As you probably suspected, the answer is: everyone cites conflicting precedents and then they give it Dag's niece until the end of the season. Oh so very UN.

Fred Carver@arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 2w ago

What happens if the UN Security Council cannot pick a new Secretary-General by the end of the year? It's very very possible so @benaldson.bsky.social and I outlined some of the options for @plataformacipo.bsky.social 1for8billion.org/if-security-...

What happens if the UN Security Council cannot pick a new Secretary-General by the end of the year? It's very very possible so @benaldson.bsky.social and I outlined some of the options for @plataformacipo.bsky.social 1for8billion.org/if-security-...

A good start that Burnham went to UNGA, and that despite being the first UK PM since Hague era David Cameron not to set foreign policy directly from Number 10 but to actually have a non-titular Foreign Sec. Keir "I want to reach the top of foreign policy" Starmer didn't bother last year

Fred Carver@arbeider4fred.bsky.social · last mo.

Pleasure to write this for @fpcthinktank.bsky.social on the current state of the UN, and what that means for the UK fpc.org.uk/long-read-th...

My new editorial/introduction for SDG Action ahead of #unga sdg-action.org/looking-for-...

Looking for leadership | SDG Action

Indifference and hostility have created a leadership vacuum in development. But as practitioners do the best they can in challenging circumstances, they create their own forms of thought leadership

sdg-action.org

She lived a truly incredible life (essentially "what if Forrest Gump was an incredibly smart marxist?") and then wrote a fascinating but frustratingly incomplete memoir. I reviewed it here medium.com/freds-blog/m...

Mokhtefi on Algiers

Another piece, this time a book review, I submitted on spec unsuccessfully. I wrote it nearly 3 years ago, for a magazine I co-edited so I…

medium.com

Accueil [Unofficial]@tsa-algerie.com.web.brid.gy · 4w ago

🌐 New long read | The State of the UN The UN may be in poor shape, but it is far from useless. Ahead of #UNGA, Fred Carver asks what has been lost as the international order fragments and what the UN still provides as the “velvet rope of diplomacy”. ➡️ fpc.org.uk/long-read-th...

Pleasure to write this for @fpcthinktank.bsky.social on the current state of the UN, and what that means for the UK fpc.org.uk/long-read-th...

Long Read | The State of the UN - The Foreign Policy Centre

What does a weakened United Nations mean for the UK? Fred Carver examines the state of the UN and where Britain can still exercise influence.

fpc.org.uk

Important piece by two of the great peacebuilders of our time. Guterres wanted to be a mediation SG but only rarely did he invest the time and resources over the long term needed. Here's how the next SG can do better passblue.com/2026/08/30/b...

Being Serious About Peace - PassBlue

Being Serious About Peace - PassBlue

passblue.com

Fantastic essay. One of the things I keep coming back to is that the centralisation of authority is neither necessary nor desirable for sustainable peace. Only thing I'd maybe add is I think a big part of why the myth persists is GWOT's hostility to the non-state actor odi.org/en/insights/...

Beyond the unitary state: rethinking state-building in an age of fragmentation

In this blog, former UN Assistant Secretary General Sir Charles Petrie examines the question of state-building in an age of fragmentation, drawing on close to 40 years of experience working in conflic...

odi.org

The peace operations review report is out at long last. TL;DR: it effectively argues for the status quo. In this reaction piece, I highlight the areas I thought the report got wrong, the items that are missing entirely, and what member states should do now. casquebleu.substack.com/p/nothing-ne...

Nothing new in the peace operations review

Just entities protecting their interests and passing the buck

casquebleu.substack.com

leilacancode.github.io/everythinggo...

"Participation in peacekeeping should not be a financial burden to contributing countries. But it should not become the means by which to bankroll and cultivate the tools of authoritarian conflict management."

Eugene Chen@casquebleu.org · 2mo ago

Over the past few decades, UN peace operations have been subverted from their original purpose of promoting liberal peace towards becoming tools of authoritarian conflict management. This week, I look at how this happened and ways to counter the trend. casquebleu.substack.com/p/peace-oper...

The Continent magazine has published an investigation I carried out alongside Kenyan journo James Okong'o exposing how Rwanda's government manipulates social media - secretly paying influencers - in support of the M23 occupation of DRC. Thank you @pulitzercenter.org for your support.

And now in @foreignpolicy.com with @benaldson.bsky.social foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/28/u...

