The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power (Hardcover)

by James Traub (Author)
Key Phrases: peacekeeping officials, peacekeeping department, outcome document, Security Council, United States, Kofi Annan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A heartbreaking book about a hardworking idealist ... " -- Kirkus

"Traub brings [the UN] to life with a highly readable account." -- The Economist

...engaging, nuanced and often fascinating...proof that the phrase "U.N. page-turner" is not hopelessly oxymoronic. -- Niall Stanage, The Wall Street Journal

...largely focused on Kofi Annan's decade long tenure as the U.N.'s secretary general...is engaging, nuanced, and often fascinating... -- Leisure & Arts, Bookshelf, November 8, 2006

Is the United Nations boring and irrelevant? This book certainly is not...a melancholy tale, beautifully written and meticulously researched. -- Josef Joffe, The New York Times Book Review

The Best Intentions is...one of the most definitive and accessible studies of the UN and its chief executive ever published. -- Stephen Schlesinger, Foreign Affairs

The book will no doubt go down as the best account of Annan's tenure during...the Bush Administration. -- Nancy Soderberg, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

The book works, not just as a portrait of Annan but as one of the U.N. itself. -- Salon.com Books, December 21, 2006

With a wide canvas and fine brush, "The Best Intentions" details a record Traub believes places Annan on the short list of great secretary generals...Traub credits him with grappling honestly with...the recurring nightmares of the post-Cold War... -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, December 3, 2006

Review

"We watched as the UN failed the people of Iraq in the Oil for Food scandal. We watched as the UN failed innocent people in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur in the Sudan, and in the Congo. And we are watching the results of UN failure in South Lebannon. Jim Traub supplies the critical insights for anyone seeking to make sense of the challenges we face."   —Newt Gingrich

 "Kofi Annan is, without question, the most significant UN Secretary General in 45 years. He is also a complex man occupying a very complicated post. To this important subject, James Traub brings great intelligence, balance, and insight. The result is a book well worth reading."  —Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom

 "Some want the world to be reformed by getting rid of the UN. That would be catastrophic. What the world needs is the UN reformed. In this book, James Traub tells the story of how difficult that is – and why it is so important." —Bono

                                                                                                                         On The Devil's Playground:

 

“Both an engaged civics lesson and a work of social history . . . on every page you learn something.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

 

“A shrewd and rollicking account.” —Time

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 31, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0374182205 ISBN-13: 978-0374182205 Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #370,491 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #78 in  Books > Nonfiction > Government > United Nations

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
peacekeeping officials, peacekeeping department, outcome document, light footprint, humanitarian goods, interim authority

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Security Council, United States, Kofi Annan, General Assembly, United Nations, Malloch Brown, New York, Cold War, White House, East Timor, Bob Orr, Sierra Leone, Vieira de Mello, State Department, South Africa, Kieran Prendergast, Third World, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, John Bolton, Middle East, Human Rights Council, John Ruggie, Saddam Hussein

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 17 books:

• The Middle East Since 1900 (Modern Times Sourcebooks) by K.A. Rice on page 154, page 174, and page 296
• THE ASSASSINS' GATE: AMERICA IN IRAQ by GEORGE PACKER on page 171, and Back Matter
• Endgame: The Betrayal And Fall Of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II by David Rohde in Back Matter
• Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West by David Rieff in Back Matter
• Franklin Roosevelt by Arthur Meier, Jr. Schlesinger on page 4

See all 17 books this book cites

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

International Human Rights in Context by Henry Steiner

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The Iraq War Reader by Christopher Cerf

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• Condoleezza Rice

Turbulent Peace by Chester A. Crocker

Discusses:

• manitarian intervention
• Security Council
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An Insider's Guide to the UN by Ms. Linda Fasulo

Discusses:

• peacekeeping department
• humanitarian goods
• Kofi Annan

The Superpower Myth by Nancy Soderberg

Discusses:

• peacekeeping department
• Madeleine Albright
• Colin Powell

The United Nations And Changing World Politics by Thomas G Weiss

Discusses:

• peacekeeping department
• outcome document
• light footprint

International Human Rights in Context by Henry Steiner Discusses: peacekeeping department humanitarian goods Kofi Annan The Iraq War Reader by Christopher Cerf Discusses: humanitarian goods Colin Powell Condoleezza Rice Turbulent Peace by Chester A. Crocker Discusses: manitarian intervention Security Council Kofi Annan An Insider's Guide to the UN by Ms. Linda Fasulo Discusses: peacekeeping department humanitarian goods Kofi Annan Loading...

