Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 1994, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposed a radical, new vision to reform the global financial infrastructure. He called it An Agenda for Development. But his proposal was watered down in committee and largely ignored by the financial powers of the time.
Today, more than 50 countries are in serious distress because of their debt. And now, the crisis in the Hormuz Strait is affecting food prices, currencies, and fuel supplies all at once. And the G20 can’t seem to agree on a course of action for how to solve it all.
So what could or should the next secretary-general do? Can the U.N. become a platform for global economic governance — the way Boutros-Ghali hoped it could be?
Host Jasmin Baoumy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Homi Kharas, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.; Carlos Lopes, professor at the Nelson Mandela School, University of Cape Town and a former UN under-secretary-general; and Attiya Waris, professor of fiscal law and policy at the University of Nairobi.
World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the@unfoundation.
Explore ideas, essentials, and commentary on the future of global cooperation and the UN secretary-general race at regroupplaybook.org
Follow and listen to more episodes of World’s Toughest Job: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worlds-toughest-job/id1894846765
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In 1994, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposed a radical, new vision to reform the global financial infrastructure. He called it An Agenda for Development. But his proposal was watered down in committee and largely ignored by the financial powers of the time.
Today, more than 50 countries are in serious distress because of their debt. And now, the crisis in the Hormuz Strait is affecting food prices, currencies, and fuel supplies all at once. And the G20 can’t seem to agree on a course of action for how to solve it all.
So what could or should the next secretary-general do? Can the U.N. become a platform for global economic governance — the way Boutros-Ghali hoped it could be?
Host Jasmin Baoumy and co-host Mark Malloch-Brown are joined by Homi Kharas, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.; Carlos Lopes, professor at the Nelson Mandela School, University of Cape Town and a former UN under-secretary-general; and Attiya Waris, professor of fiscal law and policy at the University of Nairobi.
World’s Toughest Job is a co-production of Foreign Policy and the@unfoundation.
Explore ideas, essentials, and commentary on the future of global cooperation and the UN secretary-general race at regroupplaybook.org
Follow and listen to more episodes of World’s Toughest Job: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worlds-toughest-job/id1894846765
Subscribe to all of Foreign Policy’s Podcasts at foreignpolicy.com/podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
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