Jean-Marc Coicaud is acting head of the United Nations University office to the United Nations in New York. From 1996 to 2003 he served as senior academic officer in the Peace and Governance Program at the United Nations University in Tokyo. Before joining the UNU, he served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General as speechwriter for Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. A former fellow at Harvard University (Center for International Affairs, Department of Philosophy and Harvard Law School 1986-1992), Coicaud has held appointments as cultural attaché with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, legislative aide with the European Parliament, associate professor at the University of Paris and visiting professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Coicaud holds a Ph.D. in political science-law from the Sorbonne and a Doctorat d'Etat in Philosophy from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Paris. He is the author of books in French on authoritarian democracy and political legitimacy (the latter published in English by Cambridge University Press in 2002). His latest books in English include, as a co-author, Power in Transition: The Peaceful Change of International Order (2001), and as a co-editor, Ethics and International Affairs: Extent and Limits (2001), The Legitimacy of International Organizations (2001), and The Globalization of Human Rights (2003). His book Beyond the National Interest. The United Nations' Response to Humanitarian Crises in the Era of US Supremacy, which he wrote whilst on sabbatical with the United States Institute of Peace (Washington DC), will be published in 2004.