Office at the United Nations, New York

Jean-Marc Coicaud is the Director of the United Nations University (UNU) Office at the United Nations Headquarters (New York). He was Senior Academic Officer and Director of Studies at the UNU Headquarters (Tokyo) from 1996 to 2003. From 1992 to 1996, he served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General as a speechwriter for Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. A former fellow at Harvard University (Center for International Affairs, Department of Philosophy and Harvard Law School, from 1986 to 1992), Coicaud has held appointments such as Cultural Attaché with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Legislative Aide with the European Parliament (Financial Committee). He has also been a Visiting Professor at the École Normale Supérieure-Ulm in Paris and has taught at the New School for Social Research (New York). In addition, he has been a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (Washington, D.C.), a Global Research Fellow at New York University School of Law and a Visiting Scholar at the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University (Beijing). Coicaud holds a Ph.D. in Political Science-Law from the Sorbonne and a Doctorat d'État in philosophy from the Institut d'Études Politiques of Paris. Jean-Marc Coicaud has published 14 books in the fields of comparative politics, political and legal theory, international relations and international law. They are available in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic, and include the following single-authored books: L'introuvable démocratie autoritaire (L'Harmattan, 1996), Légitimité et Politique (Presses Universitaires de France, 1997), Politics and Legitimacy: A Contribution to the Study of Political Right and Political Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Beyond the National Interest (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007), Kokuren no Genkai/Kokuren no Mirai (Future of the UN/Limits of the UN - Fujiwara Shoten, 2007), Mai Xiang Guo Ji Fa Zhi (Towards the International Rule of Law - Sanlian Shudian, 2008). His latest book, co-edited with Hilary Charlesworth, is Fault Lines of International Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Her Excellency Ambassador Dr. Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and former Foreign Minister of Nigeria. Prior to her appointment as Nigeria's Foreign Minister, she served as the first female Director-General of Nigeria's Foreign Policy Think-Tank - the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). In this period, she concurrently served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) and Member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, culminating in her appointment as the first African female Chairperson of the Secretary-General's Advisory Board for 2006. A Professor of Political Science and International Relations since 1993, she lectured at the Command and Staff College, Jaji, National War College and the Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). In her academic studies she focused on Latin America and on possibilities of an intensified South-South relationship between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In her public service as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations she made valid contributions to the development of Nigeria's foreign policy. Her publications include: (Ed.): Nigerian Foreign Policy: Alternative Futures (Macmillan 1986); (Ed.): Nigeria's International Economic Relations; Dimensions of Dependence and Change (1988, Rev. 2005; The Economic Diplomacy of the Nigerian State (1992, 2001); The Nigerian Navy and the South Atlantic (1995); (Ed.); New Horizons for Nigeria in World Affairs (2005). She has published extensively in scholarly journals and books and lectured on South-South and Latin America's foreign relations. Several publications appeared in Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

His Excellency Ambassador Dr. Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations. Ambassador Wittig joined the German Foreign Service in 1982. He served in Madrid, New York, Bonn (as private secretary to the Foreign Minister) and as Ambassador to Lebanon. While Ambassador to Cyprus he also acted as Special Envoy of the German Government for the Cyprus Question. In 2002 Dr. Wittig was appointed Ambassador in the Directorate-General for the United Nations and Global Issues in the Foreign Office in Berlin and became Director-General in 2006. After reading History, Political Science and Law at Bonn, Freiburg, Canterbury and Oxford Universities, he taught as an Assistant Professor at the University of Freiburg. Ambassador Wittig has written articles on the history of ideas and on foreign policy. Dr Wittig is married to journalist and writer Huberta von Voss-Wittig.

Mr. Jorge Laguna-Celis is the delegate to the Second Committee, representing the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations. Prior to this, he was working in the Embassy of Mexico in Kenya (2006-2010) with the Permanent Mission of Mexico as Deputy Head of the Mission, Deputy Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN Habitat, and in the Foreign Ministry of Mexico with the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior and with the Mexican Diplomatic Academy (2005-2006). He obtained an MA in International Trade and Sustainable Development Policies from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris (2000-2002) and a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México, Mexico City (1996-2000).

PD Dr. Hans Günter Brauch is the Adjunct Professor (Privatdozent) at the Faculty of Political Science and Social Sciences at the Free University of Berlin. Since 2005, he has been a fellow at the Institute on Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University (UNU-EHS). He is also the chairman of Peace Research and European Security Studies (AFES-PRESS) since 1987 and editor of the Hexagon Book Series with Springer Publishers. He was the guest professor of international relations at the universities of Frankfurt on Main, Leipzig and Greifswald and at the teachers training college in Erfurt. From 1976-1989 he was a research associate at Heidelberg and Stuttgart universities, a research fellow at Harvard and Stanford University and he was also teaching at the universities of Darmstadt, Tübingen, Stuttgart and Heidelberg. Co-editor of: Security and Environment in the Mediterranean (2003); Globalization and Environmental Challenges (2008); Facing Global Environmental Change (2009); Coping with Global Environmental Change, Disasters and Security (2010).

Professor Dr. Ursula Oswald Spring is the Research Professor at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) in the Regional Multidisciplinary Research Centre (CRIM) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She is also the first Munich Re Chair on Social Vulnerability, UNU-EHS. Professor Oswald was General Attorney of Ecology in the State of Morelos (1992-1994) and National Delegate of the Federal General Attorney of Environment from 1994-1995. She was President of the International Peace Research Association (1998-2000); General Secretary of the Latin-American Council for Peace Research (2002-2006). For her scientific work she received the Price Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2005), the Environmental Merit in Tlaxcala, Mexico (2005. 2006); the Price of Development of the UN in Geneva. She was recognized at the Women Academic in UNAM in 1990 and 2000; Women of the Year 2000. She works on non-violence and sustainable agriculture with peasants and women and with Diverse Women for Diversity.

And for additional information on this book launch including a press folder with several free texts from this book please visit:

http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/hexagon_05_PressConf_Presentations.htm#NY