Reviewed by Vladimir Matveyev in International Relations, Volume XIII, No 5, August 1997 -
Towards the end of this book the authors remark that `... the essential core of international organisation is not the various administrative buildings in New York, Brussels, Geneva and elsewhere which represent the relevant institution in the public mind, but the rules, regulations and agreed procedures for which the institutions have assumed responsibility. In this sense the main thrust of the international organisation is the development of "international regimes": sets of rules which aim to regulate some specific activity of international interest'. This is, perhaps, the principal feature of the authors' approach to the problem of the unprecedented growth of international organizations throughout the twentieth century. In other words, they are more interested in analysing their place and role in the international system than in describing the administrative and legal aspects of international diplomacy. Yet, they do not completely ignore the latter. Their brief but accurate accounts of the activities of all the Secretary-Generals in the history of the United Nations are clever and authoritative. Above all, they foresaw that Boutros Boutros-Ghali would not be re-elected and they give their reasoning for this. Mentioning, in particular, that Boutros-Ghali was especially active and proficient in developing and implementing machinery for resolving conflicts (e.g. setting up `interim offices' in a number of former Soviet republics), the authors point out that he was also trying to extend his authority beyond the limits provided for by the UN Charter. Consequently, he came into conflict with the Security Council.
While the number of international organizations has grown markedly, so too have the differences between them. They come in all shapes and forms: governmental and non-governmental, global and regional, military and economic, large and small, long-lived and brief. The authors' focus of attention, however, is on intergovernmental organizations and they concentrate on the most significant of those. The major part of the book deals with only two organizations - the United Nations (with the League of Nations also considered as the UN's predecessor) as a global organization and the European Community (later the European Union) as the most unique and advanced regional organization. Besides these, the authors briefly consider the history and functions of three of the most important regional organizations outside Europe - the Organization of American States, the Organization of African Unity and ASEAN. The last chapter considers several international regimes: those concerned with international economic order, the Law of the Sea, nuclear non-proliferation and human rights protection.
In their selection of subjects, as well as in portraying the long and complicated history of both the United Nations and the European Union, the authors strike a proper balance between breadth in some spheres and detail in others. In accordance with their interpretation of international organizations as nothing other than instruments of states' diplomacy, the authors trace the development of the League of Nations and of the United Nations strictly within the framework of international relations. This allows them to devote special chapters to the formative period of the UN, the Cold War and the American-led UN (1945-1960), the Third World UN (1960-1980) and lastly, the UN in Crisis and its Rejuvenation (1980-1994). With hindsight, it might have been better if the final UN chapter had been divided into two separate sections.
The United Nations, with all its former and current weaknesses, and, not least, with its almost endemic budget deficit, nevertheless enjoys an almost magnetic appeal for dozens of new countries. Most of these emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Empire. Between 1990 and 1995, 27 additional states joined the UN, bringing the total membership to 185. At the same time an unparalleled number of humanitarian disorders occurred which virtually cried out for UN intervention and the number of peacekeepers rose from 10,000 in 1992 to 78,000 in 1994. It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult to find enough militarily efficient troops who were acceptable to the parties involved in the conflict. There are other problems confronting the United Nations at the end of the century which are no less troublesome and controversial and yet, the authors conclude, countries value and need the United Nations. `Through it they can pursue their interests, conduct diplomacy, debate and cooperate - in achieving the purposes set out in Article 1 of the Charter. As such, it is likely to survive for a long time'.
The authors' account of the European Community is equally balanced and competent. Their emphasis on recent events, namely the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union, is justified by the very significance of these momentous developments in the process of European integration. The authors point particularly to two internal forces which were driving the Community towards further integration in the late 1980s - the Single European Act, `with its inbuilt dynamic which encouraged further development, and the Single Market Programme, which highlighted the absence of (and therefore the need for) accompanying monetary and social measures'. External factors, that is the events in Eastern Europe since 1988, contributed substantially to the further development of the Community. A climate was created in which even the quite ambitious development of the EC did not seem extraordinary. The creation of the European Union is the result of that momentum.
Commenting on the further enlargement of the European Union, which the authors regard as `almost certain', they suggest a number of possible drawbacks to the inclusion of countries whose political and economic structure is not, to put it mildly, compatible with the level of present EU members. `Some of the new members may not share the supranational aspirations of the EU's founding fathers but may have a preference for intergovernmental cooperation or be driven by economic ambitions'.
In conclusion, the authors stress the uniqueness of the EU which, being a curious mix of the supernational and intergovernmental, is largely and will continue to remain outside the behavioural norms of other international organizations. `Perhaps it is not an organization at all', sum up the authors, `but really is a superstate in the making'.
The book, supplied with a detailed bibliography and a list of the major international organizations, serves a two-fold purpose: it belongs equally on the desk of students of international relations and diplomacy as well as on the bookshelves of researchers and practitioners of multinational diplomacy.
The authors are from Birmingham and Keele Universities. They certainly know the needs of their students. Moreover, in the Preface to the book they take the opportunity to thank their students for many helpful comments. I would venture to suggest that the book might also be useful for students of institutions of higher learning outside Britain, including my own.
VLADIMIR MATVEYEV END
