Dag Hammarskjold & UN

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New Routes 2/2011 1

New Routespublished by the life & peace institute

volume 16

A journal ofpeace researchand action

2/2011

Special issue in collaboration between the Life & Peace Instituteand the Dag Hammarskjld Foundation

Dag Hammarskjld and the United Nations:

Vision and legacy 50 years later


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A sunny September dayi was eleven, standing in our garden, moved to tears when my mother toldme what had happened. In my childish world Dag Hammarskjld had beena garantor against the worst, in spite of the Cold War round the corner.How could he suddenly go?

Fifty years later I have the privilege of introducing Henning Melber as guesteditor of this special issue of New Routes. Thanks to his commitment, know-ledge and network we present the vision and legacy of Dag Hammarskjldin honourable memory.

kristina lundqvist

[email protected]@life-peace.org

Contents

3 editorial:Dag Hammarskjld re-visited

HenningMelber

7 General rather than Secretary LenaLidFalkman

11 inspiredby dag hammarskjld BirgittaNordenman

12 The ethics of an internationalcivil servant

HansCorell

17 Leave it to Dag! PeterWallensteen

21 Global leadership of Secretariesand Generals

ThomasG.Weiss

25 afamous swede IanPhimister

26 da ghammarskjld s legacy:A beacon of hope

BrianUrquhart

30 leadingby example JanEliasson

31 Dag Hammarskjld:His values and legacy KiyoAkasaka

35 an unforgettable moment MariaBarck-Holst

36 Libya and the limits to the R2P PhyllisBennis

40 Rpublique Dmocratiquedu Congo 50 ans aprsDag Hammarskjld

acquis valoriser et leons tires

MurhegaMashanda

45 My sisters keeper AngelaNdinga-Muvumba

48 th emagic of africaandawhitegu yin asuit

HenningMelber

49 ending sexual violence :From recognition to action

MargotWallstrm

53 renewingth e choice :

Developing the United Nationsfurther

MarcoToscano-Rivalta

57 Reviews

henning melber is Executive Directorof the Dag Hammarskjld Foundationand a Research Associate with theUniversity of Pretoria.

lena lid falkman (Andersson), PhD, is

a scholar at Stockholm School ofEconomics, Sweden. Her thesis Rhetoricfor Leadership deals with value-basedleadership in the UN. She is currentlyworking with the Dag HammarskjldFoundation.

birgitta nordenman, PhD, has a back-ground from research, marketing, man-agement and is a member of differentboards. She now arranges guided toursfor visitors in Uppsala.

hans corell was the UN Legal Counsel1994-2004. He served in the Swedishjudiciary 1962-1972. He then joined theMinistry of Justice where he became aDirector in 1979 and Chief Legal Ofcerin 1981. From 1984 he was head of theLegal Department of the Foreign Ministry.

peter wallensteen holds the DagHammarskjld Chair in Peace andConict Research at Uppsala Universityand is Professor at the University ofNotre Dame, USA. He directs theUppsala Conict Data Program.

thomas g. weiss is PresidentialProfessor of Political Science at the CUNYGraduate Center and Director of theRalph Bunche Institute for InternationalStudies. He was Past President of the

International Studies Association(2009-10) and Chair of the AcademicCouncil on the UN System (2006-09).

ian phimister is Professor of InternationalHistory at the University of Shefeld.Before taking up his present chair, hetaught at the Universities of Zambia,Rhodesia, Cape Town and Oxford.

sir brian urquhart was the secondperson to be recruited to the UNSecretariat in 1945 as personal assist-ant to Trygve Lie, the rst Secretary-General. In 1954 -1971 he worked withRalph Bunche, whom he succeeded in

1972 as UN Under-Secretary-Generalfor Special Political Affairs.

jan eliasson has been Minister forForeign Affairs of Sweden. From 1988to 1992 he was Swedens PermanentRepresentative to the UN and in 2005-

06 President of the UN GeneralAssembly. He also served as a SpecialEnvoy to Darfur (2006-08).

kiyo akasaka is the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public

Information at the UN. He served asthe Japanese Ambassador to the UN in2000-01. From 2003 to 2007, he wasthe Deputy Secretary-General of theOrganization for Economic Cooperationand Development.

maria barck-holst is a volunteer in theLife-Link Friendship Schools based inUppsala, promoting among teenagersto work for care and sustainableresponsibility.

phyllis bennis is a Fellow of theInstitute for Policy Studies and of theTransnational Institute in Amsterdam.

Her books include Calling the Shots:How Washington Dominates Todays UNand Challenging Empire: How People,Governments and the UN Defy U.S.Power.

murhega mashanda est Professeurduniversit, Coordinateur du RseaudInnovation Organisationnelle (RIO).RIO est un service technique de lEglisedu Christ au Congo en province du SudKivu. Il est partenaire de Life & PeaceInstitute et membre du Service civilpour la paix/EED.

angela ndinga-muvumba is a Senior

Research Fellow of the African Centrefor the Constructive Resolution ofDisputes and a doctoral candidate atthe University of Uppsalas Departmentof Peace and Conict Research.

margot wallstrm is the UN SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-Generalon Sexual Violence in Conict. She hasbeen an advocate of the rights andneeds of women throughout herpolitical career, rst in the SwedishGovernment and later in the EuropeanCommission.

marco toscano-rivalta is an Adviserto the UN Special Representative of theSecretary-General at the Secretariat ofthe International Strategy for DisasterReduction in Geneva. He has served atthe headquarters and in eld operationsin conict, post-conict and developmentenvironments.

about the authors


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This special issue ofNew Routes rec-ognises the legacy of Dag Hammar-skjld as second Secretary-General ofthe United Nations (UN). 50 years afterhis death, his concepts of the UN, ofmediation and peacebuilding, and hisunderstanding of the role as the high-est international civil servant remainas relevant today as they were then.The contributions address the stand-

ards and criteria set by Hammarskjldduring his eight years in ofce (1953-61). They also recognise the continueddemand for the approaches and typesof initiatives he embodied. This is nota backward-looking exercise, whichportrays the romantic heroism of a by-gone era. Rather, it is forward-looking,intended to learn from the past for thesake of our future.

In an address to the University ofCalifornias convocation on 13 May 1954,

Hammarskjld, after a year in ofce asUN Secretary-General, concluded: Ithas been said that the United Nationswas not created in order to bring us toheaven, but in order to save us fromhell. According to him, that sums upas well as anything I have heard boththe essential role of the United Nationsand the attitude of mind that we shouldbring to its support.1 Indeed, and unfor-tunately, little in our times has changedfor the better (if at all) to make such apragmatic approach superuous.

Despite the need for such realism,scepticism often reigns half a centuryafter Hammarskjld in judgments of

the performance of the institution es-tablished after the Second World Waras a global body embracing all therecognised governments of sovereignstates. The UN is barely appreciated forits achievements, but criticised ratherfor its failures. The wide range of cov-enants, conventions, resolutions andother codied programmes and dec-larations adopted over the more than60 years of its existence often reveal anappalling discrepancy between dened

norms and sobering social and politi-cal realities. But would the world todaybe a better place in the absence of suchframeworks, as selectively and arbitrar-ily as they have far too often been ap-plied? Would we be better off withoutthe UN?

There seems little reason to singpraise songs concerning the ratherambiguous achievements of the UN.But looking back, it would be unfair todismiss the efforts of the family of na-tions as merely useless or fruitless. Es-pecially those voices in the so-called glo-bal South, at times now openly criticalof international governance as a tool forhegemonic interests, should rememberthat in the absence of the limited powerof a UN, their future might now be evenmore problematic.

After all, the UN played a pioneer-

ing role in declaring apartheid a crimeagainst humanity and imposing anarms embargo on the South Africanminority regime.2 It also was decisivein bringing about the decolonisation of

Editorial:

Dag Hammarskjld re-visitedHenningMelber

New Routes is a quarterly publication of the Life & Peace Institute (LPI). Material may be reproduced freely if New Routesis mentioned as the source. Opinions expressed in New Routes do not necessarily reect LPI policy positions.

Life & Peace InstituteEddagatan 12, SE-753 16 Uppsala, Sweden. Phone +46 18 66 01 32, fax +46 18 69 30 59, e-mail: [email protected],website: www.life-peace.org. Editorial committee: Henrik Frjmark, Helena Grusell, Bernt Jonsson, Kristina Lundqvist,Henning Melber and Tore Samuelsson. Guest editor: Henning Melber. Regular editor: Kristina Lundqvist.Cover photo Dag Hammarskjld (background image), UN Photo/HP, svlumagraphica, Kate Holt/IRIN.Layout: Georg Lulich Grask Form. Printer: Lenanders Graska, 43123.ISSN 2000-8082 (electronic version), ISSN 1403-3755 (printed version)

However ambiguous the achievements of the UN may seem, many of the efforts of theworld body deserve our recognition, says Henning Melber, guest editor of this special issueof New Routes and Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjld Foundation.

