Diego Salama is a historian of the United Nations and a Research Associate at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University. His research focuses on the history and practice of UN peacekeeping, multilateral diplomacy, institutional adaptation, and the United Nations’ role in the Middle East. More broadly, his work examines how international organisations operate under political and institutional constraints, with particular attention to the office of the Secretary-General, relations between UN organs, and the coordination of peace operations.

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Diego Salama is a historian of the United Nations and a Research Associate at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University. His research focuses on the history and practice of UN peacekeeping, multilateral diplomacy, institutional adaptation, and the United Nations’ role in the Middle East. More broadly, his work examines how international organisations operate under political and institutional constraints, with particular attention to the office of the Secretary-General, relations between UN organs, and the coordination of peace operations.

Diego serves as Managing Editor of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, published by Brill in collaboration with the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).

He holds a PhD in History from Leiden University. His doctoral research examined the evolution of the United Nations’ multidimensional engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict between 1967 and 1982, drawing extensively on archival material from the United Nations Archives in New York. This research forms the basis of his book, The UN’s Multidimensional Approach to the Israel–Arab Conflict, 1967–1982: An Architecture for Peace (Routledge, 2026). His current research extends this work to questions of institutional resilience, peacekeeping coordination, and the ways in which different parts of the UN system respond to political deadlock.

At Leiden University, Diego has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of the United Nations, internationalism, and international relations. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations (cum laude) as well as his PhD from Leiden University. 

Publications