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews 5 star:  (4) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily detailed reporting, cannily written, November 9, 2006 By  Pranay Gupte "www.pranaygupte.com" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    I have been a longtime fan of the writings of James Traub, so my view of his books is obviously somewhat biased. Nevertheless, I was astonished by the depth of his reporting about the United Nations and Kofi Annan. In view of the immense access that the U.N.'s outgoing secretary general gave him, Traub would have been surely tempted to write a hagiography. But he shows himself to be the consummate professional. This book is as much about Annan's setbacks and mistakes as it is about his triumphs. If Annan is as fair-minded as he's reported to be, then he is bound to be impressed by Traub's efforts. I doubt there's ever been such an extensively detailed work about the U.N., that beleaguered 192-nation body that has so much potential and yet has been handicapped by the mismanagement, corruption and straying from its mission of promoting global peace and security, and sustainable economic development. Traub captures it all -- the daily drama of development, the anguish of peacekeeping forces, the thankless grind of the U.N.'s field workers, the haughtiness of some of the organization's top povertycrats. Traub's narrative also makes for marvelous reading -- it's an unputdownable book. I predict that even those who might not be necessarily friends or critics of multilateral diplomacy will enjoy "The Best Intentions." 14 of 19 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, Relevant, Useful, Incomplete, Well-Presented, Lacking Notes & Larger Context, November 29, 2006 By  Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    I give this book five stars instead of four, which I would normally assign, because the shortfalls in the book, most especially a lack of context, notes, and additional detail, are out-weighed by the timeliness, relevance, utility, and able original presentation. This is an important book for our time. Indeed, I put it down thinking that the author has presented us with a meal of worms--and only those visible at the top of the planter box--but when you are starving--when there is no other viable alternative for peacekeeping--worms can be appetizing. Before I present some details that made it to my fly-leaf notes, a few "big points" that stayed with me: 1) UN is a grotesque failure in many many ways, but also the closest thing we have to a viable global enterprise, hence, a good starting point for all its flaws. 2) Not addressed at all in the book, spoken of only in passing, the rather important point that most UN agencies are not at all subordinate to nor responsive to the Secretary General and his Secretariat. 3) The UN suffers from two major impediments: first, that the contributing or Member nations do not really want it to be effective, and ham-string it, particularly the Security Council members, although the author is vitriolic on China and Russia vetoing votes, while strangely silent on the US and its constant veto; and second, that personal relations built over decades far out-weight actual job titles and responsibilities, and can be blamed for many things including the Oil for Food corruption nightmare. 4) The author gently explores three major alternatives to the current situation: 4a) the division of the UN into a global body for mobilizing resources and consensus; and a separate global police or gendarme force. I would note, with a genuflection toward Oakley et all in "Policing the New World Disorder," that this needs to be standing force or at least an earmarked force, ideally led by the Dutch, which trains together and has inter-operable concepts, doctrines, and equipment. See also the edited work, "Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future." 4b) a Democracies body, one that purportedly brings together democracies and ends the domination of the UN by third-rate third-world countries, many managed by dictators and corrupt leaders who loot their commonwealths far more aggressively than Wall Street loots America and the rest of the world. This fails when one realizes that most democracies really are not... 4c) Regional networks that bring to bear regional concerns and resources in the context of the varied global agencies. This has some real possibilities, especially if information is shared broadly to provide a "ground truth" that is undeniable. I am reminded of J. F. Rischard's excellent recommendations in High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them There is a useful history of key Secretary Generals, one that makes the point that Dag Hammarskjöld was an anomaly, and Annan, for all his flaws, may be one of the few to rise to the Hammarskjöld level of effectiveness.. The author provides a useful history of UN ineffectiveness and UN successes. I certainly recommend that this book be read in tandem with William Shawcross's Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict Interestingly, Shawcross and US diplomat Holbrooke were the only two personal guests at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. This book is severely lacking in two ways: 1) It really does not communicate the complexity of the over-all UN archipelago of fiefdoms, most of which are not responsive to the Secretary General, nor does it adequately describe the many problems for the UN created by Third World and other blocs. In this book, China, Russia, and to a much lesser extent than it merits, the US, are the evil doers. 