Photo:MattiasLasson,DhF

New Routes


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Namibia as a trust betrayed3 and hasplayed a similar role in mediating theend of conicts elsewhere. Strugglesfor emancipation would in many in-stances have been even more prolonged if successful at all in the absence ofthe arena created by the world body, aslimited as its powers may be. The same

can be said of the many peacekeepingmissions, which were established intheir current form by none other thanHammarskjld when dealing with thechallenges of the so-called Suez Crisisin 1956. The organisational structureand chart for peacekeeping operationshe designed during a mission to theCongo in 1960 (se p.42 in this issue)has stood the test of time.

UN resolutions for globalresponsibility

This year marks the half-century ofHammarskjlds death during a mis-sion to seek a peaceful solution forthe Congo. The country has remainedtorn by violence bordering on chroniccivil strife, at the cost of millions oflives and the ruin of the physical andmental health of so many more. As isso often the case, women and childrenhave suffered most and have been thevictims of a war that has not shied awayfrom systematic rape and other forms

of atrocities to the individual. UN Se-curity Council Resolution 1325 of Octo-ber 2000 paved the way for a new ap-proach to dealing with gender issues,while Security Council Resolution 1960of December 2010 nally consolidatednew standards and norms in the effortto protect both women and men fromsystematic sexual violence as a meansof war-making. The implementationof the latter will serve both as anotherbeacon for humankind and a point ofreference for measuring the effective-ness and legal and moral weight of theworld body.

Murhega Mashanda highlights the roleof a local civil society in the efforts to bringmore peace to the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo. Angela Ndinga-Muvumba andMargot Wallstrm deal with the relevanceof and obligations under the normative in-struments created during the rst decade ofour century for the protection and promo-tion of women and the prosecution of sexu-al violence, and document how the UN has

indeed responded to new challenges.The situation in todays Democratic

Republic of the Congo is unfortunatelyonly the tip of the iceberg. People areexposed to similar and other forms of

destruction in many parts of the world,with Libya and the Ivory Coast beingonly the latest examples in a seeminglyendless series of conicts. With UN Se-curity Council Resolutions 1970 and1973 adopted in February and March2011 respectively, we seem to haveentered a new norm-setting stage of

global responsibility, even though theoutcomes are still too early to judge.The highly unusual processes therebyset in motion carry with them the riskof yet more one-sided, opportunisticexploitation for hegemonic purposes.The jury is still out on the effective-ness of such interventions as a meansof dealing with unacceptable violationsby dictators of dened fundamentalstandards and norms, using the altarof national sovereignty as a protectiveshield, and of saving lives instead of

sacricing them.Kiyo Akasaka illustrates how the UN

today accepts the engagement with emerg-ing challenges, while Phyllis Bennis criti-cally assesses the risks of the new interven-tions in Libya and the possible ambiguitiesresulting from these for peacekeeping in atime of war.

Remaining global challenges

While the Westphalian order remains atthe core of bi- and multilateral relations,

the UN as an instrument for global gov-ernance in the face of global challengesis more important than ever. The great-est threats to human survival, the futureof our planet and all forms of life knowno borders. One can only speculatewhat the late Secretary-Generals initia-tives would have been for dealing withthe challenges of climate change, inter-national terrorism and many other thenunknown phenomena. Being a personwith a deep-rooted love and respect fornature, culture, religion and the arts,who sought dialogue instead of polari-sation, he would have approached mat-ters in his own way.

What is certain is that the challeng-es Hammarskjld and his staff facedthen have not been solved. Nor havewe avoided the mistakes that marrednot least the UNs involvement in theformer Belgian Congo and culminatedin the brutal murder of the Congosrst prime minister, Patrice Lumumba,as well as the death of Dag Hammar-

skjld.4 But the onus to save us fromhell still rests on the institution, which,despite all its setbacks and shortcom-ings, has also been a norm-setting au-thority. In an address on Asia, Africa,

and the West delivered to the academicassociation of the University of Lund on4 May 1959, Hammarskjld condentlyclaimed that, the Organization I repre-sent is based on a philosophy of soli-darity.5 Solidarity, empathy, integrityare the values for which he stood andby which he lived. He created a moral

compass guiding the international civilservice, thereby setting criteria againstwhich the UN and their leaders conti-nue to be measured.

The complementary reections of LenaLid Falkman, Hans Corell, Thomas G.Weiss, Peter Wallensteen, Brian Urqu-hart and Jan Eliasson testify with differ-ing nuance to the signicant role of DagHammarskjld as an international civilservant and global leader and to his rel-evance today.

Human universalismFor Hammarskjld, the work of theUN was to build on the commonal-ity of humankind, its conduct andexperience. During a visit to Indiain early February 1956, he addressedthe Indian Council of World Affairs.Prompted by a moving encounter witha local cultural event performed in hishonour earlier, his mainly extempora-neous speech explored the dimensionsof human universalism. A commonal-

ity beyond Western or, indeed, anyculturally, religiously or geographicallylimited ideology or conviction is whathe spoke to:

It is no news to anybody, but wesense it in different degrees, that ourworld of today is more than ever beforeone world. The weakness of one is theweakness of all, and the strength ofone not the military strength, but thereal strength, the economic and socialstrength, the happiness of people isindirectly the strength of all. Throughvarious developments which are famil-iar to all, world solidarity has, so to say,been forced upon us. This is no longer achoice of enlightened spirits; it is some-thing which those whose temperamentleads them in the direction of isolation-ism have also to accept. () With re-spect to the United Nations as a symbolof faith, it may () be said that to everyman it stands as a kind of yes to theability of man to form his own destiny,and form his own destiny so as to create

a world where the dignity of man cancome fully into its own.6

Dag Hammarskjld, as Swedishcosmopolitan, showed that rm rootsin ones own society, with its particular


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history and culture, were no obstacleto universal values but, instead, a valu-able point of departure, provided thathistory and culture was not taken asthe one and only absolute truth. Theawareness of ones own upbringingin a specic social context, anchoringones identity in a framework guidedby a set of values, allows for curiositytowards otherness and explorationsinto the unknown for ones own ben-et and gain. There are no risks in en-tering a dialogue with strangers if oneknows where one comes from. On 8September 1961, Dag Hammarskjldaddressed the staff at the secretariat ofthe UN for the last time. His words thenare as relevant today:

What is at stake is a basic question

of principle: Is the Secretariat to de-velop as an international secretariat,with the full independence contem-plated in Article 100 of the Charter, oris it to be looked upon as an intergov-

ernmental not international secre-tariat providing merely the necessaryadministrative services for a confer-ence machinery? This is a basic ques-tion, and the answer to it affects notonly the working of the Secretariat butthe whole of the future of internationalrelations.7

Marco Toscano-Rivalta explores theperspectives resulting from such a notion.As a younger UN staff member today hetesties to the lasting mark Hammarskjldmade on a committed international civilservice.

In honourable memory

Hammarskjld died during the earlymorning hours of 18 September 1961,close to the wreckage of the plane that

crashed before landing in Ndola, theNorthern Rhodesia town bordering theformer colony of the Belgian Congo.None of the 15 other members of hisentourage and crew on board survived,

and the cause of the crash remains amatter of speculation. But the legacyof the UN second Secretary-Generalremains alive not only, but not leastthrough the further drafting, adop-tion and implementation of normativeframeworks to promote and protect hu-man rights for all. Common sense tellsus, of course, that normative frame-works alone will not save us from hell.But hell is much more likely in the ab-sence of such frameworks, which pro-vide important markers and referencepoints for guiding the noble cause ofensuring human rights for as many ofus as possible and for bringing thosewho abuse them to task.

In April 2011, the Swedish centralbank announced the choice of person-

alities to be depicted on the new banknotes to be introduced in 2014/15. Thenew 1,000 kronor note will remind usof the boss, as he was respectfully andfondly (if not admiringly) called by the

The Dag Hammarskjld Memorial Crash Site outside of Ndola was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997.Nowadays there is also a museum with some remains of the plane. The picture was taken in 1971 by Bernt Jonsson,later to become Executive Director of LPI.

Photo:berntjonsson


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UN staff he was heading. But Dag Ham-marskjld and his values, his principledviews and his integrity should in anoth-er way be common currency in our dailylives. It is for us to keep his values aliveas our own and to strengthen the UN,not, as Hammarskjld reminded us, inorder to bring us to heaven, but in order

to save us from hell.There is a website that allows one tovisit the pictured graves of people andpost a message. The Hammarskjldfamily grave in Uppsala is one suchtomb, and ever since the website wascreated a few years ago, people haveposted messages to it, mainly aroundthe date of Dag Hammarskjlds birthor death. One of them, by a certain Kimfrom Texas, was posted on 17 Septem-ber 2006. It reads: You set the bar highfor everyone who came after you Mr.

Secretary. Never a politician, always adiplomat. Rest in peace.8 +

1 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier and WilderFoote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations. Volume II: DagHammarskjld 1953-1956, (Selected and editedwith Commentary), New York and London:Columbia University Press 1972, p. 301.

2 See for a summary on these specic UNinterventions: The United Nations andApartheid, 19481994. New York: UnitedNations Department of Public Information

1994; and Twenty-Five Years of Commitmentto the Elimination of Apartheid in South Africa.New York: United Nations Special CommitteeAgainst Apartheid 1988

3 A Trust Betrayed, Namibia. New York: UnitedNations, Ofce of Public Information 1974.

4 See the volume also reviewed in this issue:Robert A. Hill/Edmond J. Keller (eds), Trusteefor the Human Community. Ralph J. Bunche,the United Nations, and the Decolonizationof Africa. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press2010.

