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 needs to go beyond the standard “wait, react, peacekeep!” approach to handling looming crises. Instead, Richard Gowan argues, the EU ought to focus on early diplomacy. Given the strains on national budgets, this may be a job for the EU-Team (aka the European External Action Service).
At a time of constrained budgets, getting the EU to invest more in conflict prevention and human rights protection in faraway places like Sudan and Kyrgyzstan may be a hard sell. But, as Richard Gowan argues, the alternative is another generation of Kosovos.
Before the euro crisis, Europe’s leaders talked up the EU’s global role. Now they are emphasising Europe’s weaknesses and turning their backs on important foreign and security issues. In the meantime, crises continue to bubble in places like Sudan and the Middle East. Richard Gowan argues that weakness is not an excuse for inaction, but a reason to work in coalition.
In its advisory opinion of 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice said that Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008 “did not violate general international law”. But is statehood the real question hanging over Kosovo? Richard Gowan believes that corruption, rather than statehood, is the biggest issue facing Kosovo.
Fifty years after gaining independence, the Democratic Republic of Congo remains deeply unstable. The help of China and the EU is needed to limit the dangers. But one is more likely than the other to lend a hand.
The UN Security Council has approved new sanctions on Iran. Europe’s good cop diplomacy contributed to this success, and will play an important role in holding the new agreement together.
29 May is the 5th anniversary of the French ?non? to the EU constitution. The Dutch followed with a ?nee? a few days later. Richard Gowan paints a bleak picture of the Europe that might have emerged had the French and Dutch backed the EU constitution in 2005, and asks: Will the EU never be happy?
Catherine Ashton will be judged on how she responds to her first international emergency. Budget cuts might mean there will be less EU missions to crisis zones under her watch. So where will her first opportunity come from? Africa, the Middle East, or a crisis involving Russia?
The Euro crisis shows again that the EU needs international institutions like the IMF. This is giving observers from the developing world grim satisfaction that Europe is not as exceptional as it might like to think.
The EU should reinvent its crisis management capabilities / An open letter to the 27 Permanent Representatives to the EU
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