2) It completely misses the role that multinational, multiagency, multidisciplinary, multidomain information sharing, what the Swedes call M4IS, can play in bringing disparate groups to the table. The word "intelligence" does not appear in the index nor as far as I can tell, in the book itself. Overall the book focuses excessively on the Oil for Food scandal, and on Darfur, correctly making the point that Darfur was anticipated, that the Member nations chose to pay lip service to the problem through UN "deliberations," but the book fails to point out that Darfur is one of 17 genocides on-going, and it fails to put the Secretary General's mission in the larger context of what I call the [ten threats, twelve policies, and eight challengers]. See The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption for large context. The author concludes that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq have weakened the UN; and that most of the world does not see terrorism as a threat. Indeed, since this was written, the High-Level Threat Panel places terrorism as ninth on a list of ten high-level threats. Throughout the book the role of the US as the 900 lb bully is the subtle and sometimes not so subtle sub-text. My own view, formed by my actual experience as well as my broad reading in non-fiction, is that the US, for all its good, is also the single most negative force on the planet, simply because it persists in virtual colonialism, unilateral militarism inclusive of 750 secret and not secret bases world-wide, and its tolerance for predatory immoral capitalism that has created a class war in which US financial and corporate elites bribe foreign elites, and they both destroy their own middle classes while looting all relatively defenseless economies. See the books Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy; and Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions. There is PLENTY of money to address the ten high-level threats with twelve intelligent inter-related policies that help the eight challengers avoid American mistakes that today produce a third of the waste on the planet while consuming a third of the energy. What we need now, in support of our new Secretary General, is a commitment to implement ALL of the Brahimi Report recommendations, inclusive of a Director of Global Intelligence (Decision-Support), perhaps sponsored by the UN Foundation, so that every Member nation, and every non-governmental organization, might operate in a transparent, accountable, sensible context. See Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future and my essays on "Virtual Intelligence" and on "Information Peacekeeping: The Purest Form of War." 4.0 out of 5 stars Timely study of the UN and the challenges of global leadership, May 31, 2007 By  L. Geri - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    The strengths of this excellent book far outweigh its weaknesses. It is especially compelling as a case study of leadership in a deeply flawed but essential institution. Traub's had access to Kofi Annan, as well as Annan's chief lieutenants at the UN, over an extended period of time that included his early successes, the events prior to the Iraq war and the Iraq "Oil for Food" scandal. Through the text we gain an understanding of the inner workings of the infamously cumbersome UN bureaucracy as well as the impossible constraints placed upon it by the United States government and the 191 other member states. Annan's early successes as Secretary General were substantial; yet his passive style of leadership made him very vulnerable. He ultimately paid a severe price. Traub documents Annan's physical and mental breakdowns and the blow to his reputation caused by his failure to properly monitor the Oil for Food program. The book would have benefited from a section with further details on the overwhelming complexity of the UN organization and the lack of power of the Secretary General to control it. Traub also occasionally feels compelled to engage in weak, superficial "fair and balanced" analysis that is not helpful to the overall narrative. Overall, however, this is a fine book that is a useful way to learn about the challenges of running the UN.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars spot on With insight, wit and stores of knowledge about the UN and world affairs, James Traub paints a sympathetic but brutally honest portrait of Kofi Annan as Secy=General. Five star. Published 20 months ago by avid reader with too little time 4.0 out of 5 stars An Impossible Role FDR was a leading proponent of the U.N. after WWII had proven the League of Nations (formed in response ti WWI) ineffectual. His vision was that the "four policemen" (U.S. Read more Published on March 12, 2007 by Loyd E. Eskildson 5.0 out of 5 stars Kofi Annan's record This is an excellent book, which reviews Annan's work from the inside of the UN secretariat. Traub was given generous access to internal debates and Annan's close associates, and... Read more Published on January 20, 2007 by Beigbeder Yves 2.0 out of 5 stars A huge scam This book would have us beleive that were it not for 'bad' America the UN would have magically solved all the world's problems. But let us take one test case for this. Read more Published on December 10, 2006 by Seth J. Frantzman Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374182205
• ISBN-13: 978-0374182205
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #370,491 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  Books > Nonfiction > Government > United Nations

