A century of international civil service

Reassessing Hammarskjöld’s anti-hegemonic stance suggests that there were more than enough parties satisfied that he could not bring his mission to the planned end. After all, the secessionist Katanga province was under firm control of Belgian and other Western mining companies. It was the biggest supplier of uranium for the US nuclear arms race. As a mineral-rich resource of global relevance it was of highest geo-strategic interest.

The hitherto unclarified causes for the plane crash remain a matter of renewed investigations. These were triggered by the book of Susan Williams, Who Killed Hammarskjöld?.

Why global governance and leadership matters

My book argues that despite all the limitations, values matter for a global governance body seeking to solve – or at least contain – conflicts through multilateral diplomacy. It highlights the battles over the power of definition by different interest groups in the era of decolonisation and the East-West conflict as well as the potential role and influence of an individual in charge of the UN Secretariat.

It recognises Hammarskjöld as an outstanding international civil servant, who believed in the spirit and word of the UN Charter and the virtues of a service guided by loyalty to its values and principles.

Individual leadership is important. But I also emphasise the limitations such an office and its incumbent have. The study also critically reflects on some of the failures and flaws during Hammarskjöld’s time as Secretary General. After all, while he set the bar very high and remains widely respected, he was far from unfailing.

Nevertheless, I argue, his term ended with his integrity intact. This was evident from the fact that towards the end of his time in office he was portrayed through a lens of suspicion and mistrust in the West and open calls for resignation in the East. Revealingly so, the newly independent states remained to a large extent supportive. For them he was “their” Secretary General.

A hundred years after the creation of an international civil service, Hammarskjöld deserves to be remembered for leading by example.

****

Henning Melber is Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria

Source: The Conversation