Essay — Effectiveness of Sec-Gens (29/30)

To what extent do you agree that the Secretary-Generals were effective in leading theUnitedNationsduringtheColdWar? In the United Nations, the effectiveness of the Secretary-General (Sec-Gen) must beevaluated based on two distinct yardsticks: not only his administrative competency inoverseeing the Secretariat and managing budgets, but also his political efficacy inspearheading UN efforts to safeguard international peace and security. While someSec-Gens —particularly up to the 1960s and from the 1980s —managed to successfullychampion peace and security by organising peacekeeping operations, brokering peacedeals and sending observers or envoys, the political effectiveness of most Sec-Gens wouldbe significantly constrained by the intransigence of superpowers and local actors. Inaddition, the administrative efficacy of the Sec-Gens would wane over time, as corruptionand bloat became prevalent by the 1980s. Ultimately, while the effectiveness of theSec-Gens fluctuated depending on their individual abilities, the structural contradictions oftherolemeant that theywereineffectiveoverall duringtheColdWar. Particularly up to the 1960s, Sec-Gens successfully reconceptualised and organisedpeacekeeping missions, effectively leading UNefforts to safeguardpeaceandsecurity. Thissuccess is most evident during Hammarskjold’s tenure: although the concept ofpeacekeeping was not articulated in the UNCharter, he conceptualised that peacekeepingcould become “Chapter 6½”, plugging the gap between the passive negotiation authorisedbyChapter 6andforceful interventiondescribedinChapter 7. Theseprinciplesof impartialityand non-use of force would set the precedent for many effective peacekeeping missions inthe future. For example, based on this new formulation of peacekeeping, Hammarskjoldorganised the UN Emergency Force I in the wake of the 1956 Suez Crisis, successfullypreserving the fragile peace between Egypt andIsrael for over 11yearsuntil theoutbreakofthe Six-Day War in 1967. Subsequently, he would also deploy the UN Operations in theCongo in 1960. Under Hammarskjold and later U Thant’s leadership, ONUC wouldsuccessfully stabilise the country by 1965 even after a Belgian invasion, an insurrection inKatanga and the collapse of the central government. Similarly, UThant also effectively ledseveral peacekeepingefforts: inresponsetocommunal violencebetweenGreekandTurkishCypriots in 1964, he oversaw the deployment of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cypruswhich preserved stability until the Turkish invasion 10 years later. Thus, in the first twodecades of the Cold War, Sec-Gens managed to reconceptualise and lead successfulpeacekeepingmissions, effectivelyfulfillingtheir political roleof protectingpeace.

Additionally, Sec-Gens also successfully brokered peace deals that ended conflicts anddisputes, especially during the first and last decades of theColdWar. For instance, in1955,Hammarskjold visited Beijing to negotiate the release of 15 USairmen detained by China,effectively de