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily detailed reporting, cannily written, November 9, 2006

By	Pranay Gupte "www.pranaygupte.com" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been a longtime fan of the writings of James Traub, so my view of his books is obviously somewhat biased. Nevertheless, I was astonished by the depth of his reporting about the United Nations and Kofi Annan. In view of the immense access that the U.N.'s outgoing secretary general gave him, Traub would have been surely tempted to write a hagiography. But he shows himself to be the consummate professional. This book is as much about Annan's setbacks and mistakes as it is about his triumphs. If Annan is as fair-minded as he's reported to be, then he is bound to be impressed by Traub's efforts. I doubt there's ever been such an extensively detailed work about the U.N., that beleaguered 192-nation body that has so much potential and yet has been handicapped by the mismanagement, corruption and straying from its mission of promoting global peace and security, and sustainable economic development. Traub captures it all -- the daily drama of development, the anguish of peacekeeping forces, the thankless grind of the U.N.'s field workers, the haughtiness of some of the organization's top povertycrats. Traub's narrative also makes for marvelous reading -- it's an unputdownable book. I predict that even those who might not be necessarily friends or critics of multilateral diplomacy will enjoy "The Best Intentions."

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, Relevant, Useful, Incomplete, Well-Presented, Lacking Notes & Larger Context, November 29, 2006

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

I give this book five stars instead of four, which I would normally assign, because the shortfalls in the book, most especially a lack of context, notes, and additional detail, are out-weighed by the timeliness, relevance, utility, and able original presentation.

This is an important book for our time. Indeed, I put it down thinking that the author has presented us with a meal of worms--and only those visible at the top of the planter box--but when you are starving--when there is no other viable alternative for peacekeeping--worms can be appetizing.

Before I present some details that made it to my fly-leaf notes, a few "big points" that stayed with me:

1) UN is a grotesque failure in many many ways, but also the closest thing we have to a viable global enterprise, hence, a good starting point for all its flaws.

2) Not addressed at all in the book, spoken of only in passing, the rather important point that most UN agencies are not at all subordinate to nor responsive to the Secretary General and his Secretariat.

3) The UN suffers from two major impediments: first, that the contributing or Member nations do not really want it to be effective, and ham-string it, particularly the Security Council members, although the author is vitriolic on China and Russia vetoing votes, while strangely silent on the US and its constant veto; and second, that personal relations built over decades far out-weight actual job titles and responsibilities, and can be blamed for many things including the Oil for Food corruption nightmare.

4) The author gently explores three major alternatives to the current situation:

4a) the division of the UN into a global body for mobilizing resources and consensus; and a separate global police or gendarme force. I would note, with a genuflection toward Oakley et all in "Policing the New World Disorder," that this needs to be standing force or at least an earmarked force, ideally led by the Dutch, which trains together and has inter-operable concepts, doctrines, and equipment. See also the edited work, "Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future."

4b) a Democracies body, one that purportedly brings together democracies and ends the domination of the UN by third-rate third-world countries, many managed by dictators and corrupt leaders who loot their commonwealths far more aggressively than Wall Street loots America and the rest of the world. This fails when one realizes that most democracies really are not...

