Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University
Prof. Ramesh Thakur is Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University. He was Vice Rector and Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University (and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations) from 1998–2007. Prof. Thakur was a Commissioner and one of the principal authors of The Responsibility to Protect (2001), and Senior Adviser on Reforms and Principal Writer of the United Nations Secretary-General's second reform report (2002). He was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo (2007–11), Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (2007–10) and Foundation Director of the Balsillie School of International affairs in Waterloo, Ontario. The author or editor of over 40 books and 400 articles and book chapters, Prof. Thakur also writes regularly for quality national and international newspapers around the world. He serves on the international advisory boards of institutes in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Global Governance. His R2P-related books include The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge University Press, 2006); The Responsibility to Protect: Norms, Laws and the Use of Force in International Politics (Routledge, 2011); Blood and Borders: The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of the Kin-State (Tokyo: UN University Press, 2011); and The People vs. the State: Reflections on UN Authority, US Power and the Responsibility to Protect (UN University Press, 2011).
North
Korea has conducted its ninth reported failed missile test since Donald Trump took
office. With tensions higher than ever on the Korean Peninsula, Ramesh Thakur looks at what role Canada and other Western allies can play in maintaining peace.
Former UN assistant secretary-general Ramesh Thakur on this year’s
historic voting process and why former Portuguese prime minister and UNHCR head Antonio Guterres was his
top pick all along.
If the UN wants a powerful, international advocate at its helm, like Kofi Annan and Dag Hammarskjöld once were, it needs to take ensure the Security Council does not have full control over the selection process
The agreed inspections, verification and transparency measures will successfully close off all of Iran’s pathways to the nuclear bomb.
Israel and the US agree on stopping Iran from getting the bomb. But will leaving it with limited capability check or facilitate its nuclear ambition?
Four ways to move forward. By Ramesh Thakur.
India and Australia exemplify what happens when leaders take voters for granted. By Ramesh Thakur.
As the early jockeying to replace Ban Ki-moon begins, Ramesh Thakur considers how the method of choosing the SG could be reformed.
President Obama’s visit to India earlier this week demonstrated that country’s geopolitical weight. By Ramesh Thakur.
Jihadis in Pakistan. Zealots in India. Ramesh Thakur on how two old enemies can change their narrative.
The use of a nuclear weapon anywhere on the planet would have catastrophic human consequences, says Ramesh Thakur
Great powers rise and fall over time, but the transition is not always peaceful and linear, says Ramesh Thakur.
Not much argues Ramesh Thakur.
Ramesh Thakur on the latest Western military intervention in the Middle East and the view from Australia.
The alliance has taken on decidedly imperialist hues of late, says Ramesh Thakur. But poking the Russian bear amounts to strategic idiocy.
Ramesh Thakur considers India’s direction under its new Prime Minister.
As geopolitical tensions rise around the world, the risk of nuclear weapons also rises. Ramesh Thakur on how Australia can help.
Ramesh Thakur on how the Bank challenges the Western-led global economic system.
Tony Blair thinks that ISIS’s advance into Iraq can be blamed on the failure topple Assad. Should we admire him for his chutzpah or condemn him for his shamelessness, wonders Ramesh Thakur.
What should have been a celebratory welcome home for a war hero has rapidly turned into a PR nightmare, says Ramesh Thakur.
For those who are anxious about India’s foreign policy direction under its new PM, don’t be. Narendra Modi will likely follow the same strategy as his predecessors, says Ramesh Thakur.
Even if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons, it would not have prevented Russia from taking Crimea, argues Ramesh Thakur.
Putin is not the sole obstacle holding the world back. By Ramesh Thakur.