Chávez Has Begun to Take the Path of Dictatorship

 

Chicago Council Senior Fellow Richard S. Williamson’s commentary, “Chávez Has Begun to Take the Path of Dictatorship,” appeared in The American, the journal of the American Enterprise Institute, on January 5, 2011. 

Williamson joined The Chicago Council as a senior fellow for multilateral institutions in July 2010. Previously, Williamson held foreign policy positions under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, including as an assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs in the White House. During Reagan's first term, Williamson served as the U.S. permanent representative to the UN offices in Vienna, Austria, and he finished Reagan's second term as assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs in charge of America's U.N. policy.

While serving under President George W. Bush as ambassador to the United Nations and ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights, Williamson helped plan the process of delivering international aid to East Timor, met with Ethiopian refugees and Sierra Leonean abuse victims, and led a team of U.N. members who monitored the 2004 Afghan elections.  He also served on the seven-member Panel of Eminent Persons for Reform of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and has headed the U.S. delegation to the OSCE annual conference on Human Rights. In 2007, President Bush appointed Williamson as his special envoy to Sudan. He resided in various Sudanese cities to study the Darfur conflict and develop policies to solve the crisis.

As a Chicago Council senior fellow, Williamson is developing a project examining how changes in the balance of power, such as the rise of China, will affect the efficacy of international institutions, and offer recommendations for how the U.S. should respond. He recently served as a member of a group of experts and leaders convened by The Chicago Council to produce a 2009 report on Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Hunger and Poverty, which calls for an increased U.S. commitment to alleviating global poverty through agricultural development.