4c) Regional networks that bring to bear regional concerns and resources in the context of the varied global agencies. This has some real possibilities, especially if information is shared broadly to provide a "ground truth" that is undeniable. I am reminded of J. F. Rischard's excellent recommendations in High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them

There is a useful history of key Secretary Generals, one that makes the point that Dag Hammarskjöld was an anomaly, and Annan, for all his flaws, may be one of the few to rise to the Hammarskjöld level of effectiveness..

The author provides a useful history of UN ineffectiveness and UN successes. I certainly recommend that this book be read in tandem with William Shawcross's Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict Interestingly, Shawcross and US diplomat Holbrooke were the only two personal guests at the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.

This book is severely lacking in two ways:

1) It really does not communicate the complexity of the over-all UN archipelago of fiefdoms, most of which are not responsive to the Secretary General, nor does it adequately describe the many problems for the UN created by Third World and other blocs. In this book, China, Russia, and to a much lesser extent than it merits, the US, are the evil doers.

2) It completely misses the role that multinational, multiagency, multidisciplinary, multidomain information sharing, what the Swedes call M4IS, can play in bringing disparate groups to the table. The word "intelligence" does not appear in the index nor as far as I can tell, in the book itself. Overall the book focuses excessively on the Oil for Food scandal, and on Darfur, correctly making the point that Darfur was anticipated, that the Member nations chose to pay lip service to the problem through UN "deliberations," but the book fails to point out that Darfur is one of 17 genocides on-going, and it fails to put the Secretary General's mission in the larger context of what I call the [ten threats, twelve policies, and eight challengers]. See The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption for large context.

The author concludes that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq have weakened the UN; and that most of the world does not see terrorism as a threat. Indeed, since this was written, the High-Level Threat Panel places terrorism as ninth on a list of ten high-level threats.

Throughout the book the role of the US as the 900 lb bully is the subtle and sometimes not so subtle sub-text. My own view, formed by my actual experience as well as my broad reading in non-fiction, is that the US, for all its good, is also the single most negative force on the planet, simply because it persists in virtual colonialism, unilateral militarism inclusive of 750 secret and not secret bases world-wide, and its tolerance for predatory immoral capitalism that has created a class war in which US financial and corporate elites bribe foreign elites, and they both destroy their own middle classes while looting all relatively defenseless economies. See the books Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy; and Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions.

There is PLENTY of money to address the ten high-level threats with twelve intelligent inter-related policies that help the eight challengers avoid American mistakes that today produce a third of the waste on the planet while consuming a third of the energy. What we need now, in support of our new Secretary General, is a commitment to implement ALL of the Brahimi Report recommendations, inclusive of a Director of Global Intelligence (Decision-Support), perhaps sponsored by the UN Foundation, so that every Member nation, and every non-governmental organization, might operate in a transparent, accountable, sensible context. See Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future and my essays on "Virtual Intelligence" and on "Information Peacekeeping: The Purest Form of War."

4.0 out of 5 stars Timely study of the UN and the challenges of global leadership, May 31, 2007

By	L. Geri - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The strengths of this excellent book far outweigh its weaknesses. It is especially compelling as a case study of leadership in a deeply flawed but essential institution. Traub's had access to Kofi Annan, as well as Annan's chief lieutenants at the UN, over an extended period of time that included his early successes, the events prior to the Iraq war and the Iraq "Oil for Food" scandal. Through the text we gain an understanding of the inner workings of the infamously cumbersome UN bureaucracy as well as the impossible constraints placed upon it by the United States government and the 191 other member states. Annan's early successes as Secretary General were substantial; yet his passive style of leadership made him very vulnerable. He ultimately paid a severe price. Traub documents Annan's physical and mental breakdowns and the blow to his reputation caused by his failure to properly monitor the Oil for Food program.

The book would have benefited from a section with further details on the overwhelming complexity of the UN organization and the lack of power of the Secretary General to control it. Traub also occasionally feels compelled to engage in weak, superficial "fair and balanced" analysis that is not helpful to the overall narrative. Overall, however, this is a fine book that is a useful way to learn about the challenges of running the UN.