Kent Kille and Fellow Scholars Examine Ethical Frameworks of U.N. Secretaries-General

WOOSTER, Ohio - When almost every decision has life-or-death implications, how does one's inner code of religious and moral values shape the ethical framework through which such choices are made? Kent Kille, associate professor of political science at The College of Wooster, and nine of his colleagues set out to address that question in The UN Secretary-General and Moral Authority: Ethics and Religion in International Leadership, an edited volume published by Georgetown University Press that examines how each of the seven former office-holders dealt with ethical dilemmas.

Kille, who last year authored From Manager to Visionary: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, has become an international expert on an office that was once described by the first Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, as "the most impossible job on earth." His most recent work was initiated by noted international relations scholar Harold Guetzkow, who had a personal interest in the religious values of the UN Secretary-General. Guetzkow contacted Kille, whose writings he had read, with the initial idea and asked him to direct the project that led to the edited book. Kille enthusiastically took on the challenge, and Guetzkow remained involved by helping to secure generous funding for research, travel, and meetings.

Kille, who also serves as chair of the international relations program at Wooster, gathered and edited the chapters, which provide detailed analyses of all seven former Secretaries-General and offer insight for a comparison of their personal religious and moral values. Each case study details the environmental and experiential factors that led to the development of each office-holder's ethical foundation. Then, the authors analyze how each Secretary-General's moral compass engaged with the duties of the office and the global events particular to their terms.

In the opening chapter, Kille provides the foundation for the study through a model of the ethical framework development and impact, which measures environmental factors, experiential factors, and the external context. "Our objective was to determine how the interaction between ethical framework and external context shape the decision-making process," said Kille. "In carrying out such a review, the stage was set for considering how well the approach provides a useful analytical roadmap for exploring important variation across the office-holders and generating insights on the Secretary-General as a moral authority."

Kille then gives way to the other nine scholars who examine each of the seven former Secretaries-General or issues related to the office. In the second chapter, Dorothy V. Jones of The Newberry Library in Chicago assesses the role of the Secretary-General as a normative negotiator. James P. Muldoon Jr. (Rutgers University-Newark) follows with a look at Lie's tenure and the challenges he faced as the first person to hold that position. Alynna J. Lyon (University of New Hampshire) is next with a discussion of Dag Hammarskjold and his moral authority. The sequence continues with A. Walter Dorn's (Royal Military College of Canada) study of U Thant and Buddhism; Michael T. Kuchinsky's (Gardner-Webb University) impression of Kurt Waldheim; Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan's (Central Washington University) and David P. Forsythe's (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) joint take on Javier Perez de Cueller; Anthony F. Lang Jr.'s (University of St. Andrews) view of Boutros Boutros-Ghali; and Courtney B. Smith's (Seton Hall University) observation of Kofi Annan's "balancing act."

Kille pulls everything together with some interesting observations and conclusions in the final chapter. "It is apparent from this study that any effort by the Secretary-General to stand forth as a moral voice in the international community is a complicated and difficult undertaking," he said. "The weighty moral expectations of the office stand in contrast to the difficult ethical dilemmas with which every Secretary-General must wrestle. The job of Secretary-General is never an easy one, but occupants of the office are likely to continue to rely on their personal ethics and religion and do their best to provide the moral authority the international community so sorely needs."

The UN Secretary-General and Moral Authority: Ethics and Religion in International Leadership is available at The College of Wooster's Wilson Bookstore in Lowry Center (1189 Beall Ave.) and through Georgetown University Press at www.press.georgetown.edu or 1-800-537-5487.