Book Review: Britain and the United Nations
| DOI | 10.1177/004711785900101107 |
| Published date | 01 April 1959 |
| Date | 01 April 1959 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
au
1\
radica~
change in the Statute
of
the International
Court
of
Justice
is
also
the&&ested!
It~
jurisdiction would become compulsory in many fields, including
or a:nsl1tul1onality
and
interpretation
of
any law, regulation
or
decision made
CO
pted
by
the United Nations under its revised Charter, any legal questions
to
nnected with disputes held
by
the General Assembly
or
the Security Council
en~anger
international peace
and
security,
or
any dispute relating to the inter-
~~tlo~
of
treaties
and
other international engagements registered with the
--~~nat
of
the United Nations. Up to the present,
of
course, the great
:::J~f1ty
~f
the disputes submitted to the
Court
in
both its contentious and its
ItsV!sory
Jurisdiction have been concerned with the interpretation
of
treaties.
in
Importance
is
enhanced by the fact that it
is
also given the power
of
decision
of
cases
of
appeal by any member
of
the United Nations against the validity
it
an~
law, regulation
or
decision made by the General Assembly
in
pursuing
Ss
malO
objective,
but
the authors make no mention
of
how the members
of
the
J
Us
rem
eJudicial organ are
to
be chosen. The only changes specified are that the
s~
ges
would be selected
by
the General Assembly only, and that the office
R
..
~~ld
last for life. They tentatively propose that there should be aBill
of
I.uts for the nations against the U.N., embodying asolemn
and
express
~rvation
for the benefit
of
the Members
of
all powers not delegated
by
the
revISed
Charter to the U.N. by express language
or
clear implication. At first
~ance
this would merely seem to be gilding the lily
of
the existing jurisdiction
w
lause
while
at
the same time outraging the traditionalists. The revised Charter
th
OUld
only come into force provided that it has been ratified
by
five-sixths
of
all
.e States
of
the world, such States to have acombined population
of
five-
~Iltths
of
the total world population and to include all those having more than
Orty
million inhabitants.
These proposals bear astriking resemblance
in
essence to the scheme originally
~°hePounded
by the late Lord Davies
in
1932
clothed, however, with legal flesh.
.ther they meet with acceptance
or
not their appearance
in
their present
&ulse
is
amajor contribution to the study
of
international organisation and
CQ.operation.
Britain
and the United Nations. Geoffrey
L.
Goodwin. Oxford University Press
for
the Royal Institute
of
International Affairs. 38/-.
~is
excellent and comprehensive study
of
the United Nations
is
one
of
a
~nes
initiated by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, designed to
~
Ustrate national reactions to international organisation. It
is
written
by
r. Geoffrey L. Goodwin, who has been alecturer
on
international relations
at the London School
of
Economics since 1948, with the assistance
of
astudy
group set up
by
Chatham House under the chairmanship
of
the Rt. Hon. Kenneth
Younger, M.P.
It
covers the early history
of
the United Nations, what it is, and,
Peftirhaps
even more important, what it
is
not, what it has done
and
how it has
aected British policy and interests. Unfortunately it ends
at
1955,
with a
~Urther
year
of
the disarmament talks included, which detracts from its general
Interest to acertain extent.
The first
part
shows the British policy makers adapting their original con-
:cPtion
of
aGreat Power alliance underpinned
by
regional councils,
to
meet the
"merican wish for amore democratic world forum since the overriding necessity
was
to assure continuing American participation and, indeed, leadership in the
~s~
war world. The author then passes to three .. case
studies"
of
the United
hatl?ns in
action;
the
Far
East;
Disarmament
and
the Middle East
and
the
•
Y1
edtterranean. The plan for endowing the U.N., with adequate forces to
en~ble
it to enforce the peaceful settlement
of
disputes, having failed to materialise
OWtng
to the deepening East
and
West schism, Part III
is
devoted
to
the develop-
tnent
of
regional security pacts, chief amongst them N.A.T.O. as the best
aVailable
substitute
in
the circumstances
of
the growing cold war.
d'
~he
study lays bare the inevitable weakness
of
the United Nations in aworld
IVlded
between two equally powerful blocs, and its inadequacy as an instrument
for concerting
or
implementing policy save in the very special circumstances
of
the
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