The League of Nations and the United Nations in World Politics: A Plea for Comparative Research on Universal International Organizations

1971 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley J. Michalak
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
World Politics ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
The United Nations

20. International organizations in world politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Park
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

This chapter examines the role that international organizations play in world politics. It explains what international organizations are, whether we need international organizations in international relations, and what constraints and opportunities exist for international organizations to achieve their mandates. The chapter also considers the reasons why states create international organizations and how we can analyse the behaviour of such organizations. Two case studies are presented: the first is about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the G77, and the second is about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the interests of money-centre banks. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether international organizations suffer from a ‘democratic deficit’.

1. The best hope of mankind? A brief history of the UN

2015 ◽  
pp. 8-25
Author(s):  
Jussi M. Hanhimäki
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
International Peace ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The United Nations

The International Peace Conference in 1899 established the Permanent Court of Arbitration as the first medium for international disputes, but it was the League of Nations, established in 1919 after World War I, which formed the framework of the system of international organizations seen today. The United Nations was created to manage the world's transformation in the aftermath of World War II. ‘The best hope of mankind? A brief history of the UN’ shows how the UN has grown from the 51 nations that signed the UN Charter in 1945 to 193 nations in 2015. The UN's first seven decades have seen many challenges with a mixture of success and failure.

United Nations Constitutional Assistance

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-79
Author(s):  
Vijayashri Sripati
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter establishes United Nations Constitutional Assistance (UNCA) as a significant but uncharted international and constitutional law topic. UNCA is defined as a set of activities undertaken to produce/internationalize the Western liberal constitution. The Constitution’s salience is outlined to show that UNCA: sires UN/International Territorial Administration; is salient vis-à-vis the UN’s assistance in all other sectors (e.g., electoral, judicial, rule of law); and underpins UN peacebuilding/UN Statebuilding. This backdrop sets the stage for the book’s mission: to analyze UNCA through the concept of ‘Policy Institution’ and Purposive Analysis (analysis of the UN’s official statements). Which is: to investigate and identify the Constitution’s internationalization by international organizations (e.g., the League of Nations and the United Nations); to analyse how the Constitution and its purposes fit into international law and public policy; to consider how states internationalized the Constitution to achieve colonial trusteeship; and to explain how the legitimacy of UNCA with, and without ITA might be appraised in the light of this analysis.

Principles and Practices of Recognition by International Organizations

1949 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Aufricht
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
American System ◽  
The United Nations

Intergovernmental organizations are frequently confronted with questions concerning the recognition of states and governments. This essay deals with the principles and practices concerning recognition by major intergovernmental organizations in the light of the related rules and practices of the League of Nations, the Inter-American System and the United Nations.

Structural Challenges Facing International Organizations

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Stephen Mathias
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Impact

This article reflects upon the lessons which might be learned from the League of Nations. It highlights a number of the key differences between the League of Nations and the United Nations, with consideration given to the characteristics which shaped both institutions, and the impact which those aspects have had on their ability to fulfil their respective mandates. The article addresses issues including the composition of the institutions’ memberships, the role of sanctions, the roles of the respective Secretariats, and concludes with reflections on broader lessons which might be learned, drawing on the purposes and principles of the respective institutions. The importance of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations is emphasised, with recognition given to its central role in securing a peaceful society in which the Organization’s goal of bringing about social progress and better standards of life might be secured.

Overselling the Un Charter—Fact and Myth

1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Riggs
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Extreme Form ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
The United Nations

For almost a decade commentators on international organization have nurtured the myth that the UN Charter was originally ‘oversold’ to the American public by enthusiastic supporters, who represented the organization as a panacea for the ills of twentieth-century world politics. So unrealistic were the expectations created by this publicity barrage, so the story runs, that subsequent disillusionment with die UN was inevitable. Although propagated with many variations, the myth finds a classic formulation in the words of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., uttered before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements, July 8, 1953: ‘The United Nations,’ said Ambassador Lodge, ‘was oversold. It was advertised entirely as an automatic peace producer. All we had to do was sign on die dotted line—so it was said—and all our troubles would be over’. A recent volume on international relations, currently in use as a college text, restated the myth in a some what less extreme form: ‘Considered a towering edifice of strength in 1945, the United Nations was often shrugged off in the early 1950's with the damning phrase, ‘debating society.’ Because expectations had been so extravagant, the achievements of the United Nations seemed ridiculously trivial to many who had expected a Utopian revolution in international relations that the United Nations could not hope to provide.” Other variations on the theme are no doubt familiar to students of international organization. Use of the expression ‘myth’ implies no denial that ‘a veritable wave of propaganda and influence was generated on behalf of American membership’ in the UN. The country was flooded with information, from bodi government and private sources, designed to win over the public to the desirability of postwar international organization. It is also true that those engaged in selling the UN to the public tried to give their arguments an optimistic, hopeful tone. Recalling the League's fate, they emphasized the differences between the League and the proposed new organization rather than their patent similarities. Often they were guilty of oversimplifying the facts of world politics upon which the future of the UN would necessarily depend. The growing split between Russia and the Western allies, so ominous for the new organization, was not usually highlighted in speeches urging the establishment of the UN. A vigorous selling campaign was unquestionably conducted.