5 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier and WilderFoote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-

General of The United Nations. Volume IV:Dag Hammarskjld 1958-1960. New York andLondon: Columbia University Press 1974, p. 384.

6 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier/WilderFoote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations. Volume II:Dag Hammarskjld 1953-1956. New York andLondon: Columbia University Press 1972,pp. 661 and 660.

7 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier and WilderFoote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-general of the United Nations . Volume V: DagHammarskjld 1960-1961. New York and

London: Columbia University Press 1975,p. 563.

8 Accessed in March 2011 at www.ndagrave.com.

Many prominent people have paid their respect to Dag Hammarskjld at the family grave in Uppsala old churchyard,among them Ko Annan, UN Secretary General 1997-2006.

Photo:DhF


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It had been a colourful meeting on 3 Oc-tober 1960 at the UN General Assem-bly Hall in the Manhattan headquarters,where Nikita Khrushchev accused theSecretary-General of not being neutral.Ofcially the Soviet Union did not be-lieve in the system of one single leaderof the UN and argued that the post ofSecretary-General should be exchangedfor leadership by a troika of countries.Rumour had it that the main reason forthe attack was actually that Hammar-

skjld was too strong and troublesome.During his assignment he turned out tobe a General rather than the Secretarythe member states thought they hadelected. During the meeting Khrush-chev explicitly and loudly told Hammar-skjld to resign. Dag Hammarskjld,known to be an inexpressive publicspeaker, answered with strength andemphasis:

It is not the Soviet Union or indeedany other Big Powers which need theUnited Nations for their protection. Itis all the others I shall remain in mypost during the term of ofce as a serv-ant of the Organisation in the interestof all these other nations as long as theywish me to do so.

In this context the representative ofthe Soviet Union spoke of courage. It isvery easy to resign. It is not so easy tostay on. It is very easy to bow to the wishof a Big Power. It is another matter toresist. As is well known to all membersof this Assembly I have done so before

on many occasions and in many direc-tions. If it is the wish of those nationswho see in the Organisation their bestprotection in the present world, I shallnow do so again.1

Hammarskjlds statement wasinterrupted by loud applause and fol-lowed by a standing ovation. Peoplearound the world cheered as well, asthe ve boxes worth of admiring letterssent to Hammarskjld testied to. Theretort has come to be seen as an expres-sion of some of the visions and valuesthat Hammarskjld stood for. It is alsoan example of power negotiation in thegovernance of a federation and meta-organisation. Furthermore, it shows

the importance of trust in value-basedleadership.Hammarskjld was one of the most

effective and trusted Secretary-Gen-erals, as the saying Leave it to Dag,which was in common use in the or-ganisation, seems to suggest. His con-ception of the international civil serv-ant made him a role model for staff ofinternational organisations. He is alsoan inspiration for many people aroundthe world as a poet and religious mystic.The interest for Hammarskjld seemsto have gone through a revival in the be-ginning of the 21st century.2 So what canwe learn from Dag Hammarskjldsleadership today?

Leadership as inuence andcommunication

During the early 20th century, lead-ers and leadership (often categorisedas management) became subjects ofscientic study. The interest in leader-ship continues and leadership research

seems to grow exponentially.3 The lit-erature is diverse, perhaps due to dif-ferent starting points: the leader as anindividual, leadership as a process, orthe behaviour of the leader.4 Other areas

that have been studied are strategy, ef-ciency, the importance of the organi-sational culture and the inuence ofparticular situations. Leadership is noteasily dened, and no single denitionhas become generally accepted. Howev-er, most scholars agree that leadershiphas to do with inuence. Peter G Nort-house has, by analysing a vast numberof leadership studies, concluded thatleadership is a process whereby an in-dividual inuences a group of individu-

als to achieve a common goal.5

Inu-ence is the base of leadership. Withoutinuence, leadership does not exist.

How does this inuence work?Through money, rules, laws or maybeeven violence, but also soft inuencethrough norms and culture. Since the1980s, at least in the Anglo-Saxon re-search, leadership theory has been pri-marily concerned with investigatingsoft inuence in the area of value-basedleadership. Concepts such as vision-ary, charismatic and authentic lead-ership have been explored to explainemotional, ethical, motivational andsymbolic aspects of leadership.

Federation, meta-organisation andworld community

All the power a Secretary-General has,is the power of reason and persuasion,said Ko Annan, UN Secretary-General1997-2006, in the Swedish/NorwegianTV show Frst och sist in April 2007.Leading the UN has some particular

conditions, due to the fact that UN in itsform is a federation, meta-organisationand world community.

The word federation derives from theLatin word des, meaning condence

The rising generation might not know too much about Dag Hammarskjldspersonality, visions and achievements, but none the less, our own age has a greatdeal to learn from his leadership. The Secretary-General of the United Nationshas limited power but may have great inuence. In order to exert this inuence ina meta-organisation like the UN, you need trust, more than obedience, from theinternational community.

Hammarskjld had visions and ideas about communication that were quite

unusual in the 1950s. In order to enhance the presence of the UN in the world heinitiated the system of Special Representatives appointed by the Secretary-Generals.He visualised and embodied the concept of an international civil servant.

General rather than SecretaryLena Lid Falkman


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and trust. A federation is a voluntaryassociation based on common agree-ments. The power in a federation is splitbetween the owner-organisation (mem-bers) and the management-organisa-tion (federation staff). Their interestsand power overlap and in some eventscollide. The organisational scholar Erik

Swartz argues that a chairman in a fed-eration to a much larger extent needs toearn trust than leaders in organisationswith stricter hierarchy.6 In some sense,the leader in a federation is the leadersleader, in that it is the members whoprovide the leader with a mission andresponsibility.

The UN can also be dened as a me-ta-organisation. It is an organisationthat consists of other organisationsas members, and is both an expres-sion of, result of, and also a reason for

globalisation. The meta-organisationis dependent on the members for itsaccess to resources and its ability toexercise inuence. Conicts betweenmembers in a meta-organisation arehard to solve by means of exclusionor the authority of the leadership. The

possibility for the meta-organisationto exercise inuence lies in persua-sion, consensus, and negotiation. TheUN is one of the larger meta-organi-sations that exist.7 It is unique in itsmulti-dimensionality and is universalas a world community.

These aspects make the UN and itsfront gure, the Secretary-General, in-teresting cases for value-based leader-ship. As Brian Urquhart and ErskineChilders commented on the role ofthe Secretary-General in A world inneed of leadership: Although the of-ce has little real power, it provides

very wide possibilities for exercisinginuence.8Value-based leadership isinuence through communication, val-ues, visions, and through the leadersown person.

Communication personaland in new ways

Dag Hammarskjld declared: I go toPeking, because I believe in personaltalks.9 This trip to China where Ham-marskjld negotiated, and socialised,with Chou En-lai became Hammar-skjlds rst diplomatic break-through,

in that he succeeded in releasing Amer-ican prisoners. The view of communi-

cation as relational also inuenced hisview on media and public opinion. Inhis own words: The Secretary-General and I use him as a symbol for all ofthe Secretariat is facing a public re-lations problem of a delicate and dif-cult nature But he has to try andreach the minds and hearts of peopleso as to get the United Nations effortsrmly based in public reaction Sothe question of public relations to theSecretary-General develops into a ques-

tion of human relations.10

Hammar-skjld also acknowledged one of themost established insights in rhetoric:the importance of emotions as a meansto reach the audience.

Hammarskjld pioneered new waysto communicate. He realised the im-portance of media, and the importanceof using public opinion in diplomacy,through media. His (the diplomats)words will reach everybody by pressand lm and radio and television.11One way to reach out in media was tocreate a relationship with journalists.In 1953 Hammarskjld introducedregular press conferences. In the rstmeeting he tells the somewhat puzzledjournalists that he sees these meetingsas a collaboration. Hammarskjld hadan idea and strategy in communicat-ing through media, which seems to beunusual in the 1950s. However, he wasaware of the fact that media does notalways say what ought to be said: Inthe modern world of mass media and

publicity no diplomat trying to respondto the demands of the situation can onlybe a servant. He must to some extentand in some respects also be a leader bylooking beyond the immediate future

and going underneath the supercialreactions, be they expressed by ever soimportant news organs 12

Hammarskjld used the Secretary-Generals Special Representative as atool to be present in more places thanhe himself could be.13 Thereby his ideaof communication as a relationship did

not remain just a personal ideal. Heused it as an institutionalised organi-sational tool. Such translation of ideasinto practical tools ought to be one of themost important lessons for value-basedleadership. One key to the success ofthe initiatives resulting from Hammar-skjlds vision and values is his creativelanguage. Silent diplomacy createsother associations than negotiationbehind closed doors. Peace-keepingforces means something else thanarmed military. In talking of the UN

Hammarskjld often used metaphorsbased on the family, the informal andthe close. The UN staff was the familyand the UN headquarter was the house.He also acted in ways which showedthat he was not a believer in hierarchyand status for its own sake, for exampleby eating in the caf in the basementrather than in the delegates diningroom. As he did this on his rst day asSecretary-General, it is said to have at-tracted a certain amount of attention. It

is also something that appears to havebecome a symbolic ritual. Ban Ki-moonalso did this on his rst day at work.14

Visions as reaction to events

It is not only Hammarskjlds creativ-ity that is important in his communica-tion, but also his patience and persist-ence. Over and over again he speaksand writes about the things that hesees as important. Take for example the

role of the international civil servant.

