What to Expect at the UN in 2025

A UN Year in Preview

Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst on Unsplash

A new year. A new United Nations. In our 2025 debut episode of To Save Us From Hell, Anjali Dayal and I discuss what to expect in the year ahead at the United Nations. We cover a lot of ground, including:

• Five members of the Security Council rotating off and five new ones rotating in. How will the new composition of the Security Council shape its work in the coming year, and who are the key new Security Council members to watch?

• Speaking of new Security Council members... two of them happen to be Panama and Denmark, whose territories the incoming U.S. President has threatened to annex. Will this actually impact diplomacy at the UN?

• For the first time ever, China will contribute more than 20% of the UN’s budget, just below the contributions expected from the United States this year. How might China use its status as a major funder to exert influence within the UN system?

• Why the UN will face a cash crunch in 2025 and what impact this might have on the entire UN system. (And will Guterres shut off the escalators again to save on the Con Edison bill?)

• What opportunities for chaos Donald Trump may exploit at the UN, and how the so-called “middle powers” might respond.

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