Socialization of permanent representatives in the United Nations: some evidence

1979 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Peck
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Third World ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
National Policies ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
National Governments

Cross-sectional evidence from interviews at the United Nations found some delegate socialization. Third World delegates with longer tenure showed frustration with the organization, expansionist interests toward its economic activities, and satisfaction with their governments' missions to the United Nations, suggesting increased identification with governmental supranationalist goals. Western delegates with longer tenure showed cynicism about world politics, frustration with the United Nations, expansionist interest toward the Secretariat, and dissatisfaction with their UN missions, suggesting tension between governmental policies and socialized delegate supranationalism which delegates may reduce by leaving the United Nations. Such socialization implies little more than a reinforcement of national policies.The finding of even this disheartening socialization in the United Nations calls for more careful research in organizations where delegate socialization is theoretically more likely. Such research should use scales more complex than those commonly used and should consider bodies “intermediate” between national governments and international organizations, such as permanent missions.

20. International organizations in world politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 319-333
Author(s):  
Susan Park
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Infrastructure Investment ◽  
Investment Bank ◽  
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter examines the role that international organizations play in world politics. It explains what international organizations are, whether we need international organizations in international relations, and what constraints and opportunities exist for international organizations to achieve their mandates. The chapter also considers the reasons why states create international organizations and how we can analyse the behaviour of such organizations. Two case studies are presented: the first is about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the second is about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the G77. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether multilateralism is in crisis.

scholarly journals The origins of international organizations and the mission of education: intellectual projects of the League of Nations and global goals of the UN and UNESCO in education management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ю.А. Горячев ◽  
В.Ф. Захаров
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Joint Work ◽  
Normative Documents ◽  
Education Management ◽  
The United Nations

Вслед за подготовкой и публикацией статьи «На пути к международным стандартам образования: от педагогики мыслителей ранних эпох к современным подходам (часть первая)» специалистами факультета регионоведения и этнокультурного образования МПГУ подготовлена вторая часть, повествующая о становлении международных организаций и миссии образования: интеллектуальных проектах Лиги Наций и глобальных целях ООН и ЮНЕСКО в управлении образованием. Авторы рассказывают о зарождении международных организаций в эпоху античного греческого мира и Древнего Востока, о возникновении римского права, католического канонического права, норм Корана и их влияния на формирование международного права. В статье уделяется внимание первым попыткам гуманизации законов и обычаев войны, признания государственного суверенитета как основы принципов международного права. Представлена картина формирования сети международных межправительственных организаций, основанных на договорах и обладающих согласованной компетенцией и постоянными органами функционирования. Дается описание предпосылок возникновения, процедур разработки нормативных документов и создания таких организаций, как Лига Наций, Организация Объединенных Наций, Организация Объединенных Наций по вопросам образования, науки и культуры. Изложены этапы совместной работы государств — инициаторов создания ООН в годы Второй мировой войны (в том числе в ходе конференций в Москве, Тегеране, Ялте, Думбартон-Оксе), успешно завершившиеся принятием Устава ООН государствами — участниками Генеральной конференции в Сан-Франциско. Предусмотрена также публикация третьей части по вопросам международного сотрудничества в сфере образования, в которой будут представлены нормативно-правовые документы глобального и регионального уровня по вопросам образовательного сотрудничества. After the article «Towards international standards of education: from pedagogy of early thinkers to modern approaches (part one)» had been published the specialists of the Faculty of regional studies and ethnocultural education of ISHE prepared the second part. It tells us about the formation of international organizations and the mission of education — intellectual projects of the League of Nations and global goals of the UN and UNESCO in education management. The authors spotlight the origin of international organizations in the era of the ancient Greek world and the Ancient East, the accrual of Roman law, Catholic Canon law, the norms of the Koran and their influence on the formation of international law. The article focuses on the first attempts to humanize the laws and customs of war and recognize state sovereignty as the basis of the principles of international law. A picture of the formation of a network of international intergovernmental organizations based on treaties and having agreed competence and permanent functioning bodies is presented. The prerequisites for the emergence, procedures for developing normative documents and establishing such organizations as the League of Nations, the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization are described. Stages of joint work of the states — initiators of UN creation during the Second World War (including conferences in Moscow, Tehran, Yalta, and Dumbarton-Oxe) successfully finished with adoption of the UN Charter by the States parties of the General Conference in San Francisco, are described. The third part on international cooperation in education, which will present regulatory documents of global and regional level on educational cooperation, is to be published in 2021.

scholarly journals Delegating diplomacy: rhetoric across agents in the United Nations General Assembly

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232199756
Author(s):  
Julia Gray ◽  
Alex Baturo
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Single Voice ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Career Incentives

When political principals send agents to international organizations, those agents are often assumed to speak in a single voice. Yet, various types of country representatives appear on the international stage, including permanent representatives as well as more overtly “political” government officials. We argue that permanent delegates at the United Nations face career incentives that align them with the bureaucracy, setting them apart from political delegates. To that end, they tend to speak more homogeneously than do other types of speakers, while also using relatively more technical, diplomatic rhetoric. In addition, career incentives will make them more reluctant to criticize the United Nations. In other words, permanent representatives speak more like bureaucratic agents than like political principals. We apply text analytics to study differences across agents’ rhetoric at the United Nations General Assembly. We demonstrate marked distinctions between the speech of different types of agents, contradictory to conventional assumptions, with implications for our understandings of the interplay between public administration and agency at international organizations. Points for practitioners Delegations to international organizations do not “speak with one voice.” This article illustrates that permanent representatives to the United Nations display more characteristics of bureaucratic culture than do other delegates from the same country. For practitioners, it is important to realize that the manner in which certain classes of international actors “conduct business” can differ markedly. These differences in tone—even among delegates from the same principal—can impact the process of negotiation and debate.

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