Podcast: Professor Abiodun Williams, “Kofi Annan and Global Leadership at the United Nations”

Abiodun Williams is Professor of the Practice of International Politics at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and The Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University.  He was Director of Strategic Planning to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon and is past Chair of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).  His latest book is “Kofi Annan and Global Leadership at the United Nations.” Annan was a proactive leader who launched monumental programs that improved the UN, such as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Global Compact and the Millennium Development Goals, which were the precursors to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Annan was also a transformational visionary who strengthened UN peacekeeping and involved academia, NGOs and the private sector in helping overcome many international problems. Annan was quite accurate in his critique of President Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq.