Richard Gowan

Richard Gowan coordinates the International Security Institutions program at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University. He is also the UN Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate of the Foreign Policy Center (London).

What’s wrong with Geneva?

The BBC website has a rather breathless piece about the joys of Geneva today, declaring that "a cosmopolitan city known for diplomacy (and watches), is now...

Peacemaking’s silly season

I have an especially dour article over at World Politics Review about the state of crisis diplomacy today, which kicks off like this: Since the conflict in...

A UN translator’s tale

The London Review of Books has a nice piece by Lynn Visson, a former UN translator, on the secrets of her trade: The most important language in most...

Going postal

Dear reader, there is nothing make fun of here.  Nothing. 9 October World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9 October, the anniversary of the establishment...

No Man is a (Small) Island…

Snarky comments are not, I think, necessary here: Expressing #EU support for Small Island Developing States' SustDev at working breakfast w/ @UN's...

Last of the White Russians

Occasionally an item of news reminds us of how transient most great political dramas are, and how quickly major crises come and go.  This is rather healthy:...

More from Global Dashboard

Let’s make climate a culture war!

Let’s make climate a culture war!

If the politics of climate change end up polarised, is that so bad?  No – it’s disastrous. Or so I’ve long thought. Look at the US – where climate is even more polarised than abortion. Result: decades of flip flopping. Ambition under Clinton; reversal...