Hammarskjld talks about what thisrole means, and what is important forpeople in this role, such as integrity andneutrality. He explores and denes therole and its values, over and over again.

Dag Hammarskjlddeclared:I go to Peking,because I believe inpersonal talks.

Hammarskjld hadan idea and strategyin communicatingthrough media,which seems to beunusual in the 1950s.

The meta-organisation is

dependent on themembers for itsaccess to resourcesand its ability toexercise inuence.


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New Routes 2/2011 9general rather than secretary

If a norm is to be institutionalised in aculture, it is not enough to state this asa value statement. The message needsto be repeated, in many channels, inmany ways.

The idea of the international civilservant can be seen as one of Hammar-skjlds visions. It is a goal. It unitesthe people in his organisation. It sayshow they ought to work and think andwhat the goal and ideal of their way ofworking is. Visionary leaders are oftencharacterised as people who expoundtheir visions with ery performances,and whose visions were developed early,often in childhood.15 Hammarskjld issometimes described as a boring publicspeaker. But this is probably a result ofjudgments based on norms associatedwith other cultures of expression. Also,I believe that many of his visions andideas derived from specic situations

rather than being childhood visions.It seems as if it was the attack fromKhrushchev and the need for a coher-ent culture in the early beginning of theUN, which triggered Hammarskjld to

formulate the vision of the internationalcivil servant. Subsequently, Hammar-skjld lled the idea with content, suchas the importance of neutrality and in-tegrity, and how it can work in reality,how it can be lived.

Leaders as carrier of values

One important part of value-based lead-ership is leading through ones ownperson. Authenticity and appearing tobe genuine are being highlighted todayas important aspects both in rhetoricaltheory and in the area of leadership.The leader is a symbol and a carrier ofvalues.

The eight men who have had therole of Secretary-Generals are in manyaspects homogenous. When analysingtheir exterior appearance, they are quitealike. Middle-aged (48-63 years of age)clean-cut men, all with a similar back-

ground (experience from both nationaland international politics). They alsohave similar education with studiesin law or economics. Hammarskjldsticks out. He is the only one without a

family, he does not have a backgroundin party politics, and besides diplomasin both law and economics, he also hasa humanistic education with studies inlanguage and philosophy.

When doing a rhetorical analysiscovering all eight installations of theSecretary-Generals, both the statementof the Secretary-General to be, as well asthe statements of the delegates, I foundover a hundred words that expressedcharacter traits or virtues, which weresaid to be typical of these eight men.When analysed, these seem to be varia-tions of classical virtues. The eight menare all attributed the same virtues, themost important one being integrity. Arhetorical analysis (both with classicalgenre analysis and with the contempo-rary model of dramatistic pentad) showsthat these virtues are reproduced andattributed to the leaders, not as descrip-

tions of the leaders personalities. Theyare rather an expression of the attemptto create unity in the group, the UN. Itis the celebration of these virtues that isimportant in the organisation. The indi-

In 1953 Dag Hammarskjld initiated regular press conferences at the UN,then an unusual approach to communication through media.

Photo:UnPhoto/Mb


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vidual person, the Secretary-General, isused as a rhetorical gure synecdoche,the part which represents the whole. Aleader is made into a symbol of the or-ganisations values.16

The eight Secretary-Generals arehomogenous in terms of their exteriorattributes. They are also ascribed the

same character traits in form of classicalvirtues. However, they seem to be very

different as persons, in that they havetreated and handled the position verydifferently. In an ambitious study, KentJ Kille has mapped seven Secretary-Generals actions and communicationand argues that they have different lead-ership styles. Trygve Lie, Dag Hammar-skjld and Boutros Boutros Ghali werevisionaries, U Thant, Kurt Waldheimand Javier Perez de Cuellar were bu-reaucrats, and Ko Annan was a strate-gist. Dag Hammarskjld was the most

typical of the ideal visionary leader, eventhough his results were complex.Despite getting the highest score on

the aspect of visions, Hammarskjldwas at the same time focused on ac-tions, which makes Kille call him a vi-sionary in a managers clothing.17Thisis also expressed in many of the thingsHammarskjld has been called, suchas a realistic idealist or a pragmatistwith a vision. It is my belief that thissays something about successful vision-ary leadership. In order to not stop at

empty vision statements, vision needsto be translated into practice, and vi-sions also need to be lived and acted bytheir advocates.

Ageless values and lessons

To a large extent, Hammarskjld stoodfor classical virtues. In many ways, his

speeches and writings and poems haveaged well. There are contemporary as-pects in many of the things that Ham-marskjld wrote and said. In a timewhen diplomatic, secret correspond-ence is published on Wikileaks and thelike, Hammarskjlds words from 1953,when discussing the UN as operatingin a glass house, are worth a thought:Publicity is right and necessary in mul-tilateral diplomacy. However, it also rep-resents a danger. Open diplomacy may easily become frozen diplomacy. This

comes about when open diplomacy isturned into diplomacy by public state-ments made merely to satisfy segmentsof domestic public opinion or to gainsome propaganda advantage else-where.18

2011 marks fty years since Ham-marskjld passed away. But his values,visions, communication and leadershipare modern and have much to teach usabout the world of today.+

1 Andrew Cordier and Wilder Foote (eds), PublicPapers of the Secretaries-General of the UnitedNations. Columbia University Press 1972.

2 See Lid Andersson, Ledarskapande Retorik Dag Hammarskjld och FN:s generalsekretaresom scen fr karisma, dygder och ledarideal.Stockholm: EFI 2009, p. 247.

3 Keith Grint,: Leadership, limits and possibilities.Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan 2005, p. 15.

4 Ibid., pp. 1-19

5 Peter G Northouse, Leadership Theory andPractice. Thousand Oaks: Sage 2007, p. 3.

6 Erik Swartz, Ledning och organisering av federa-tioner. Stockholm: Nerenius & Santerus 1994.

7 Gran Ahrne and Nils Brunsson, Meta-organi-zations. Cheltenham: Edvard Elgar 2008.

8 Brian Urquhart and Erskine Childers, A worldin need of leadership. Uppsala: Dag Hammar-skjld Foundation 1990, p. 22.

9 Bo Beskow, Dag Hammarskjld Strictly

Personal. New York: Double Day 1969, p. 35.10 Address by Dag Hammarskjld to American

Political Science Association, Washington. 11September 1953. Published in Kai Falkman, Tospeak for the world. Atlantis 2005.

11 Address by Dag Hammarskjld to ForeignPolicy Association 21 October 1953. Publishedin ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Brian Urquhart. Dag Hammarskjld. Tryckcen-trum. 1972.; UN press release SG/849, August27, 1959. In Cordier and Foote 1972. Vol 2: p475.

14 Niklas Ekdahl and Inga-Britt Ahlenius, MrChance. Stockholm: Brombergs 2011.

15 FrancesWestley & Henry Mintzberg, Visionaryleadership and strategic management. In: Stra-tegic Management Journal (10)1989, pp.17-32;Raed Awamleh and William L Gardner, Percep-tions of leader charisma and effectiveness. In:Leadership Quarterly 10(3)1999, pp. 345-373.

16 Lena Lid Andersson, op. cit.

17 Kent J Kille, From manager to visionary TheSecretary-General of the United Nations. Pal-grave Macmillan 2006, p. 68.

18 Address by Dag Hammarskjld to Foreign

Policy Association 21 October 1953, op. cit.

Silent diplomacycreates otherassociations thannegotiation behindclosed doors.

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New Routes 2/2011 11personal reection

I do not remember where I rst heardor read about the tragic death, but it wassomething that everyone talked about and we still do. We, the students in

Uppsala, were invited to honour DagHammarskjld in different ways. Twonights after his death, students walkedfrom the castle to the Main Hall of theUniversity, where a commemorativespeech was held. When his cofn wasplaced on lit de parade in the Cathedral,students made up the guard of honourand eight students carried the cofnout of the Cathedral after the state fu-neral.

I was one of the students lining upalong the route of the several hundred

meters long procession from the Cathe-dral to the cemetery. The atmospherewas overwhelming: the catafalquesupporting the cofn covered with theSwedish ag and owers symbolisingthe UN emblem, the horses, all the peo-ple representing different countries anddifferent religions. In this historic mo-ment I started to realise the greatness ofDag Hammarskjld. It was a day withclear sky and some wind and when theprocession came closer to the cemetery

the clouds covered the sun.This occurred during my rst termin Uppsala. The introduction to studentlife in Uppsala was thrilling enough, but

it was nothing compared to this mag-nicent scene. Never had I experiencedanything like this before. And the dailylife of the UN troops in Congo, which

I had learned about in general terms inthe letters I exchanged with one of thesoldiers, took on another and more seri-ous dimension for me.

