Longman in WaPo on Kofi Annan’s Legacy
Timothy Longman, Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article on the legacy of former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Longman published an August 20, 2018 article in The Washington Post entitled “Kofi Annan Was A Strong Voice For Peace. Rwanda Was Where He Fell Short.“
From the text of the article:
Kofi Annan, the first U.N. secretary general from sub-Saharan Africa,died Saturday after a short illness. Annan, a career U.N. diplomat, served as secretary general from 1997 to 2006 and received theNobel Peace Prize in 2001for his work toward “a better organized and a more peaceful world,” along with his contributions to the fights against AIDS and international terrorism.
But Annan’s long career as a peacemaker has a dark page:the 1994 genocide of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. Annan oversaw U.N. peacekeeping efforts during this time, and the situation in Rwanda unraveled quickly. The inability of the United Nations to stop the genocidehas been well documented, and Annan has been criticized for not heeding the warnings of violence.
Longman’s current research focuses on state -society relations in Africa, looking particularly at human rights, transitional justice, democratization, civil society, the politics of race and ethnicity, religion and politics, and women and politics.