Jordan Ryan

Opinion | Are We Losing Our Democracy? Donald Trump has wielded power as no previous president has.

Are We Losing Our Democracy? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

When governments step back, people step up.
Help @KarunaPeace keep community-led peacebuilding alive—from Nigeria to Massachusetts.

Every contribution matters. 💙

👉 karunacenter.org/donate

#Peacebuilding #KarunaCenter #ActForPeace

The Empire Has No Clothes: America's Democratic Sermons and the Authoritarian Boomerang | Toda Peace Institute In 2025, a startling spectacle emerges: the nation that proclaimed itself democracy's global arbiter now displays the very symptoms of authoritarianism it once denounced.,

For decades, the U.S. preached democracy to the world—while subverting it abroad. Now the tools it once used overseas are being turned inward.

The Empire Has No Clothes: America's Democratic Sermons and the Authoritarian Boomerang | Toda Peace Institute toda.org/global-outlo...

Why the UN Needs a Charter Conversation, Not More Power Struggles - PassBlue Why the UN Needs a Charter Conversation, Not More Power Struggles - PassBlue

Why is the United Nations’s founding Charter more than a historical document? In our new PassBlue essay we argue that at 80 its core constitutional principles must guide reform — not mere power-bargaining. Read here:

passblue.com/2025/10/23/w...

Opinion | The U.N. Shouldn’t Give Up on Its Carbon Tax The IMO understands the urgency of the moment while the U.S. dithers.

My letter in today’s Wall Street Journal: the UN shouldn’t abandon its carbon tax on shipping. Climate policy needs resolve, not retreat. Global coordination must not yield to populist pressure. www.wsj.com/opinion/the-...

Letters: The U.N. Shouldn’t Give Up on Its Carbon Tax

Happy No Kings Day

From Reform to Retreat: How the US Is Rewriting Multilateralism - IPI Global Observatory Jordan Ryan on how the US has turned “reform” into retreat, reshaping multilateralism itself.

The U.S. is rewriting multilateralism — but does “reform” now mean “retreat”? In this new piece from IPI’s Global Observatory, I examine a pivotal shift in American diplomacy and its implications for global governance.
Read more:

na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

When law is used to punish rather than protect, democracy quietly unravels.

My new Toda policy brief, Weaponisation of Law: Assault on Democracy, exposes how governments—democratic and authoritarian alike—are twisting legality into a tool of control.

toda.org/assets/files...

Creativity — and tension — in push-pull of freedom and limits - The Boston Globe A complete meditation on freedom and limits must grapple with actors who seek to exempt themselves from constraints they impose on others.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/28/o...

Opinion | Trump at the U.N.: A Bitter Display

My letter to the editor on Trump’s performance at the UN

Trump at the U.N.: A Bitter Display www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...

The UN’s Coherence Paradox: Why the UN80 Reforms Are Not Enough - IPI Global Observatory Today’s global challenges—including climate shocks, geopolitical conflicts, mass displacement, and the rapid spread of disruptive technologies—are more interconnected than at any point in the UN’s his...

The UN’s 80th-anniversary reforms call for a “paradigm shift.”
But can you shift a system with no coherent center?

My new essay argues that without hard levers—financing, integration, leadership—“Shifting Paradigms” falls short.

👉 Read here:

theglobalobservatory.org/2025/09/why-...

From Words to Violence: Countering Extremist Rhetoric in Democratic Societies | Toda Peace Institute This policy brief examines how sophisticated rhetorical strategies—combining overt divisive messaging with coded extremist language—operate across multiple communication levels to legitimise violence ...

How do words turn into violence? 🗣️
Toda Peace Institute’s new brief shows how extremist rhetoric uses both overt messages and coded language to weaken democratic norms — and why fact-checking alone isn’t enough. Collective action is critical. Read more: toda.org/policy-brief...

A Vicious Spiral: Political Violence in Fragile Democracies | Toda Peace Institute The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the United States on 10 September 2025 signals a renewed threat to democratic stability in the United States and beyond. , i

toda.org/global-outlo...

US Bars Palestinian Delegation: A Dangerous Precedent for UN Universality | Toda Peace Institute While past exclusions of entry to the US targeted individuals, the revoking of visas—directed at an entire visiting leadership delegation from the PA and PLO—is without precedent in UN history., i

toda.org/global-outlo...

Opinion | Kofi Annan’s Legacy (Published 2018)

A memory of Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan’s Legacy www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/o...

Reluctant Truth-Tellers and Institutional Fragility | Toda Peace Institute In democracies under strain, the most important truths often arrive too late, uttered hesitantly by those who should have spoken earlier. ,

We need systems that protect early truth-telling — not punish it.
That’s how democracies stay resilient.

Full piece here 👉
🔗 toda.org/global-outlo...

From Ty Cobb’s belated confession about Trump, to delayed dissent in Brazil & Hungary — reluctant truth-tellers don’t protect institutions. They weaken them.

Reluctant Truth-Tellers and Institutional Fragility | Toda Peace Institute In democracies under strain, the most important truths often arrive too late, uttered hesitantly by those who should have spoken earlier. ,

Democracies rarely collapse overnight.
They erode when insiders stay silent — and truths surface only after it’s too late.

That’s the argument of my new essay for @TodaPeace:
🔗 toda.org/global-outlo...

The Mandate Trap: Why the UN’s Real Reform Test Lies in Letting Go - IPI Global Observatory The 80th anniversary of the United Nations should have been a celebration. Instead, it has become a reckoning.At the heart of that reckoning is the Mandate Implementation Review (MIR), a quietly relea...

theglobalobservatory.org/2025/08/the-...

Where the Road Ended A Memory from Lowndes County, 1969 — While America Reached the Moon

Where the Road Ended
open.substack.com/pub/jordanry...

I Collapsed on an Island in Maine. The System Saved Me. Congress Is Now Dismantling It. Get Jordan Ryan in your inbox

open.substack.com/pub/jordanry...

Senator Angus King (@senangusking.bsky.social) News from the office of Independent U.S. Senator Angus King of Maine. Following/reposting does not equal an endorsement.

cc: senangusking.bsky.social

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We don’t just owe them gratitude.
We owe them a future.
—Jordan Ryan
Former UN Assistant Secretary-General
Frequent visitor to Maine
📍 Vinalhaven, ME
🗞️ via @bangordailynews.bsky.social
#Maine #RuralHealth #HealthcareCuts #PublicHealth #EMS #Vinalhaven #Medicaid #HealthcareCrisis #RuralAmerica

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From nurses to pilots to lobstermen—
They are the true infrastructure of this country.
That America—that Maine—is still alive.
But it won’t survive without a fight.

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What America needs now isn’t more cruelty or more cuts.
It needs more care.
More respect.
More investment in the people who show up when lives are on the line—
Not just in uniform.
But in clinics, hospitals, and firehouses.

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They didn’t ask about politics.
They didn’t pause to calculate cost.
They just did what needed doing.
They didn’t need to “make America great again.”
They already were.

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As fireworks lit the sky on the 4th of July, I thought of the people who showed up:
The nurse practitioner with skill and kindness.
The lobsterman with a good heart.
The pilot with nerves of steel.

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The question now is:
Are we willing to invest in that kind of infrastructure?
Not just roads and bridges—
But human systems of care and coordination.

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As a former UN assistant secretary-general, I’ve worked in crisis zones around the world.
What saved me in Maine was no different:
Trained professionals.
Reliable logistics.
Local systems that function under pressure.

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I was lucky to have insurance and resources.
But in that moment, none of it mattered.
What mattered was that the system worked—
Just in time.
Just well enough.
To prevent something worse