My interest in international workgrew over the years and during the lastdecades the memory from that very spe-cial day has inuenced my life more andmore. I have of course been to the UNHeadquarters in New York and to DagHammarskjlds summer house tobe, Backkra in southern Sweden, nowa museum. The lovely circle of stones

with the word PAX inscribed on the bigone in the middle, as well as the Me-morial room, give me feelings similarto those I experience coming back tothe mountains in Jmtland in northernSweden where I grew up. Coming backthere gives me time for reection, tocalm down, and get new inspiration.

With the fond memories I havefrom the mountains, from all seasons,and the stories told about the photo-grapher Nils Thomasson and pictures

taken by him, it is like having walkedon a parallel track to Dag Hammar-skjld. Nils Thomasson was the onewho introduced Dag Hammarskjld to

photography, to nature and the moun-tains when he visited Jmtland in theearly years.

Wherever you go in Uppsala, Ham-

marskjlds home town during twentyyears, and the city he wanted to returnto, you encounter his memories: his arti-cle in the Swedish Tourist Associationsyear-book of 1962 about his belovedCastle Hill, the memories of the differ-ent Nobel Peace laureates like himself:Nathan Sderblom, Albert Schweitzer,Alva Myrdal and Martin Luther King,everything about Carl von Linn whomhe admired and about whom he present-ed a Directors speech at the SwedishAcademy in 1957. Dag Hammarskjlds

wordings are impressive. One can seehis deep interest in literature, his con-tacts with authors. In the Cathedral, inthe Peace Chapel, one of his Markings,Not I, but God in me, was placed in2005, 100 years after his birth.

Birgitta Nordenman

Inspired by Dag Hammarskjld

The outdoormeditation sitewith stones in acircle provides apeaceful experience

for visitors to DagHammarskjlds

farm Backkra insouthern Sweden.

Photo:DhF


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The position of civil servants within the United Nations (UN) in general and of itsSecretary-General in particular is of a very sensitive nature. Neutrality and integrity aretwo crucial concepts in the discharge of these duties. Dag Hammarskjld made evident theethical dilemma when the Secretary-General is involved in situations that might lead to

political conict.During the 50 years since Dag Hammarskjlds death the world has undergone

tremendous changes. The necessity of binding ethical and legal agreements within the UN

system is, however, subsistent. They are a prerequisite for the efforts to promote democracyand the rule of law

In September 2009, on the occasionof a commemorative event on the 48thanniversary of Dag Hammarskjldsdeath, I had the privilege of reect-ing on Dag Hammarskjlds famousspeech on the international civil serv-ice at Oxford University on 30 May1961.1 I noted that, in view of the chal-lenges that humankind faces in ourdays of globalisation, the need for therule of law in international affairs has

never been greater. The way in whichthis has been emphasised by differentUnited Nations (UN) organs leads tothe obvious conclusion that we need ef-fective international organisations. Inparticular we need an effective UN; thepurposes of the organisation are justas relevant today as they were in 1945.A point of departure in Dag Hammar-skjlds 1961 lecture is the provisionsin the UN Charter that deal with therole of the Secretary-General. In par-ticular he identies the dilemma thatmight present itself when the GeneralAssembly or the Security Council en-trusts the Secretary-General with tasksinvolving the execution of political de-cisions that might bring him and theSecretariat into the arena of possiblepolitical conict. He also concludesthat the Secretary-General of the UNis not a purely administrative ofcialbut one with an explicit political re-sponsibility.

His main focus is on situations where

the Secretary-General is entrusted withfunctions which by necessity requirehim to take positions in highly contro-versial political matters and where hemay have to take action which unavoid-

ably may run counter to the views of atleast some Member States. A particulardilemma is where an agreement reachedin the general terms of a resolution mayno longer exist when more specic is-sues are presented, in particular whensubsequent developments that may nothave been foreseen may call for actionthat could be regarded as highly contro-versial by the Member States or someof them.

He then comes to the ethical elementin his reasoning. In his view the respon-sibilities of the Secretary-General underthe Charter cannot be laid aside merelybecause the execution of decisions byhim is likely to be politically controver-sial. Instead the Secretary-General mustact on the basis of his exclusively inter-national responsibility and not in theinterest of any particular state or groupof states.

Obliged to observe neutrality

According to the UN Charter, interna-

tional civil servants shall refrain fromany action which might reect on theirposition as international ofcials re-sponsible only to the organisation inother words they are obliged to observe

neutrality. Against this background,Dag Hammarskjld develops his rea-soning by analysing this word both ina legal and ethical perspective. In hisview the international civil servantcannot be accused of lack of neutralitysimply for taking a stand on a contro-versial issue when this is his duty andcannot be avoided. But at the same timethere remains a serious intellectual andmoral problem since in this situation

the civil servant will nd himself in anarea within which personal judgementmust come into play. Ultimately, thequestion becomes one of integrity orconscience.

In Dag Hammarskjlds view theinternational civil servant must keephimself under the strictest observation.He is not requested to be a neuter in thesense that he has to have no sympathiesor antipathies. In his personal capacityhe can certainly have interests, or ideasor ideals. What he must be aware of arethose human reactions and meticulous-ly check himself so that they are not per-mitted to inuence his actions.

To a lawyer it is interesting to notethat Dag Hammarskjld maintains thatthere is nothing unique in his reason-ing. He ends by indicating that as a mat-ter of fact every judge is under the sameprofessional obligation.

The ethical core in Dag Hammar-skjlds reasoning must be conveyed inhis own words:

If the international civil servantknows himself to be free from such per-sonal inuences in his actions and guid-ed solely by the common aims and ruleslaid down for, and by the Organisation

the ethics of an international civil servant

The Secretary-General must acton the basis ofhis exclusivelyinternationalresponsibility.

The ethics of an internationalcivil servantHansCorell


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he serves and by recognised legal princi-ples, then he has done his duty, and thenhe can face the criticism which, even so,will be unavoidable. As I said, at the nallast, this is a question of integrity, and ifintegrity in the sense of respect for lawand respect for truth were to drive himinto positions of conict with this or thatinterest, then that conict is a sign ofhis neutrality and not of his failure toobserve neutrality then it is in line, notin conict, with his duties as an interna-tional civil servant.2

Focus on democracy andthe rule of law

The question is now what lessons wecan draw from this reasoning in con-temporary society. A given point ofdeparture is the present geopoliticalsituation. Sadly, there are still conicts

in many places around the globe. As amatter of fact, more people have losttheir lives in conicts that have oc-curred after the Second World War thanin the two world wars combined. Theroot causes of conicts that threaten in-ternational peace and security are thesame: no democracy and no rule of law.Consequently, this is where our focusmust be.

Ethical questions are omnipresent.However, when we have to deal withthe unprecedented challenges thatmankind is facing today they cometo the forefront. The changing worldeconomy, climate change, the growing

world population, and migration willput extremely heavy demands on deci-sion-makers around the world. A sadfact is that religious extremism, whichone had hoped belonged to the past, has

become a very serious complicating fac-tor. These matters have to be addressedthrough political decisions based oninternational law. Ultimately such de-cisions may have to be translated intolegislation or decisions of an adminis-trative or judicial nature.

In the UN, the question of the rule

of law has increasingly come to theforefront. The General Assembly hasdiscussed it on several occasions. Ofparticular signicance is the so-calledSummit resolution, adopted in Sep-tember 2005. In this resolution Mem-ber States recommitted themselves toactively protect and promote all humanrights, the rule of law and democracy.Also the Security Council has engageditself in this eld for the simple rea-son that the rule of law has become a

prominent element in peacekeepingand peacebuilding operations. Thepresidential statement, adopted by theSecurity Council on 22 June 2006 de-serves to be recalled:

The Security Council reafrmsits commitment to the Charter of theUnited Nations and international law,which are indispensable foundationsof a more peaceful, prosperous and justworld.3

To someone who serves in an in-ternational organisation the questionof how the standards agreed upon areobserved by the members of the organi-sation is ever present. Are these prouddeclarations or decisions respected ordo they constitute mere lip service? Tointernational civil servants this some-times becomes a question of ethics:should one speak up or ?

International agreementsmust be honoured

One of the fundamental principles of

international law is expressed in the Lat-in concept pacta sunt servanda agree-ments must be honoured. This prin-ciple is actually respected for the most.The simple reason for this is that it is

Photo:UnPhoto/x

The civil servantwill nd himselfin an area withinwhich personaljudgement mustcome into play.

Integrity, independence and impartiality are words and qualications of weightyimportance to the Secretary General and all UN staff members.


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in the interest of states to abide by theircommitments in order to be able to con-duct their business in an orderly man-ner. However, when it comes to peaceand security and state sovereignty, thepicture changes.

The UN Charter is legally bind-ing. As all international law it actuallytrumps national law, including nationalconstitutions. If a state has concludedan international agreement, the statein question is bound by that agreementin relation to other parties to the treaty.Detailed rules about this are laid downin the Vienna Convention on the LawTreaties. With respect to the UN Char-ter there is also a provision (Article 103)that says that in the event of a conictbetween the obligations of the Membersof the United Nations under the presentCharter and the obligations under any

other international agreement, theirobligations under the present Chartershall prevail.

