David Bosco: Would ElBaradei Make a Good President for Egypt?
[David Bosco is an assistant professor at American University's School of International Service and the author of "Five to Rule Them All: The U.N. Security Council and the Making of the Modern World." He writes the Multilateralist blog for ForeignPolicy.com.]
This past week, Mohamed ElBaradei finally announced what people who have been watching Egypt's political transformation had long assumed: "When the door for presidential nominations opens, I intend to nominate myself," he said in a television interview.
ElBaradei, who in January joined the popular movement that eventually unseated longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has a sparkling resume and plenty of international support. He ran the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for more than a decade, starred in several international crises and even picked up a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
But is working in a big multilateral organization good training to run a country?
Many seem to think so. ElBaradei is just one of several prominent figures who have tried to move from international secretariats to presidential palaces. Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of recent elections, served for years as an International Monetary Fund economist. Olara Otunnu, a former top U.N. official, ran for Uganda's presidency this year. The current head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, may soon enter presidential politics in France, where most opinion polls rate him higher than President Nicolas Sarkozy. Kurt Waldheim, the U.N. secretary general in the 1970s, became Austria's largely ceremonial president. And Waldheim's successor at the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, ran (unsuccessfully) for Peru's presidency in the mid-1990s....
Read entire article at WaPo
This past week, Mohamed ElBaradei finally announced what people who have been watching Egypt's political transformation had long assumed: "When the door for presidential nominations opens, I intend to nominate myself," he said in a television interview.
ElBaradei, who in January joined the popular movement that eventually unseated longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has a sparkling resume and plenty of international support. He ran the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, for more than a decade, starred in several international crises and even picked up a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
But is working in a big multilateral organization good training to run a country?
Many seem to think so. ElBaradei is just one of several prominent figures who have tried to move from international secretariats to presidential palaces. Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of recent elections, served for years as an International Monetary Fund economist. Olara Otunnu, a former top U.N. official, ran for Uganda's presidency this year. The current head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, may soon enter presidential politics in France, where most opinion polls rate him higher than President Nicolas Sarkozy. Kurt Waldheim, the U.N. secretary general in the 1970s, became Austria's largely ceremonial president. And Waldheim's successor at the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, ran (unsuccessfully) for Peru's presidency in the mid-1990s....