Durham, NC - Shashi Tharoor, the United Nations under-secretary-general for communications and public information, will discuss "Does the United Nations Have a Future?" at Duke University on Thursday, March 1.

 The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy and is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Bryan Center parking garage.

 In delivering this 2007 Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture, Tharoor will discuss the role and prospects for multilateral organizations such as the U.N. in the globalizing world of the 21st century.

 During his 28-year career at the U.N., Tharoor has served with the High Commissioner for Refugees during the peak of the Vietnamese "boat people" crisis and was responsible for peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia, among many other assignments.

"As a person who not only has worked in international relations, but also has written scholarly books and articles on politics and foreign policy, Shashi Tharoor is extremely articulate about contemporary international issues, the work of the U.N. and the needs of the world," said Sanford Institute Director Bruce Kuniholm. "His recent appearance on Comedy Central's ‘Colbert Report' shows he also is open to new ideas. I expect his lecture will be enlightening."

Tharoor, a national of India, is the author of nine books as well as numerous articles, short stories and commentaries in Indian and Western publications. His books include "Reasons of State," a scholarly study of Indian foreign policy; a novel, "Show Business," which was made into the movie "Bollywood"; and most recently "Bookless in Baghdad," a collection of essays on writing and writers. He holds a Ph.D. from Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture was endowed by a gift to the university from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust in honor of the late Terry Sanford, who served as North Carolina governor and U.S. senator and as Duke president for 16 years. Previous lecturers include U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman and Thad Cochran, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.