However, in the debate we some-times hear people in responsible po-

litical positions belittling internationallaw, claiming that it constitutes an in-fringement on state sovereignty. That isa great misconception. When states en-ter into international agreements theyactually exercise their sovereignty.

We also sometimes see agrant viola-tions of some of the core obligations inthe Charter, in particular the rules thatlay down the conditions under which useof force may be resorted to. Many eventsover the last few years have demonstrat-ed that states are not fully committed toacting in accordance with their interna-tional obligations. Sadly, this applies alsoto members of the Security Council, in-cluding Western democracies.

Determination and efciency

The development over the 50 yearssince Dag Hammarskjld delivered

his address has brought tremendouschange. The Cold War is over, decoloni-sation is almost completed, the mem-bers of the United Nations now number192, the number of resolutions adopted

by the Security Council is approaching2,000, and international law is coveringever wider elds. In the latter respect,human rights law, humanitarian lawand international criminal law couldbe mentioned in particular.

However, in some areas, there is stilla wide gap between the norms that ap-ply and the way in which they are re-spected. This is of course rst and fore-most a matter for the community ofsovereign states. However, it also bringsto the forefront the ethical element inthe role of the international civil serv-ice. The UN is often criticised for notdelivering. In many cases this criticismis valid. The truth is of course that theorganisation can never be stronger thanits members allow it to be. At the sametime this raises the question whetherthe international civil servants might be

able to inuence the development in amore determined and effective mannerin the future.

In this context the following provi-sions in the UN Charter are of particu-

An international civil servant must be very strict not to let his own human reactions inuence his actions.

Dag Hammarskjld visited Katanga in August 1960 for talks with Katanga authorities and Belgian representativesabout possible solutions to the critical situation.

Photo:UnPhoto/hP


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lar relevance. According to Article 100,in the performance of their duties, theSecretary-General and the staff shallrefrain from any action which mightreect on their position as interna-tional ofcials responsible only to theorganisation. Article 101 stipulatesthat the staff shall be appointed by the

Secretary-General under regulationsestablished by the General Assemblyand the paramount consideration inthe employment of the staff and in thedetermination of the conditions of serv-ice shall be the necessity of securing thehighest standards of efciency, compe-tence and integrity.

Staffs responsibilities areinternational

Staff Regulation 1.1 prescribes thatstaff members are international civil

servants and that their responsibilitiesas staff members are not national butexclusively international.4 They shallmake the following written declarationwitnessed by the Secretary-General orhis or her authorised representative:

I solemnly declare and promise toexercise in all loyalty, discretion andconscience the functions entrusted tome as an international civil servant ofthe United Nations, to discharge thesefunctions and regulate my conduct with

the interests of the United Nations onlyin view, and not to seek or accept in-

structions in regard to the performanceof my duties from any Government orother source external to the Organisa-tion. I also solemnly declare and prom-ise to respect the obligations incumbentupon me as set out in the Staff Regula-tions and Rules.

Staff Regulation 1.2 contains detailed

rules on the basic rights and obliga-tions of staff. Among the core valuesexpressed in this provision, the follow-ing are of particular relevance in thiscontext:

Staff members shall uphold and re-spect the principles set out in theCharter, including faith in fundamen-tal human rights, in the dignity andworth of the human person and in theequal rights of men and women.

Staff members shall uphold the

highest standards of efciency, com-petence and integrity. The conceptof integrity includes, but is not lim-ited to, probity, impartiality, fairness,honesty and truthfulness in all mat-ters affecting their work and status.

By accepting appointment, staffmembers pledge themselves to dis-charge their functions and regulatetheir conduct with the interests ofthe Organisation only in view. Loy-alty to the aims, principles and pur-

poses of the United Nations, as setforth in its Charter, is a fundamen-tal obligation of all staff members byvirtue of their status as internationalcivil servants.

Staff members shall conduct them-selves at all times in a manner bet-ting their status as international civilservants and shall not engage in anyactivity that is incompatible with theproper discharge of their duties withthe United Nations.

Staff members shall avoid any actionand, in particular, any kind of publicpronouncement that may adverselyreect on their status, or on the in-tegrity, independence and impartial-ity that are required by that status.

Staff members shall exercise theutmost discretion with regard to allmatters of ofcial business. Theyshall not communicate to any Gov-ernment, entity, person or any other

source any information known tothem by reason of their ofcial posi-tion that they know or ought to haveknown has not been made public,except as appropriate in the normal

course of their duties or by authorisa-tion of the Secretary-General. Theseobligations do not cease upon sepa-ration from service.

Integrity and good judgement

The question is now how staff membersshould conduct themselves when they

observe that Member States are not re-specting the rules that they have agreedupon and when they observe that statesare lacking in loyalty to the aims, princi-ples and purposes of the United Nations.

It goes without saying that the rulesjust quoted mean that it would not beappropriate for staff members at dif-ferent levels to express their personalviews in various matters in a mannerthat may adversely reect on their sta-tus, or on the integrity, independenceand impartiality that are required bythat status. Ultimately, this becomes amatter of judgement. And in this as-

sessment, the reasoning of Dag Ham-marskjld is an obvious lodestar.An evident conclusion from his rea-

soning is that the way in which the Sec-retary-General acts is of paramount im-portance. It is against this backgroundthat the Secretary-General as any per-son serving in a high-level function needs critical advisers around him. Themost authoritative manner in which todeal with the dilemma that is describedhere is to bring the concerns of staff tothe attention of the Secretary-Generalthrough the appropriate channels. Itwould then be for his or her senior staffto advise the Secretary-General what ac-tion to take. Ultimately, the Secretary-General must make a decision how toproceed in general terms and in theparticular case at hand.

The interests of the UNare paramount

It is sometimes said that many Mem-ber States prefer that the chief admin-

istrative ofcer of the United Nations ismore of a secretary than a general.However, to the general public theSecretary-General actually personiesthe UN. This is the reason why he is

Integrity is in Dag Hammarskjlds ethicalcore, especially in the sense of respect forlaw and respect for truth.

When states enterinto internationalagreements theyactually exercise their

sovereignty.


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sometimes criticised for the shortcom-ings of the organisation also relating tomatters over which he has no authority.This requires that the Secretary-Generalproceeds with determination when it isobvious that the UN must act. It is inthis situation that the Secretary-Generalmust do his duty guided solely by the

common aims and rules laid down for,and by the Organisation he serves andby recognised legal principles.5

The tension that might arise in this

situation is closely related to the questionhow states dene their interests. Surely,one must be aware of the political reali-ties here. However, it is striking to seehow short-sightedly these interests aresometimes dened. There are severalreasons for this. One obvious reasonmay be the current political situation atthe national level, which could be an un-fortunate reection of arrogance in com-bination with ignorance not only among

people in general but also among thosewho represent them. Another reasoncould be that the government represent-ing the state is not a true and legitimaterepresentative of its people. The recentevents in North Africa and the MiddleEast are cases in point.

It is in this case that the purposes and

principles of the UN must be broughtto the forefront. It is in this case that itis necessary that the international civilservice with the Secretary-General inthe lead acts on the basis of the com-monly agreed norms which constitutethe heritage from a generation that ex-perienced two world wars.

A famous quote of Dag Hammar-skjld is from his statement in theGeneral Assembly on 31 October 1956:The principles of [the Charter of theUnited Nations] are, by far, greater than

the Organisation in which they are em-bodied, and the aims which they are tosafeguard are holier than the policies ofany single nation or people.6

Read in conjunction with the wordsof the oath quoted above, with the in-terests of the United Nations only inview, the obvious conclusion is thatthe interests of a particular state mustyield to the interests of the organisation.Depending on the functions entrusted

to the international civil servant, he orshe could make a difference. It is atthis juncture that his or her integrity,independence and impartiality can be adetermining factor.+

1 Published since then as Hans Corell, The Needfor the Rule of Law in International Affairs Reections on Dag Hammarskjlds addressat Oxford University on 30 May 1961, TheInternational Civil Service in Law and in Fact,in Hans Corell/Inge Lnning/Henning Melber,The Ethics of Dag Hammarskjld. Uppsala: TheDag Hammarskjld Foundation 2010.

2 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier and WilderFoote (eds), Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations. Volume V:Dag Hammarskjld 1960-1961. New York andLondon: Columbia University Press 1975.

3 United Nations Security Council, Statement bythe President of the Security Council, 22 June2006, S/PRST/2006/28.

4 ST/SGB/2009/6.5 Quoted from Andrew W. Cordier and Wilder

Foote, op. cit.

6 Statement by Dag Hammarskjld in the Gener-al Assembly, 31 October 1956. Quoted from KaiFalkman, To speak for the world: Speeches andStatements by Dag Hammarskjld. Stockholm:Atlantis 2005.

To the general publicthe Secretary-Generalactually personiesthe UN.

In keen international competition, Uppsala University hasbeen named Rotary Internationals seventh center for inter-national studies in peace and conict resolution. This meansthat students from all over the world will be able to receiveRotary scholarships to pursue a master program in peace andconict studies at Uppsala.

Out of an international pool of more than 100 universi-ties, Uppsala University was selected for its establishedcore curriculum in international relations, peace, and con-ict resolution, superior faculty, excellent academic creden-tials and nancial stability.

