Trying to Take Over the World

Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt oversaw the League of Nations’ transition to the United Nations has the Secretary-General been a high-profile world citizen prior to holding the post. Being a relative unknown has been an unofficial prerequisite to nomination.

Current Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s second term expires at the end of this year, and the candidates nominated to fill the position may create a break with this tradition.

Word has it that Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac all have an eye on the slot, though they all recognize how risky a candidacy could be, and have not announced any intention of seeking the position.

So far, four candidates have officially been nominated:

• Shashi Tharoor, the current U.N. Under Secretary-General for Communications Public Information, of India


• Ban Ki-moon, a Harvard grad, of South Korea


• Jayantha Dhanapala, a former U.N. Under Secretary, of Sri Lanka


• Surakiart Sathirathai, current Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand

Additionally, there are three strong yet unannounced candidates:

• José Ramos Horta, current the Foreign Minister of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate


• Kemal Dervis, Secretary-General of the U.N. Development Program, of Turkey


• Niranjan Deva-Aditya, Sri-Lankan–born member of the British parliament

All seven of these likely candidates meet the “relatively unknown” pseudo-requirement.