The EU and failing states
The EU has a disturbing ?lack of capacity? when it comes to state building and crisis missions. The EU and its member states need to stand up to help prevent fragile states turning into failed states.
Associate Senior Policy Fellow
United Nations system; European security and defence policy; Africa; Western Balkans
English
Richard Gowan is an associate fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
He is currently UN director at the International Crisis Group, and was previously research director at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. He has taught at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Stanford in New York, and wrote a weekly column on multilateralism (“Diplomatic Fallout”) for World Politics Review from 2013-2019. He has acted as a consultant to the UN on peacekeeping, political affairs, and migration.
The EU has a disturbing ?lack of capacity? when it comes to state building and crisis missions. The EU and its member states need to stand up to help prevent fragile states turning into failed states.
The Iraq issue almost derailed the European Security and Defence Policy, but now it presents a chance to show how far the EU has come in learning how to stabilise war-damaged states. The divisions within the EU over Iraq made it look all too foolish in 2003, so now it’s time to get serious.
The EU and their allies have to get their act together on human rights. Lives are at risk.
The EU?s ongoing loss of influence at the UN is putting lives at risk, argues the author of ECFR’s latest paper
As European power at the UN declines, human rights standards drop and lives are put at risk
The Afghan experience will leave Europe?s armed forces drained and in search of a new purpose. Insufficient political will and empty state coffers will hamper rejuvenation
European states face a common, and interconnected, dilemma at the UN and in NATO ? how to project force credibly
Enlarged G8 summits are proving to be inefficient and the EU bears much of the blame
The EU should cooperate more with the UN in peacekeeping missions if it wants to show its ?effective multilateralism? is backed up by muscle
The debacle in the UN could be the precursor of more clashes over human rights, with Europe as a target
Europe should not confuse development aid’s role in reducing forced migration with that of reducing migration more broadly
Despite the existing crises to the multilateral system, the EU possesses a set of specific strengths needed to actually save the system
The turmoil in the current system represents an opportunity for Europeans to shape a new order that meets their strategic needs
Brexit has the potential to upset European coordination on development and human rights across the UN system
Taking early steps to tackle humanitarian crises is a chance to show the EU has not entirely lost a sense of strategic purpose and that it is able to meet moral
China is taking on a new military role in Africa, seeking to boost its image as a great power that promotes peace and security worldwide
The sixth ECFR Foreign Policy Scorecard highlights the EU’s diminishing ability to influence its neighbours, and the neighbourhood’s growing impact on the EU
The EU needs an honest assessment of its capabilities and to set limited goals behind which member states can show sustainable unity
Europe must learn the lessons of the Iran negotiations and boost Germany’s role at the UN Security Council to combat Russian blocking tactics
The EU’s habit of outsourcing its military interventions is problematic for a multitude of reasons
The West no longer has a monopoly on values at the UN. But Europeans can shape a new narrative in the changing multilateral system by emphasising their commitment to sovereignty, development, and openness
Although their new friendship treaty does not call for an EU Security Council seat, France and Germany must pitch a compelling vision of multilateralism at the UN
Brutal transactional talks is the only language the new National Security Advisor understands
Running the United Nations is a lonely job for António Guterres – and he seems to prefer it that way.
Before January, Europeans should make preparations to safeguard the UN, again
There are still, for now, some very serious European contenders with real chances of success.
Even if the UK is a diminished power after Brexit international partners will still need its cooperation in the UN and NATO
This week’s World Humanitarian Summit was an opportunity to discuss how to assist the suffering, yet the entire process showed much of the humanitarian sector at its most fragmented and self-indulgent
The European response to the Syrian refugee crisis to date has been characterised by short-term and reactive measures. But this is going to be…
While Syrians currently account for almost 20 percent of the 60 million refugees and IDPs worldwide, they are by no means the only ones…
The multilateral system faces three related crises of power, relevance, and legitimacy. This fraying consensus threatens the EU, which is committed to multilateralism. But the…
Mark Leonard and Richard Gowan go through the likely talking points at the meeting and discuss what might be on some countries' hidden agendas. The…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard talks with ECFR’s U.N. expert Richard Gowan among other things about Trump and Macron's addresses at the UNGA, the Korean nuclear crisis,…
This workshop, organised with the Embassy of the Netherlands in London, discusses crisis management in Africa in the age of Trump and Brexit. With:…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard speaks with Senior Policy Fellow Richard Gowan about the candidates, and the factors that will decide the race. The podcast was recorded…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard speaks with Somini Sengupta, UN correspondent for the New York Times, Richard Gowan, ECFR Senior Policy Fellow, and Manuel Lafont Rapnouil,…
Richard Gowan, Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR and Professor at Columbia University, explains why the EU received a B- for how it dealt with…
Richard Gowan, ECFR Associate Fellow and author of Chapter 6, believes that there were several crises the EU had to face in 2014. How…