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Prescribing for the reform of international organization: the logic of arguments for change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Paul Taylor
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Extract

In this essay I examine the main characteristics of the proposals which have been put forward over the past few years for the reform of international institutions, particularly the United Nations. The latter's social and economic arrangements in particular have been subject to a series of incisive, hard hitting reports—the most recent being Maurice Bertrand's Report of December 19851—which have themselves become almost a matter of routine: nothing changes, even the intelligence and perception of the criticism. This essay is intended to provide a part of the answer to the question of why nothing is ever done. In addition to difficulties arising from the interests of states and organizations which are involved, there are also a range of problems arising from different conceptions of what international organizations are and can do. This essay deals with the latter. The conceptions dealt with are those found in the writings of students of international organization, largely British and American, rather than in the words or deeds of practitioners. The nature of the link between scholarly writing and the practice of international relations is itself complex and contentious and is not explored in this essay. The minimalist assumptions are made, however, that disagreements among scholars make it less likely that practitioners will agree to co-operate, and that scholarly reconciliation is at least a first step towards practical improvement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1987 , pp. 19 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1987

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References

1. Joint Inspection Unit, Some Reflections on Reform of the United Nations, prepared by Maurice Bertrand, JIU/REP/85/9 (Geneva, 1985).

2. See Banks, Michael, ‘Ways of Viewing the World Society’, in Groom, A. J. R. and Mitchell, C. R. (eds.), International Relations Theory: a bibliography (London, 1978), pp. 195–215Google Scholar; also Banks, Michael, ‘The Evolution of International Relations Theory’, in Banks, Michael (ed.), Conflict in World Society (Brighton, 1984), pp. 3–21.Google Scholar

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7. This approach, one which realists would certainly dismiss, is reflected in the reports of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the strengthening of the role of the organisation, for example, A/AC. 182/AL. 38, 17 April 1984. For a more digestible example see Perez de Cuellar, Javier, ‘How to make the UN Work’, The Washington Post, 9 September 1982.Google Scholar

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11. Financial Times, 5 December 1985.

12. Good examples are a number of the volumes produced by the World Order Models Project. See, for instance, Kothari, Rajni, Footsteps into the Future (New York, 1974)Google Scholar.

13. Ibid., e.g. p. 150: ‘It appears that some kind of federal or confederal situation already obtains at the psychological level, because the essence of a federal situation is the existence of the sentiment for local autonomy alongside an urge for overall unity.’

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40. See Burton, op. cit. in note 4 above.

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46. The Bertrand Report, op. cit. in note 1 above.

47. See note 6 above.