Jim Swan, Magro Family Distinguished Visitor in International Affairs

I write to express my deep appreciation to the Magro Family Foundation for making it possible for me to spend the spring term at Dartmouth. After several intense years in Somalia, I relished the opportunity to step away from crisis diplomacy for a few months. The Dickey Center offered an ideal place to review the latest academic research, debate new public policy proposals, and -- perhaps most rewardingly -- interact with the impressive next generation of leaders among the Dartmouth students.

In collaboration with the Dickey Center, the Government Department provided excellent support for me to design and teach an upper-level course: "The UN in the Global Arena." Class discussion was enriched by the participation of students from China, Japan, Turkey, and Ukraine. The course was well received and several members of the class expressed interest in diplomatic careers.

With the enthusiastic backing of Center Director Victoria Holt, the Dickey Center brought in two outside speakers I recommended from the UN system:

• Nick Birnback, currently Chief of Staff of the UN Mission in Western Sahara and formerly head of strategic communications in the Department of Peace Operations, focused on the latest developments in international peacekeeping.  In addition to speaking to my class and meeting with select group of interested faculty from various Dartmouth departments, Nick also spoke to a group of more than 40 students about career opportunities with the UN.
   
• Hanna Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, and the former Foreign Minister of Ghana, presented a distinguished lecture, was interviewed for the Dickey Center student-run podcast, and took part in multiple events with students and faculty.  Her interactions with African Diaspora students at the Shabazz Center and with a diverse group of students from the Global South reinforced the Dickey Center's links to these communities.  Her visit was timely in view of her direct involvement in addressing the conflict in Sudan, which was then on the front pages.

Throughout the term, I enjoyed participating in regular meetings of Dickey-affiliated faculty and researchers who presented draft articles or books for peer reaction and constructive criticism.  Several of the topics focused on the United Nations.  One was  a book proposal to assess UN observer missions in the Middle East and Kashmir.  Another was an advanced draft of a book reviewing negotiations within the UN Security Council in the 1990s.  I was pleased to be able to contribute a practitioner's perspective on these subjects.

The Dickey Center offered an ideal place to review the latest academic research, debate new public policy proposals, and -- perhaps most rewardingly -- interact with the impressive next generation of leaders among the Dartmouth students.

In the nine weeks of the spring term, the Dickey Center organized two major conferences in which I participated as a panelist.  One was the annual Dartmouth International Security Forum that featured the State Department's Director of Policy Planning among other senior U.S. officials.  I presented on a panel focused on UN and multilateral affairs, also attended by the Senior Director for International Organizations at the National Security Council.

The second major event was the "Powering Peace" conference on increasing the use of renewable energy in UN peacekeeping operations.  I presented on the opening panel, drawing on my experience in the UN mission in Somalia, which is recognized as an innovator in the field. Participants came from donor governments, commercial power producers, public and private financial institutions, research organizations and academic centers.  The conference reinforced the Dickey Center's position as a thought-leader on the emerging topic of renewables in peacekeeping. Further Dickey-organized events are planned in the fall on the margins of the UN General Assembly and the COP 28 meeting in UAE.

In sum, it was a busy and productive term and, again, I'm grateful to the Magro Family Foundation for the generous support that enabled me to participate in and contribute to the Center's important work.