democracyarsenal.org: Kemal Dervis on the podium

June 06, 2006

Kemal Dervis on the podium
Posted by Suzanne Nossel

Last night at dinner a group of foundation people and journalists were saying Dervis could emerge as a potential successor to Kofi Annan as UN Secretary General (SYG). As he speaks, let's see if he meets these criteria.

He's pointing out that a lot of development aid is directed with military or political purposes - rather than true developmental goals - in mind, and then judged to be a failure. If you correct for this and look only at aid channeled with development objectives in mind, the results look much more positive. There's a paper by Nancy Birdsall and Stewart Patrick on this topic posted at www.securitypeace.org that is worth checking out.

Seventy-percent of US aid is "tied" whereas other donors have moved much more quickly to untied aid, which is demonstrated to be more effective. Eighty percent of people now live in countries where income inequality is rising (US and China top the list).

He thinks there may be another opportunity to revive multilateralism on development because the limits of the unilateral approach are being exposed. The US HAS to be the leader, he says (this bodes well along one of my criteria). He acknowledges that as a superpower under some conditions we will have to behave differently (an important acknowledgement for a potential SYG).

He references the need for the US to "submit" its disputes to international institutions, quoting JFK on the word "submits." We set up the rules-based system and must abide by it.

We have tiny states with the legal right of soveriegnty. It's good to hear him acknowledge it, because it is problematic in forums like the UN for a Nauru and Kiribati to share the same rights as a US, India or China. He's talking about weighted voting -- this may kill his prospects at the UN. He's saying that consensus-based rules are a recipe for paralysis and you need some kind of weighted voting to make progress. This will be anathema to much of the developing world, mostly small and powerless countries that love the UN for the very fact that, in the General Assembly, it treats them as formally equal to the great powers.

The next SYG? I dunno. He's articulate, thoughtful, passionate, evinces some understanding and sympathy toward the US position and is not afraid to challenge some orthodoxies.

June 06, 2006 at 10:17 AM in Progressive Strategy | Permalink

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June 06, 2006

Kemal Dervis on the podium
Posted by Suzanne Nossel

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June 06, 2006

Kemal Dervis on the podium Posted by Suzanne Nossel

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Kemal Dervis on the podium
Posted by Suzanne Nossel