U.N. peace – As U.N. secretary-general candidates face hearings, the real test is whether the next leader can restore the organization’s peace-and-security role amid great-power gridlock.
Back to Basics at the U.N.: Peace Mandate Returns
Diplomats preparing for the U.N. secretary-general hearings are expected to talk broadly about climate, rights, and technology—but the loudest question hanging in the room is simpler: will the next leader put international peace and security back at the center?
For U.S.. policymakers and Washington-watchers, this matters even when the spotlight is overseas.. The United Nations remains one of the few multilateral arenas that can translate U.S.. and allied interests into legitimacy on the global stage.. When peace and security get sidelined. it doesn’t just weaken the institution’s reputation; it changes how conflicts are managed in practice—often pushing more crises into the hands of ad hoc coalitions. unilateral action. or coercive diplomacy.
Misryoum has learned that both the current secretary-general’s approach and the broader posture of many member states have tended to emphasize areas that look easier to coordinate.. In an era of heightened big-power competition, leaders have argued that the U.N.. is better positioned to broker progress on climate cooperation. artificial intelligence norms. and pandemic response than on the harder work of conflict resolution.. That logic has now run into a harsh reality: when major powers clash. cooperation in “safer” domains tends to suffer spillover effects too.
Misryoum also notes that the candidate pool—Rebeca Grynspan. Rafael Grossi. Michelle Bachelet. and Macky Sall. with others potentially joining—offers diverse governing experience. but the core evaluation will be on peace and security.. Each contender is likely to be pressed on how they would handle the U.N.’s founding mandate when the Security Council is paralyzed or politically weaponized.. The candidates will be tested not just on ideas. but on credibility—whether they can operate in the gravitational field of the permanent members. including Washington and Moscow.
Why peace and security is the real test
The uncomfortable backdrop is that the U.N.’s authority to manage peace has been undermined repeatedly by divisions among the Security Council’s permanent members.. Misryoum’s reading of the current moment is straightforward: when the great powers treat the Security Council as optional. the institution’s ability to shape outcomes evaporates.
For example, the text of the debate points to major-power actions that appear to disregard the U.N.. Charter, including Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and U.S.-linked military actions in other theaters.. Even without repeating the full ledger here, the pattern is clear.. When conflict escalates outside the Council’s discipline, the U.N.. becomes less a driver of solutions and more a bystander—then tries to catch up with peacekeeping operations that arrive with constrained political support.
That credibility problem feeds a second, equally corrosive issue: the peacekeeping footprint.. Misryoum flags that peace operations have reportedly declined significantly over the past decade, with more reductions possible.. When missions shrink or lose clarity about their political role. they become more vulnerable to the whims of host governments—and their ability to protect civilians and support peace processes becomes more fragile.
The candidates’ roadmap: credibility, initiative, and missions
The immediate challenge for the next secretary-general is to rebuild geopolitical credibility and raise their profile as a true diplomat-in-chief—someone who can speak to Washington and Moscow not as a procedural partner. but as a necessary actor.. Misryoum expects the hearings to reward candidates who can describe how they would keep channels open even when relations are tense. including through back-channel diplomacy paired with public defense of the U.N.. Charter.
But the job cannot be only reactive.. The debate also points toward a more active conflict-management culture—one that is willing to take political risks and propose initiatives even without full Security Council buy-in.. Misryoum sees echoes of this in the example of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which leveraged U.N.. legitimacy and technical expertise to address material concerns despite the pressures of war.. The argument is that such boldness should be less an exception and more an institutional expectation.
Here, the U.N.. faces a strategic dilemma.. Aggressive diplomacy can trigger backlash from parties that reject U.N.. involvement, and prior efforts—particularly early in Guterres’s tenure—show how quickly momentum can stall if parties refuse cooperation.. Still, Misryoum’s editorial bottom line is that credibility depends on movement, not waiting.
The third leg of the roadmap is resources and prioritization.. A successor would need to convince member states to continue investing in peace operations. even if those operations must be narrowed to the tasks where the U.N.. can deliver the most durable protection.. Misryoum emphasizes that replicating U.N.-style operations is difficult. especially in places where troop deployment is politically unpopular and funding is uncertain.. If missions disappear entirely. the safety net for vulnerable civilians thins dramatically—and the U.N.’s remaining moral authority erodes with it.
For the United States, there is also a practical angle.. When the U.N.. is sidelined. Washington often ends up spending more—financially and politically—to address crises after the fact. in ways that are less coordinated and less legitimized.. When the U.N.. is effective in conflict management, it can reduce the incentive for unilateral escalation and strengthen pathways toward negotiated off-ramps.
What this means for U.S. foreign policy and U.N. relevance
The secretary-general race heading into summer is, in effect, a referendum on what the U.N. is for. Misryoum expects the hearings to reveal the extent to which candidates view the peace mandate as central—or as an afterthought to more manageable agendas.
The editorial stakes are bigger than one appointment.. If the next leader reframes the U.N.. as a frontline diplomacy institution again—focused on preventing wars. managing escalation. and supporting peace processes—the organization can claw back relevance in a world defined by fractured alliances and contested international order.. If not, the U.N.. risks becoming a platform for statements rather than solutions, with consequences felt most sharply where civilians have the least leverage.
Ultimately. Misryoum believes the most persuasive candidates will be those who can connect the Charter’s promise to real-world constraints: managing major-power hostility without pretending it doesn’t exist. working with middle powers when the Security Council deadlocks. and preserving the operational capacity of peace missions without letting them become open-ended liabilities.. In a period when the U.S.. and other capitals are recalculating how to deter conflict and manage risk abroad. the U.N.’s peace-and-security performance will remain one of the clearest measures of whether multilateral diplomacy still has teeth.
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