Book Review

Leadership, conflict and reform: Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s legacy

Book title: Boutros Boutros-Ghali – A Jacana Pocket History

Author: Adekeye Adebajo

ISBN: 9781431432400

Publisher: Jacana Media, Johannesburg, South Africa R195*

*Book price at time of review

Review title: Leadership, conflict and reform: Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s legacy

Reviewer:
Basetsana Tsuwane¹

Affiliation:
¹School of Social Science, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Corresponding author: Basetsana Tsuwane, basetsana.tsuwane@nwu.ac.za

How to cite this book review: Tsuwane, B. “Leadership, conflict and reform: Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s legacy” New Contree 93(0) (2026): a926. https://doi.org/10.4102/nc.v93i0.926

Copyright Notice: © 2026. The Author. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Introduction

The biographical turn of the 1980s allowed historians to critically reflect more on and revisit the grandiose narratives of prominent figures. In Boutros Boutros-Ghali – A Jacana Pocket History Adekeye Adebajo, with his meticulous academic background on UN Peacekeeping, wrote the first English-language biography of the renowned United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and scholar. Beyond inserting Boutros Boutros-Ghali in the history books of written biography, Adebajo wrote this biographical book to combat the ‘erasure’ of Boutros-Ghali’s legacy, as it became a point of contention among political analysts and Western scholars that Boutros-Ghali was ‘an uppity native’ who did not know his place in a world in which white privilege reigned supreme.

The book is a homage and extension of the only other detailed book dedicated to Boutros-Ghali, titled The United Nations Under Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1992–1997, by Stephen F. Burgess. Adekeye Adebajo dedicates this book to those eager to delve into the personal and intellectual background of the scholar-turned-diplomat in the Egyptian political system. In true Jacana Pocket Series style, the introduction is succinctly structured, promising readers an oasis of Boutros-Ghali’s contributions towards peacemaking efforts as an African and Arab in the Middle East.

The burden of noblesse oblige: A life of duty and privilege

Adebajo focuses on the building blocks of Boutros-Ghali’s early life, education and political foundation. Boutros-Ghali’s ‘silver plate’ bore a plethora of privileges from the moment he was born. The self-described cosmopolitan pan-Arabist was born on 14 November 1922 in Cairo and came from a noble Christian Coptic family. As someone from a Coptic minority family in Egypt, Adebajo portrays Boutros-Ghali as someone who understood the politics of ‘othering’ in society. Here, the book acknowledges that Boutros-Ghali’s family’s adherence to noblesse oblige positioned their lineage as peacemakers and committed to public service. Adebajo further acknowledges the life of his grandfather, Boutros Ghali Pasha, who was the first indigenous prime minister of Egypt between 1908 and 1910, before he was assassinated by an extremist.

As the most academically accomplished UN Secretary-General and the first Arab and African to hold the position, the book also highlights his impressive resume as a scholar and diplomat and acknowledges that he owes his doctoral training to the University of Paris. Shortly after completing his PhD, Boutros became a professor, teaching International Law and International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University.

Adebajo dedicates the bulk of the book’s discussion to the period when Boutros-Ghali served first as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and then as UN Secretary-General. In the former appointment, Adebajo heavily relies on Boutros-Ghali’s own account titled Egypt’s Road to Jerusalem (1997), as his primary source to help trace the historic Arab-Israeli peace process led by Anwar Sadat in 1977. His global South diplomacy and Western liberal education became the perfect tool for massively expanding UN peacekeeping during his tenure as the UN Secretary-General.

Of Africa and Egypt: Power, identity and diplomacy

In another key theme of the book, Adekeye prompts the reader to interrogate Egypt’s relational history with its neighbouring African countries. The book shows that Boutros-Ghali tended to prioritise and build stronger relationships with Francophone African countries. Adebajo critiques Boutros-Ghali for a blind spot, particularly his inability to scrutinise Egypt’s ambivalent positioning within Africa and the extent to which its diplomatic engagements were shaped by selective affinities rather than a consistently pan-African outlook.

Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 specifically address Egypt’s political positionality and its relations with other African countries, which Boutros-Ghali sought to reimagine during his tenure. Adebajo notes that Boutros-Ghali preferred to describe himself first as an Arab and, in favourable situations, particularly when he required the support of the Organisation of African Unity, acknowledged Egypt as part of Africa, thereby revealing a strategic and, at times, instrumental engagement with African identity.

Nonetheless, Adebajo’s rigorous assessment of Boutros-Ghali’s perspectives on human rights, democratisation and development across the continent portrays the diplomat-scholar as a patriot and a distinguished sovereigntist. His stern and decisive character is presented as both a source of strength and a point of contention, enabling him to defend state sovereignty with conviction while at times limiting his responsiveness to emerging humanitarian norms and multilateral pressures.

Conclusion

Although his tenure as UN Secretary-General was cut short amid strained relations with Washington and overshadowed by global criticism of his handling of peacekeeping during the Rwandan Genocide and the Bosnian War, he nevertheless left office with a reputation as a principled and assertive diplomat.

Adebajo concludes the biography by reflecting on Boutros-Ghali’s final days in 2016 and the dignified manner of his burial. In doing so, the book pays a fitting tribute to the ‘true spirit of noblesse oblige’ that defined Boutros-Ghali’s life and career.