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.
On Sunday, the Arab League agreed to continue its controversial observer mission in Syria. In this piece, originally published by Foreign Policy two days before the League meeting, Richard Gowan makes the case for keeping the mission going.
The hunt is on for ways to offer security and aid to Syrian civilians, but the risk of any military-humanitarian mission backfiring is high. The lessons of Darfur are that any peacekeepers would be targeted, especially as the unrest turns into full-scale war.
The UN is becoming multipolar, and the EU should take better advantage
Understandably, European governments are rethinking their aid budgets in the light of the economic crisis. But any cuts to aid and foreign ministry budgets should be judged according to results rather than a simple cost calculation.
Dear Secretary-General, contratulations on winning a second five year term at the United Nations. Here are the issues that you will have to concentrate on, beginning with the immediate concerns of Libya, the wider Middle East and Sudan.
The European Union needs to learn the lessons from the past as it wrestles with using military support to underpin its humanitarian assistance in Libya. This will allow it to develop more credible intervention forces for future crisis – ones that might actually work.
The reputation of the UN and Ban Ki-moon may hinge upon the outcome in two of the world's trouble spots – South Sudan and Palestine. South Sudan in particular remains a crucial test of the institution's ability to handle weak states.
Western military planners are examining options for deposing Gaddafi. But somebody also needs to think about an international peace operation to stabilise Libya, whether to oversee the dictator's negotiated exit or clean up afterwards. Could this be a role for a UN-mandated EU?
Libya is in chaos, and Colonel Gaddafi seems determined to hang on to power at any expense. But he has already lost control of large swathes of the country, the security forces and bureaucracy, and it is not premature to start planning for a post-Gaddafi Libya
For all the talk of a 'global Europe', the EU struggles to influence its neighbours in the Eastern Mediterranean. Its uncertainty over Egypt is indicative of a wider loss of direction in the EU's regional policies.
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…
In September 2024, the United Nation’s Summit of the Future is set to take place – a crucial moment to mend “eroded trust” between peoples,…
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…
During the last week of September, the US will most probably claim success for the snapback
Richard Gowan is quoted by Le Figaro about a potential reinstatement of international sanctions against Iran
Richard Gowan est cité par The Times of Israel concernant l'accord nucléaire avec l'Iran et l'embargo international
Richard Gowan est cité par Ouest France à propos des discussions à l'ONU concernant un embargo sur les armes avec l'Iran
This is a car crash that everyone knows is going to happen
Richard Gowan on the U.N. Security Council vote on extending an arms embargo on Iran
If the goal is still an indefinite extension of the embargo without any other concessions to Tehran, I still think China and Russia will veto this
Richard Gowan on Trump's administration watering down its proposal for an arms embargo on Iran
