Thant Myint-U

Fellows Corner

Thant Myint-U is an award-winning author, historian, conservationist, and international public servant. His most recent book is Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World, a history of the 1960s told through the life of U Thant, the first UN Secretary-General of color. He is a Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation.

How to Prevent the Next World War

The Foreign Affairs Interview, May 28, 2026

The UN must regain a meaningful role in preventing global conflict before the pillars of global peace collapse.

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The Crumbling Pillars of Global Peace

Foreign Affairs, May 21, 2026

With the fundamentals of the international system under threat, the crisis is less the collapse of the “rules-based international order” than the erosion of the UN’s twin convictions of no war and no empire.

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Trump’s Board of Peace Is Anything But

New York Times, January 30, 2026

If we are to avoid another catastrophic global war, peace must be deliberately designed and firmly grounded in "the core U.N. principles of universality, sovereign equality and clear limits on the use of force."

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The UN’s Next Secretary-General Could Prevent Great Power War

Financial Times, September 3, 2025

The UN needs to be led by "a courageous and cool-headed mediator" who can rebuild the international system and play a "decisive peacemaking role" when great powers clash.

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The UN Should Be Retooled For A Less Internationalist Age

The Economist, June 17, 2025

The United Nations should focus on its founding principle: preventing war.