'I would like to help create a UN that is more nimble, flexible, efficient and effective'
About the campaigning itself -- will the government be doing any of that on your behalf?
Only governments can nominate candidates, and normally that means they would also campaign for their candidates. Typically, the government asks its ambassadors to talk to the governments of member countries to which they accredited.
(Note: Government sources indicate that the Ministry of External Affairs has officially instructed all its ambassadors, especially those in the capitals of members of the Security Council, that Dr Shashi Tharoor is India's candidate for the post of secretary general of the United Nations, and asked the ambassadors to make the case with decision makers in the respective countries where they serve, and seek support).
When it comes time to pick, who exactly goes in there and votes?
The vote is cast by the 15 ambassadors representing the members of the Security Council, who normally act on the instructions of their respective governments.
(Note: The UNSC comprises five permanent members, namely China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and ten non-permanent members who are, currently, Argentina, Greece, Qatar, the Republic of Congo, Japan, Slovakia, Denmark, Peru, Tanzania and Ghana).
You are widely perceived as being close to the incumbent. With Secretary General Kofi Annan himself coming in for considerable criticism across many fronts in recent times, do you see this perceived proximity as a potential negative in your campaign?
It depends entirely on how people perceive the secretary general -- there are other people who value greatly what Kofi Annan has done.
I personally think he has been an outstanding secretary general, and I am proud of having worked with him in this administration.
I myself have a record of reform in the department I head -- restructuring it with a new operating model, closing offices in Europe, establishing a culture of evaluation and accountability: all accomplishments that I am proud to stand on, and which demonstrate that an insider can manage change by knowing how to make it happen.
As for the perceived negatives in relation to my own candidacy, this is about me, and if there is any particular criticism of my functioning in office, of what I may or may not have done, I am prepared to face them, to answer any questions the member states may have.
In recent years, there has been considerable criticism and extended debate of the United Nations itself -- do you think you might be inheriting a poisoned chalice, here?
There is no question that from the outside looking in, people might wonder why I even want to do this, why anyone would want to do this. To answer your question specifically, I have been with the UN since the age of 22, I have worked with the body for 28 years now, and I know its potential and its possibilities.
I've worked for refugees, in the humanitarian field, in peacekeeping at the end of the Cold War, in the secretary general's office and now as head of a large department. So as far as I am concerned, I have so much personal stake in the success of the UN that it seemed to me the right thing to step forward and say, I'd like a crack at leading it.
Image: Dr Tharoor with film director Mira Nair (left), with who he acted on stage at Delhi university in the 1970s.
Also See:
The parallel lives of Shashi Tharoor