Happy New Year everyone! And what an interesting an exciting year this will be for the United Nations because the new year marks the semi-official kickoff of the race to select the next UN secretary general.Ban Ki Moon's second and final term expires at the end of the year and now it is up to the world--or, i should say more specifically the Security Council with input from the General Assembly--to find his replacement. 
On the line with me to discuss the likely candidates for the next secretary general and the diplomatic intrigue that will surround this whole process and provide a great deal of subtext for diplomacy at the UN this year is Richard Gowan. If you are a regular listener to this podcast you'll be well aquatinted with richard, I believe this is this his third time of the show. 
 
He is a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for International Cooperation and teaches at Colombia. He's also out with a new piece in The American Interest taking a look at US priorities at the UN during Obama's last year in office. and at the end of this conversation we discuss that piece. 
 
But we kick off and devote most of this episode to the big question of who will replace Ban Ki Moon and how that selection will be made. And start by discussing what's known in UN circles as the so-called "Bulgarian Primary"