It is, of course, a great honor to be recognized as offer-ing world-class education, says Peter Wallensteen, holderof the Dag Hammarskjld Professorship in Peace and Con-ict Research at Uppsala University. This is an effect of ourlong-term quality work in education and research. It hasresulted in bright international students already ndingtheir way here.

Founded in 1477, Uppsala University is one of oldest and

top ranked universities in Northern Europe. Its departmentof Peace and Conict Research was established in 1971.

A key aspect of the departments research has beenits numerous and wide-ranging collaborations with in-ternationally leading scholars and institutions, says Carl-

Wilhelm Stenhammar, chair of the Rotary Foundation ofRotary International.

The Rotary Peace Center in Uppsala is scheduled to openin September, 2012.

Rotarys decision is a source of tremendous pride forus, says Anders Hallberg, Vice Chancellor of Uppsala Uni-versity. Peace, security, and democracy comprise one of ouruniversitys truly robust elds of research and education,and it means a great deal to us to have been selected out ofmore than 100 universities in the world.

The seven Rotary Peace Centers in the world are:

Uppsala University, Sweden

University of Bradford, United Kingdom

University of Queensland, Australia

International Christian University, Japan

Universidad del Salvador, Argentina

Duke University and the University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill, USA

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, (three-monthcerticate program).

Adaptedfrom:RotaryInternationalandUppsalaUniversityDepartmentforPeaceandConictResearch

Rotary selects Uppsala University for new Peace Center


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New Routes 2/2011 17leave it to dag!

Among the many telegrams that

reached Dag Hammarskjld on hisbirthday, 29 July, 1955, one came fromthe Prime Minister of China, Chou En-Lai. It congratulated Hammarskjld onhis 50th anniversary and informed himthat a Chinese Court had just freed anumber of captured American pilots.This made headlines around the worldand catapulted Hammarskjld to fameas a United Nations (UN) leader thatcould achieve remarkable results. Me-dia invented the phrase: Leave it to Dag!

From then on Hammarskjld becameengaged in a series of political disputesand conicts as a problem-solver andmediator. His achievements generateda momentum, which made it possiblefor him to convene the UN SecurityCouncil ve years later and commit itto one of the UNs largest peacekeep-ing missions ever in the Congo. It alsobecame the battle-eld where he him-self succumbed now 50 years ago, on18 September, 1961. We can now legiti-mately ask, what legacy has Hammar-skjld left for conict resolution?

Sadly, conicts that Hammarskjlddealt with are still on the agenda of theinternational community. His most re-cent successors, Ko Annan and BanKi-Moon, have also had to deal with theconicts in the Congo, as well as overPalestine. The focus may have shiftedbut the core concerns remain the same:keeping the Democratic Republic ofCongo intact and giving legitimaterights to the Palestinians. In addition

there are issues that were not on theagenda in the 1950s, notably sexualviolence against civilians and suicidebombings, and some that are no longerrelevant, notably the Cold War.

The Uppsala Conict Data Program

shows that there were 39 armed con-icts going somewhere in the worldduring Hammarskjlds period asSecretary General (1953-61). This canbe compared to the 67 that were activeduring Ko Annans ten years (1997-2006) and 46 during Ban Ki-Moonsrst three years for which there is data(2007-09). The sheer number of con-icts is now much higher. It also re-mains a fact that not all conicts are onthe UN agenda. Local uprisings in India

and Burma, for instance, are dened bythe governments as internal and, thus,outside UN authority, in the same waythat the Cold War rivalry barred issuesfrom the UN agenda.

Turning crisis into opportunity

All Secretary-Generals are likely to facecomplicated situations involving majorpowers. Hammarskjld had to deal withthe military intervention by France, Brit-ain and Israel against Egypt in the SuezCanal in 1956. As the two major powersalso were permanent members of theUN Security Council, they could pre-vent action from this body, somethingthat upset Hammarskjld. He had seenBritain and France as champions of theUN and of international law. In thiscrisis they contradicted what they previ-ously had supported. Instead, Hammar-skjld operated with the support of theUN General Assembly, Canada and theUnited States to bring about the rst realpeacekeeping mission, putting troops

between the belligerents. The principlesof action that he developed are still basicfor peacekeeping operations.

Ko Annan faced a similar impassein 2003. Again, two leading member

of the UN, this time the United States

and Britain, intervened militarily inIraq without a proper mandate fromthe Security Council. In fact, they werebreaking international law. In an im-portant speech, Annan said that theinternational community had come ofa fork in the road. There was a choicebetween unilateralism and multilater-alism. Being constructive, Annan em-barked on a reform process of the UN,resulting, for instance, in agreement

on the international responsibility toprotect civilian populations from massviolence and war crimes, committedby their own governments (known asR2P). This principle was the basis forUN action in Libya in February andMarch 2011.

Hammarskjld and Annan turneda crisis into an opportunity to enhancethe standing of the UN. Ban Ki-Moonmay be facing his formative momentwhen dealing with the unarmed Arabinsurrections in 2011. It remains to be

seen if this becomes an opportunity forUN to demonstrate how R2P can beturned into action.

Hammarskjld was strongly involvedin seven major conicts, which in fact

Leave it to Dag!PeterWallensteen

The number and character of the conicts in the world of today have certainlychanged since the 1950s, but it is a sad fact that several of them still remainunresolved. Thanks to, among other things, Dag Hammarskjlds personaldiplomacy, a number of agreements were reached to avert these crises. He hada special ability to see an agreement as the rst step in a series of continuedimplementation of what we today would call peacebuilding. His perspectivewas conict resolution, not only crisis management. This article also presents

a number of concrete steps on the rough road of conict resolution.

Sadly, conictsthat Hammarskjlddealt with are stillon the agenda ofthe internationalcommunity.


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consisted of at least twenty decisionpoints, and he had a reasonable recordof achievements that we can learn from.First, there was his ability in forgingagreements between parties in disputes.Second, he managed sometimes to getissues on the agenda, thus leading theinternational community. Third, he

contributed to changing realities on theground by negotiating arrangementsfor implementation of UN decisions.Let us take a quick look at situations hefaced.

Making agreements

In the autumn of 1954 an Americanairplane ew into Chinas airspace. Theplane and its crew were captured by theChinese and the pilots were accused ofspying. American media was alarmed.The US government demanded their

immediate release. However, USA andChina had no diplomatic relations. TheCommunist regime, led by Mao Tse-tung, had taken control over the main-land in 1949, and the Nationalist alliesof the United States were only in con-trol over Taiwan. They retained Chinas

seat on the Security Council, however,and the US continued to recognise theNationalists as Chinas government. Italso meant that the UN did not havedirect contacts with the de facto rulersof China. However, the pilots were for-mally part of the UN operation in Ko-rea. Thus, the US President Eisenhower

could solve his dilemma of not beingable to get the pilots out by pointingto the responsibility of the Secretary-General for his staff. Hammarskjldhad to take on a mission that seemedimpossible.

However, Hammarskjld had oneadvantage. Sweden had recognised thegovernment that controlled the main-land. Using Swedish channels he couldsend a message to the rulers in Beijingand ask for a meeting. He was invitedand spent one week in China for dis-

cussions on a wide-ranging set of top-ics, including, of course, the pilots.When returning to the US from thisvisit, American media asked for the pi-lots, but he brought none of them. Onesolution had been that they could bereleased if their families visited China,

but the US Congress quickly passed alaw forbidding such travel. The missionseemed to have been a failure. This iswhy the telegram from Chou En-Laibecame such a surprise and why theoutcome was important for Hammar-skjlds standing. In fact, the release ofthe pilots was coupled to the creation

of a secret direct channel between theUS and China, via their embassies inWarsaw, Poland.

Clearly the two major powers wanteda solution. Hammarskjld could sug-gest different possible ways out withoutmaking any of the sides uneasy. How-ever, he soon learned that major powersare not simple to handle. The Suez crisiswas one such experience, dealing withthe Soviet Unions invasion of Hungaryat the same time was another, as was therebuff he encountered when approach-

ing the parties in the short 1961 war be-tween France and Tunisia. Finding anagreement primarily requires the con-sent of the parties. In the Suez crisis asolution based on the withdrawal of theintervening forces achieved this, par-ticularly with the committed support of

UN peacekeeping missionswere introduced during

Dag Hammarskjlds termas Secretary General. In

December 1958 he visitedGaza to spend Christmaswith the troops of the UN

Emergency Force, hereinspecting the Brazilian

Battalion.

Photo:UnPhoto/x


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the United States. Hammarskjlds rolewas instrumental as he had direct andpersonal conversations with the lead-ing actors, notably Israels Prime Min-ister Ben Gurion and Egypts PresidentNasser. Hammarskjld said that Nasserhad never gone back on anything hesaid to me personally (Urquhart 1994:

269). By placing peacekeeping troopsalong the Suez Canal, the UN (and theUSA) could pressure Israel to withdrawfrom the Sinai Peninsula, ending thethreats of an immediately renewed war.

