Transcription of Interview between Jake Sonke and Brett Schaefer
(Edited and paraphrased from the original dialogue for grammar and printability. “United Nations” and “United States have been abbreviated to “UN” and “US,” respectively.)
Over homecoming weekend, Covenant College had the opportunity to host Mr. Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Schaefer has over 20 years of experience working in and with the United Nations. This is the first of two Q&A sessions in which Senior International Studies major Jake Sonke and Mr. Schaefer discuss the nature of the United Nations, what it does as an organization, and why the greater Covenant College community should pay attention to international politics today.
J. Sonke: As my first question, tell us about yourself, what it is you do, and how does that bring you into contact with the UN on a practical level?
B. Schaefer: As part of my responsibilities, I do policy work on the UN and other international organizations for the [Heritage] Foundation. I’m also the main representative for Heritage at the United Nations. We’re a UN-accredited, non-governmental organization, which means that we can participate in UN meetings, give remarks, and speak at different UN conferences and meetings. So, I do come into contact with the UN in that capacity, but in a more direct way, I just ended a three-year tour as a member of the UN committee of contributions, and I was a direct participant of UN deliberations on that body. Essentially, we give an advisory report to the General Assembly on how the expenses of the organization should be apportioned among the member states. That’s based on economic data, population, and other factors that go into a calculation on how the dues should be assigned to the member states on a proportionate basis.
J. Sonke: For the average college student, how does the UN work, and what does it do?
B. Schaefer: As you can tell by the UN’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in certain circumstances, it doesn’t work very well, but in other circumstances it does do important work. When most people think of the UN, they think of the General Assembly, the UN office building in NY, the UN Security Council, but the UN is much bigger than that. There are dozens of UN funds, programs, and other specialized agencies. There are parts of the UN that are more directly involved, like feeding hungry populations, immunizing kids, that sort of thing. There’s also a more technical aspect to it. For instance, the International Telecommunications Union sets standards that allow cellphones to work internationally. It creates inter-operability, and so even in ways that you’re not really aware of, the UN does impact some of the things you do on an everyday basis. In a lot of ways, the UN is in the background, helping coordinate our daily lives to make sure they run smoothly. The UN is far from perfect, and it’s been a goal of the US, through Republican and Democratic administrations since the founding of the organization, to try to work to improve it.
J. Sonke: What are some ways that the US pursues its interests, both in and through the UN?
B. Schaefer: As a permanent member of the Security council with a veto, the US is one of the most powerful members of the UN. It has the power to stop the UN security council from doing something, but it often goes to the UN security council and to UN organizations to try and advance its interests. Whether that’s trying to address security situations like what’s going on in Ukraine, or whether that’s something much more low-key, such as trying to negotiate shipping rates between countries, the US has tons of priorities in the UN that it’s pursuing at any one time.
J. Sonke: Does the UN influence our everyday lives as American citizens, and if so, how much of an effect would you say it is?
B. Schaefer: Pretty minimally. The US is a pretty wealthy country. It provides for its citizens, it has strong human rights, it has strong rule of law, so at a practical basis, there’s no need for the UN to be present in our daily lives in the US and it largely isn’t. And that’s a good thing. It means were operating pretty well as a country and I think we should all be pretty thankful for that.
This September, Mr. Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Senior Research Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs in Heritage Center's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, came to campus to teach "POL 390: The United Nations Challenge," focusing on issues of UN reform and its meaning for U.S. national interests. This condensed course was made possible through the Honaker Family Public Service Endowment, an alumni endowment to the Department of History, Politics, and International Studies, intended to cultivate Covenant students' commitment to public service in politics, police, and international affairs. Together with last year's inaugural Honaker Endowment event, "POL 390: The China Challenge" with Dr. James Holmes of the U.S. Naval War College, Mr. Schaefer's course sets the tone for the timely and critical issues and expert analysis we intend to bring to our students thanks to this generous gift. We are incredibly grateful for the Honaker family's passion to see more Christians who possess a solidly grounded, biblical worldview enter key areas of public policy and political science.