For example, Dag Hammarskjold seized the opportunity of the Suez Crisis created by Britain and France’s invasion of Egypt in 1956 to persuade governments to create peacekeeping forces – an institution that is not mentioned in the UN original charter. In the wake of the UN’s failures to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Kosovo in the 1990’s, Kofi Annan worked with others to persuade governments to recognize a new responsibility to protect endangered peoples.
联合国秘书长的工作几乎没有什么硬实力及，但是有些人以巨大的努力来担当这份工作，运用他们的软实力资源来借助各国的硬实力。比如，哈马舍尔德抓住了因为英国和法国在1956年入侵埃及而造成苏伊士运河危机的机会，劝说各国组建维和部队，一个在联合国原先的宪章中并没有提到的机构。在联合国未能阻止二十世纪九十年代发生在卢旺达和科索沃大屠杀和种族清洗后，安南与其他人一道劝说各国政府承认一种保护面临危险的人们的新的责任。