In the following years, Hammar-skjld was involved in settling threat-ening conicts, notably in Lebanon,between Cambodia and Thailand, andin the Congo. On what became his -nal mission he hoped to nd a solutionto the secessionist regime of Katanga,the mineral-rich southern part of the

Congo. The plane crash may have killedthe hope of a peaceful settlement. Thefollowing year, Katanga was forcefullyreintegrated into the Congo. Hammar-skjld did not achieve a solution in theCongo, but he prevented it from becom-ing part of the Cold War by getting it tothe UN agenda.

Setting the agenda

Before negotiating with the parties, theissue has to be on the agenda. Thus,

it is important for a UN Secretary-General to get the international com-munity involved. Article 99 of the UNCharter gives the holder such powers.This involves often invisible agendadiplomacy. It was remarkable howHammarskjld could call the UN Se-curity Council to meet in the middleof July 1960. Congo had just becomeindependent and within days its armysoldiers mutinied, and rich Katangadeclared independence, no doubt withassistance of the former colonial power,Belgium.

The country was about to disinte-grate, with disastrous effects for thenewly independent continent of Africa.It threatened to turn Congo into anarena of Cold War proxy wars. Ham-marskjld was resolved to prevent this,and had the strong support from lead-ers of Africa, Asia and neutral states.His solution was to keep the countrytogether with the help of an interna-tional peacekeeping mission. It came

to involve Hammarskjld in disputeswith local actors, and, not least, the So-viet Union. In the beginning he had itssupport, but towards the end the Sovietleader refused to cooperate with the

UN, even withdrawing its support tothe UN budget. For the long term, UNaction helped to save the countrys in-tegrity and independence, but the pricewas high.

Getting matters to the agenda andachieving support for internationallyagreed action is not easy. In 1954, Ham-marskjld wanted to bring the CIA in-tervention in Guatemala to the UN Se-

curity Council, but was stopped by theUnited States. It argued that the issuebelonged to the regional body, the Or-ganisation of American States, whichwas under the US spell. In 1956, Ham-marskjld wanted to go to Hungary toinform himself on the Soviet invasion,but he was not allowed to enter. Francedid not allow him to act on the warbetween Tunisia and France in 1961.There are limits to what a Secretary-General can achieve.

Changing realities

Much of Hammarskjlds work hadto do with implementation: to pursuewhat has been agreed so that it becomesa practical reality. Hammarskjld was amaster in implementation diplomacy.Getting a ceasere in the Suez Canalwas but a rst step in a series of diplo-matic moves that gave the peacekeep-ers authority in the area and convincedIsrael of the advantages of withdrawal.The complex operation in the Congo

included similar concerns, includingpersuading Belgian troops to leave, andmaking sure assistance money was notused to further outside powers interestsbut channelled through the UN.

Managing practical diplomacy iswhat the Charter expects the Secretary-General to do, presumably under theinstructions of the Security Council.However, Hammarskjld repeatedly en-countered situations where the Councilcould not agree on instructions. Thenit was for Hammarskjld to interprethis mandate and chart his own route.Without a capacity to analyse and act

the UN cannot function in critical situ-ations. On the whole Hammarskjldwas remarkably successful. In several

instances it was possible for him toovercome opposition from some of thepermanent members by drawing onhis position in the General Assembly.Hammarskjld managed to build com-mitted coalitions in particular issues.

Hammarskjlds ability to interpretmandates and nding ingenious solu-tions, principles for action and practical

courses of action may explain his activ-ity. His intellectual capacity was gearedto problem-solving. He understood verywell that the survival of agreements de-pended on the ability to settle the rst

Refugees crowding around a UN vehicle in 1962 to be repatriated from a campnear Elisabethville (present Lubumbashi) in Congo to the traditional tribal lands

of their forefathers.

Photo:UnPhoto/bZ

Hammarskjld didnot achieve a solutionin the Congo, but heprevented it frombecoming part of

the Cold War.


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crises that follow the signing of an ac-cord. The implementation of the agree-ment on peacekeeping troops in 1956made the mission stick until 1967. Hedisplayed a preference for developingprinciples that would last. He did notwant xes for the day. The perspectivewas the one of conict resolution, not

simply crisis management. There aresome lessons to be drawn for mediatorsalso today.

Hammarskjlds contribution toconict resolution

There are interesting features in Ham-marskjlds way of operating. Here aresome pointers:

Build unorthodox coalition! Hammar-skjlds diplomacy built on workingboth with powerful USA and the newly-

independent states. The North-Southdivide was not, and still is not, easy tohandle. Hammarskjld repeatedly raninto conict with the US administra-tion but could still work with it in otherareas. Hammarskjlds relationshipwith the Soviet Union was positive ini-tially only to go sour in 1960, when theSoviets wanted him to resign in orderto radically change the UN Secretariat.These complications contrasted Ham-marskjlds cordial relations with ThirdWorld leaders, like Indias Prime Min-ister Nehru. Hammarskjlds perform-ance demonstrates the utility of princi-pled pragmatism.

Meet the parties! The breakthroughfor Hammarskjlds diplomacy camewith his visit to China in 1954. Per-sonal diplomacy was Hammarskjldstrademark. It is even more importanttoday. Travel is more comfortable, com-munication is more rapid, Internet canbe used for direct conversations. Butmuch suggests that the direct personal

meeting and establishing mutual trustis unsurpassed when moving towardsconict resolution.

Create leverage!Hammarskjld had notraditional power. His authority restedwith the UN Charter and his standingin the UN. By threatening to bring aconict to the agenda, he could gainleverage. By having an issue on theagenda, he could inuence parties byoutlining possible outcomes of votes.With the peacekeeping troops as an

instrument even more leverage couldbe gained. This is partly what is todayoften described as soft power, and theresources may vary among institutions.There is often something to build on.

Act early, but with caution!The term pre-ventive diplomacy was coined by Ham-marskjld and again achieved promi-nence in the 1990s. Once bloodshedhas begun and troops are in battle, theoptions narrow. There is mixed recordin preventive diplomacy. Sometimes ac-tions come too late, sometimes too early.The parties may have to be convincedof the use of outsiders, which requiresskilful diplomacy.

Maintain your integrity!The UN Secre-tariat has a role position. A mediationmission rests on the integrity it candemonstrate vis--vis the parties. It isa platform of action and should not beallowed to be questioned by the parties.

Stamina and patience!Hammarskjldskey visit to Beijing took place in coldand dark January, after a tedious ightvia London, Paris, Delhi, Canton, andHankow. Hammarskjld could stillwalk around without a hat and at a ter-ric pace. He could also work throughthe night if necessary. For a conict re-solver it is important to have energy tostay focused on key issues.

We have also noted that Hammarskjld

was willing to take risks. He took risksfor peace, not for country or God. Hewas expected to be more of a secretary,and became an agenda setting general.He saw the duties his ofce required.

Most mediators come with unselsh per-spectives. Well-considered risk-takingfor peace should be applauded.+

LiteratureTherse Pettersson and Lotta Themnr(eds), States in Armed Conict 2009.Uppsala: Uppsala University/Depart-ment of Peace and Conict Research2010.

Brian Urquhart, Hammarskjold. NewYork: Norton 1972 (reprint 1994).

Peter Wallensteen, Dag Hammarskjldand the Psychology of Diplomacy, in Pe-ter Wallensteen, Peace Research: Theory

and Practice, London and New York:Routledge 2011, pp. 154-171.

Photo:UnPhoto/jh

Private P. Fennessey at his camp in Albertville (present Kalemie). In 1960 some 15,700soldiers from eleven countries were on duty with the UN Force in the Republic of theCongo, helping to restore order and calm in the country.


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In his oft-quoted May 1954 address at theUniversity of Californias commence-ment, Dag Hammarskjld concluded:It has been said that the United Nationswas not created in order to bring us toheaven, but in order to save us from hell [which] sums up as well as anything Ihave heard both the essential role of theUnited Nations and the attitude of mindthat we should bring to its support.1Ever the pragmatist, Hammarskjlds

down-to-earth prose understated his vi-sion and aspirations. This essay explorestwo aspects of his tragically abbreviatedtenure as Secretary-General. It beginswith Hammarskjlds leadership incomparison with other Secretaries-General, which build on oral historiesfrom the United Nations IntellectualHistory Project.2 It continues with twoparts of his unfullled legacy, which arepart of what ails the contemporary UNand could be xed.3

Hammarskjlds leadership

Leadership is critical to every humanundertaking, and the UNs CEOholds a particular place in folklore andreality. The Charter, of course, labelshim (not yet her) the chief admin-istrative ofcer, an understatementof the potential and actual role, cer-tainly as demonstrated by the secondSecretary-General. Hammarskjldstenure at the UN from 1953 to 1961coincided with the initial period of

decolonization, and it seems surpris-ing that a Swedish economist did notspend more of his time on economicand social development. These issuesinvariably take second place to politi-

cal and security matters in the Secre-tary-Generals ofce, regardless of theoccupant.

Brian Urquhart, one of the rst per-sons recruited to the Secretariat, ex-plained: The 38th oor, under [Trygve]Lie, and under everybody except DagHammarskjld, didnt really devote any-thing like enough attention to the eco-nomic and social side partly becausethey werent economists and didnt to-

tally understand it, and partly becausethere were so

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Dag Hammarskjold & UN