Jean-Marie Guéhenno (; born 30 October 1949) is a former French diplomat who served as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations from 2000 to August 2008.

Early life and education

Guéhenno is the son of the French teacher, editor and writer Jean Guéhenno, author of the Occupation memoir ''Journal des Années Noires'' and a biography of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

, among other works. His mother, Annie Guéhenno, was a member of the Resistance during the Second World War and a writer. Guéhenno attended the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, before going to the

École Nationale d'Administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

. He was then a member of the

Cour des Comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' (, "Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 ...

in Paris. He has also worked in international relations and diplomacy, directing the French Policy Planning Staff from 1989 to 1993, chairing the

Institut des hautes études de défense nationale An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

from 1998 to 2000 and working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France before he joined the UN.

Career

Guéhenno served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations from 2000 to 2008. He led the largest expansion of peacekeeping in the history of the UN, overseeing approximately 130,000 staff, on 18 missions. Guéhenno was elected Chairman of the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) board at the end of 2010. From March to July 2012, he temporarily stood down from the board to serve as Deputy Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on Syria. He resumed his role as a Member and Chairman of the HD Centre Board in November 2012. In 2012–13, Guéhenno headed President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

's review of French defense and security policies. Guéhenno was director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

School of International and Public Affairs The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the List of schools of international relations in the United States, international affairs and public policy school, public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League univers ...

. He also served as associate director of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at SIPA and directed the School's International Conflict Resolution specialization. Guéhenno was named president and CEO of

International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...

in August 2014, succeeding

Louise Arbour Louise Arbour, (born February 10, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. Arbour was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Pr ...

. In 2021, Guéhenno returned to

as the inaugural Kent Visiting professor of Conflict Resolution. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Other activities

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) * Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN), Chair of the Scientific Council (since 2020) *

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

, Distinguished Fellow *

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decis ...

(ECFR), Member *

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

(WEF), Member of the Global Future Council on the Future of International Security *

(WEF), Member of the Europe Policy Group (since 2017)Europe Policy Group

Recognition

Guéhenno is an officer of the ''

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

'' and a commander of the '' Bundesverdienstkreuz''. .

Personal life

Guéhenno is married and has one daughter.

Publications

Guéhenno has published articles in many newspapers and magazines, including "The Impact of Globalisation on Strategy" in the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Survival, and "Globalisation and the International System" in the Journal of Democracy, as well as articles or chapters in Internationale Politik, Prospect, Paradoxes of European Foreign Policy, and Strategic Analysis. He is the author of The End of Democracy (1993, in French) and The Fog of Peace (2015).

Bibliography

* ''La fin de la démocratie'' Paris, Flammarion, 1993 ; re-edited by ''Champs'' in 1999, ; published in English as
The End of the Nation-State
', Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, 160 pages, * ''L'avenir de la liberté - La démocratie dans la mondialisation'' ("The Future of Freedom - Democracy in Globalisation"), Paris, Flammarion, 1999, 222 pages, * Jocelyn Coulon, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Lucien Manokou, Catherine Délice, ''Guide du maintien de la paix'', Paris, Athéna éditions, 2006, 294 pages, *
The Fog of Peace
' New York, Brookings, 2015, 331 pages,

References

External links

"Crisis Group Announces Next President"
web site of

Jean-Marie Guéhenno: "An International Force Can Never Impose Peace"
Interview by Philippe Bolopion in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', translated into English and hosted by the

Global Policy Forum The Global Policy Forum (GPF) is an international organization that analyze developments in the United Nations and focus the topic of global governance. It was founded in December 1993 and based in New York and Bonn (Global Policy Forum Europe ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guehenno, Jean Marie Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Living people 1949 births École nationale d'administration alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour French diplomats Columbia School of International and Public Affairs faculty Center on International Cooperation Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs