Empty Chair Diplomacy 2.0 at the United Nations
BY DANIEL WARNER
Photograph Source: in transition – CC BY 2.0
The game of musical chairs is popular with children. If the child’s game is based on successfully sitting on a chair when the music stops, recent diplomacy at the U.N. has been focused on empty chairs.
Empty chair diplomacy goes back to French President Charles de Gaulle when the French boycotted European institutions in July 1965. The French leader’s boycott showed he favored European integration rather than increased power to European institutions. It reflected de Gaulle’s disdain for supranational organizations.
Empty chair diplomacy re-appeared at the recent annual meeting of the United Nations. Four out of five leaders of the permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) decided, alb...