How did the EU and UN go from being run by these guys…
…to their current leaders?
Having written a fair bit about the UN’s Ban Ki-moon and EU’s Catherine Ashton in the past, I’ve done a piece for the European Voice comparing their leadership styles…
Ban and Ashton have both received frequent criticism for their diplomatic styles, which are strikingly similar. Both are widely agreed to be genuinely decent, hard-working officials. But both are also naturally cautious and have said they prefer ‘quiet diplomacy’ to headline-hogging strategic initiatives.
Each has sometimes struggled to escape the shadows of their generally well-respected predecessors. Ban lacks Kofi Annan’s charm while Ashton does not manoeuvre around Brussels as easily as Javier Solana.
This is not just a matter of personalities. While journalists are not particularly sympathetic to Ban and Ashton’s plight, historians may conclude that their careers were shaped by a common dilemma: how to adapt multilateral institutions to an era in which Western powers are diminished, if as yet far from dead.
Read the rest of my argument here.
Afterthought: look closely at Kofi and Ban in the pictures above. It looks like they’re wearing the same tie. Did Kofi leave it behind in the office?
