Background
I am a tenured Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in international relations, the history of international organizations, and the United Nations. I am also interested in the links between art and international relations.
Concurrently, I serve as the Deputy-Director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), Tokyo Office, and as a Senior Adviser to the Center for Advanced Studies on South Asia (CASSA) in Kathmandu, Nepal.
I was educated at the Universities of Trento (Italy), Auckland (New Zealand), Wales/Aberystwyth (UK), and Oxford (UK), and I hold two doctoral degrees, one in International Law and the other in International Relations.
Before moving to Tokyo, I was a researcher at Sciences-Po in Paris; a human rights officer at the Icelandic Human Rights Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland; an Associate with the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations Headquarters in New York; and a professor at the Asian University for Women (AUW), a liberal arts institution that promotes gender equality.
A cosmopolitan by vocation, I am fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish. I am also a life-long enthusiast of history and archaeology, and I am a passionate collector of ancient art.
Research
I have written five books and several academic articles–in four languages–on international issues. In 2017, my book ‘Dangerous Diplomacy’ was published by Oxford University Press and won the first prize by the International Studies Association (ISA) as the best book on international organization and multilateralism, as well as the Biennial Award by the Academic Council of the United Nations System (ACUNS) as the best book on the UN system.
In 2021, my co-authored book (in Italian) with Prof. Michael Foley of Aberystwyth University titled “The Role of Leadership in International Relations” was published in Italian in Milan by FrancoAngeli, while in January 2023 my “The United Nations: A Critical Introduction” was published in Turin by UTET, Italy’s oldest academic publisher (founded in 1791).
In January 2024, my monograph (in French) on the history of international organization was published in Paris; the following month, I was asked to appear before the French Parliament (“Assemblée Nationale”) as an expert witness to provide advice on UN reform. My report was subsequently used by its Foreign Affairs Select Committee to advise the French Government on its proposals to reform the Organization, including the Security Council.
Currently, I am under contract with Oxford University Press (OUP) to write the first institutional history of the UN Secretariat from an IR perspective, titled “The United Nations Secretariat: A Political History”.
Select Publications
– Salton, H. T. (2025) The United Nations Secretariat: A Political History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, under contract).
– Salton, H. T. (2024) L’Artisan de la Paix? L’ONU dans les Relations Internationales (Paris: L’Harmattan, in French).
– Salton, H. T. (2024) “Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, and the Balance of Bureaucratic Power in Kofi Annan’s Secretariat: A Micro-History of Two United Nations Departments”, Peacebuilding, pp.1–23.
– Salton, H. T. (2024), “Crise des Nations Unies et Perspectives de Réforme: Rapport du Professeur Herman T. Salton à l’Assemblée Nationale” (Paris: Commission des Affaires Etrangères, in French).
– Salton, H. T. (2023) Le Nazioni Unite: Un’Introduzione Critica (Milan and Turin: UTET Università, in Italian).
Salton, H. T. (2023). ‘The Hand That Holds the Pen’: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Peacekeeping, and American Influence Over the United Nations Secretariat in the Early 1990s’. International Peacekeeping, 31(1), pp.87–113
– Salton, H.T. (2021) La Leadership nelle Relazioni Internazionali: Fonti, Tipologie, e Prospettive Disciplinari (Milan: FrancoAngeli, in Italian).
– Salton, H. T. (2017) Dangerous Diplomacy: Bureaucracy, Power Politics, and the Role of the UN Secretariat in Rwanda (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
