we can learn from UNDP’s Integrated and Systems-Driven Approaches by Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

To Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Needs To Prioritize Strategic Storytelling by Nathan Edwards (’22), SIPA Master of International Affairs candidate

The Crisis in Haiti: Can a Nexus Approach Help towards a Solution? by Mourad Wahba, Offiicer-in-Charge of the UN Capital Development Fund and former UNDP Associate Administrator

Promoting Sustainable Development through Tourism Education – The Role of the World Tourism Organization by Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the United Nations' World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

UN Reform & Global Governance

On the Agency and Pathology of International Organizations by Dirk Salomons, SIPA Professor

Reforming the United Nations: Fit for Purpose at 75? by Joachim Müller, Former UN Senior Official and author of Reforming the United Nations

Bargaining in the UN Security Council: Setting the Global Agenda by Susan Hannah Allen, Associate Professor at the University of Mississippi and Amy Yuen, Associate Professor at Middlebury College

Renewing the UN Human Rights Regime in a Changing World – Transnational Lawmaking Coalitions Call for Human Rights Optimism by Nina Reiners, political scientist specialized in International Relations and research associate at the Global Governance Centre of the Graduate Institute Geneva

The Pandemic 

Framing Global Health Diplomacy at the Heart of International Cooperation and Multilateralism by Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of the African Union Development Agency (NEPAD) and former Prime Minister of Niger 

The Pandemic will continue to rage as long as the WTO keeps bickering over Vaccine Rules by Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University and Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch

Is Teleworking in Diplomacy Working at the United Nations? by Andrés Córdova, SIPA alum and First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations

Gender Equality & Youth 

Dear Power, Book a Ride to a More Equitable World for All Generations by Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth and Bianca Herzog and Maanishaa Jessani from the UN Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth 

Peace & Security

Cold War I, Post-Cold War and Cold War II: Geopolitical Contexts for UN Peacekeeping, Human Rights, and NATO by Michael Doyle, University Professor, Columbia University

Revisiting Statebuilding in the Hardest Places by Jonathan Papoulidis, Columbia Global Project Fellow and Global Director, Fragility and Resilience, Food for the Hungry

Climate Change

The Climate Change Summit: More Effective Mechanisms must be adopted to meet the agreed-upon Commitments by José Antonio Ocampo, SIPA Professor and former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs

The UN Security Council Declined to take up Climate Change as a Security Problem. Why? by Sabrina B. Arias, political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania

Non-refoulement: A Legal Hope for the Protection of Environmental Migrants and their Rights by SIPA graduates Shaindl Keshen, Steven Lazickas, and Lucía Solórzano

Racism

The UN’s Role in Combating Racism and Discrimination: 7 Recommendations for Greater Effectiveness by SIPA graduates Minji Ko, Sanskruti Majmudar, Laura McCreedy, and Amanda Waldron

IO Careers

Applying for a Comms Role at the United Nations? These 4 Fool-proof Tips can Help by Mehmet Erdogan, leader of communications for UNDP’s Climate Promise initiative

UNtold Stories: Young UN workers accept job insecurity for the good cause by Linda Mülli, anthropologist at the Universities of Basel and the LMU Munich

How to Start Your Career at the International Organization for Migration by Erin Bowser, IOM Talent Management Consultant and Anke Strauss, Head of IOM Talent Management

UNtold Stories: Young UN workers accept job insecurity for the good cause by Linda Mülli, author of Privileged Precarities. An Organizational Ethnography of Early Career Workers at the United Nations

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Multilateralism in Action
Editor: Daniel Naujoks
Director, International Organization & UN Studies Specialization 
School of International and Public Affairs | Columbia University 
International Affairs Building – Room 901C
420 W. 118th Street, New York, NY 10028