Politics & Power Quote by Lakhdar Brahimi

A UN mandate is supposed to be a badge of legitimacy; Brahimi is blunt about the hidden price tag. “Intimidating” lands first because it frames authority as a burden before it becomes a benefit. The diplomat arriving “with this mandate” doesn’t just carry a folder of resolutions - he carries the expectations of the Security Council, the moral weight of international law, and the implied threat that the world is watching. That can stiffen spines in a peace process, but it can also make every misstep feel like a global failure.

The line’s sly power is how it admits two competing truths without resolving them. A mandate confers “respect,” but not necessarily affection, consent, or practical cooperation. It can command deference in meetings while doing little to guarantee compliance on the ground. Brahimi, who worked in some of the most politically booby-trapped conflicts of the late 20th and early 21st century, is gesturing at the paradox of UN involvement: legitimacy is simultaneously your leverage and your vulnerability. The mandate elevates you above local factions, yet it also marks you as an emissary of a complicated institution with competing member-state agendas.

Subtextually, he’s coaching diplomats and mediators to treat UN authority as situational power, not a magic wand. You gain respect because the UN symbolizes collective judgment; you are intimidated because that symbolism can harden positions, raise stakes, and invite suspicion that “international” really means “imposed.”