Compromised Candidates

How backroom deals shape the race for secretary-general and prevent U.N. reform.

foreignpolicy.com

Fred Carver@arbeider4fred.bsky.social · 4mo ago

One of the most interesting projects I've done in a long time, working with @benaldson.bsky.social on a deep dive into the history of UN selection processes for 1 for 8 Billion and @plataformacipo.bsky.social It's now out! 1for8billion.org/backroom-deals

The first ever full second term for an HCHR. Aside from the usual suspects surprised by Trinidad, and Guyana's absention presumably has something to do with CRB's candidacy (maybe to keep the US sweet, maybe she wanted to pick her own HC?)

Lou Charbonneau@loucharb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🚨 #BREAKING - UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approves second 4-year term for UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk after rejecting attempts by US & #Russia to derail his reappointment -- 144 in favor, 10 against, 13 abstentions. @hrw.org reaction coming shortly!

Really grateful to @casquebleu.org for his thoughtful engagement with our Backroom Deals report. I've replied here. casquebleu.substack.com/p/living-wit...

Fred Carver on Blue Helmets, Red Tape

I'm very grateful to Eugene for his thoughtful engagement with our report (Backroom Deals), and I'm glad that you were impressed by the research. Coming from you that means a lot. I'm replying in a p...

casquebleu.substack.com

A top job at a top think tank And at a moment where there is suddenly a whole lot of policy thinking to be done! Come & help @ruthcurtice.bsky.social lead @resolutionfoundation.org www.resolutionfoundation.org/about-us/opp...

One of the most interesting projects I've done in a long time, working with @benaldson.bsky.social on a deep dive into the history of UN selection processes for 1 for 8 Billion and @plataformacipo.bsky.social It's now out! 1for8billion.org/backroom-deals

Starmer had two big problems, the first well known, the second maybe somewhat overlooked: 1) if you win a mandate, even a landslide, on an entirely negative campaign around what you are not which advances no vision then you have no core ideological support to see you through the hard times

This is useful. I do keep going back to Graeber's the revolt of the caring classes to understand how we got here davidgraeber.org/articles/the... but I think this usefully maps out where (the UK at least) now is

The Center Blows Itself Up

Politics, in wealthy countries, is increasingly becoming a war between the generations. While the support for smaller parties in the UK (Liberal Democrats, Greens, the Scottish National Party, even Br...

davidgraeber.org

Ben Ansell@benansell.bsky.social · 4mo ago

theanarchistlibrary.org/library/davi...

There Never Was a West

David Graeber There Never Was a West Or, Democracy Emerges From the Spaces In Between 2007 From the collection “Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy,...

theanarchistlibrary.org

Owen Jones@owenjones.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The US and Israel lost their war with Iran. My new book 'The Fall of the West' exposes the real reasons the West is falling - and who is really responsible.

The New Statesman asked me to put down a few thoughts about Belfast. On the politics and media that have failed everyone, and how much, and how little, has really changed. www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

The Belfast riots: new targets, old hatred

This is the story of a hardcore loyalist element which has stewed for decades in far-right ideology

newstatesman.com

My book is out now! An adventure story for kids aged 8-12 featuring ancient rituals, a journey across the sea, and water spirits…@oneworldbooks.bsky.social

Was an absolute pleasure to contribute to @ibvprev.bsky.social's visits to Greenland and Denmark at the start of this year. It informed this wonderful report on the role of resilience in democratic defence and European security img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/13...

My sis's book comes out today it looks amazing oneworld-publications.com/work/the-oce... @gen-carver.bsky.social

Happy International Workers' day: what better way to commemorate Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel than by joining the IWW? www.iww.org

Bleakly funny www.reuters.com/world/middle...

UAE refers Sudan general and others to court over ammunition shipment for Sudanese army

The United Arab Emirates has referred the chief of staff ​of Sudan's army and 12 other defendants and six companies to its ‌State Security Court over an alleged attempt to move ammunition through UAE ...

reuters.com

Happy REAL World Book day to everyone except the UK who do it wrong

Is it really all that surprising?

Los Angeles Times@latimes.com · 6mo ago

Cartel war takes surprising turn as CIA involvement in Mexico surfaces

In Devex alongside @benaldson.bsky.social and @plataformacipo.bsky.social teasing a report we've been working on which should be out shortly on the history of the backroom deals that underlie, and sometimes undermine, Secretary-General selections www.devex.com/news/no-more...

No more backroom deals at the UN

Opinion: The race for the next U.N. secretary-general must tackle the practice of national monopolies for top U.N. roles for certain member states.

devex.com