Book Review: Function Publique International et Influences Nationales (International Civil Service)
| Published date | 01 April 1959 |
| Author | J. H. W. Verzijl |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711785900101108 |
| Date | 01 April 1959 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Korean war
or
the Suez debacle.
It
may well
be
true that, in this era
of
c1arna~}
nationalism colonialism
is
out-of-date
but
the author puts his finger on
one
a
the reasons for Great Britain's opposition to the transference
of
power
fro~
s
hamstrung Security Council to the General Assembly.
"Unhappily
the poltcl:1
of
the Colonial Powers are too often the
butt
of
delegates who have
nO
re'r
concern for the welfare
of
colonial peoples or, indeed, for the welfare
of
~~~~
own peoples,
and
are mainly intent
on
causing as much mischief as
pOS~1
,
or
in earning the plaudits
of
their countrymen
and
colleagues". His
prescleo~
is
shown by his accurate forecast
of
the use to which the Uniting for
peace
machinery might be put,
"while
there
is
some risk that the Uniting
f~r
P~s
machinery may not only entangle Britain
in
conflicts in which British mteres
1d
are only remotely involved, but that it may be used against Britain if she shou"
ever
be
provoked into unilateral action to defend avital interest
ove,r~ea~
Ii
What was perhaps not so easy to foresee was that same machinery
ml!ltaUO
h
against the interests
of
one
of
the Powers which had been on the whole a
staun~
upholder
of
the"
purposes and principles
of
the
Charter"
while being
complet~
~
powerless to prevent, and slow to condemn, the crushing
of
the Hung
afla
revolution
by
the Soviet Union. , S
The remainder
of
the book ranges over the development
of
the United
NaUO"d
multifarious activities in the social and economic field where Mr. Goodwin
WOU~e
like to
see
some pruning
of
paper work and considerable simplification of
t,
I
machinery used, even to the extent
of
abolishing the Economic and
~~~as
Council-a
platform for afine display
of
demagogy-and
devolving its
actlvJl!e
on
to
its secretariat and its more realistic Commissions. 'f
It
is
perhaps somewhat more doubtful whether the generally favourable,
Ie
pessimistic, attitude
of
public opinion which he notes still subsists. Since
~he
contemporary international situation puts the creation
of
an effective coll
ecuv
security system
out
of
court he attaches little importance to Charter
revisionJ
which might even prove dangerous. But the U.N, machinery if not
overstretch~tS
is
useful and may
well
become increasingly so, and what
is
needed
is
not
.I'
r
revision but its use. There
is
no special pleading here
but
an objective and
tal
assessment
of
the record
of
the United Nations
in
its first decade.
Function Publique International etInfluences Nationales (InternationalCivil
Service)
Mohammed Bedjaoui. 1958, London, Stevens. 63/-. d
This
is
not abook that, like anovel, can
be
read
at
asitting, First defende
as adoctoral thesis
in
the Faculty
of
Law
of
Grenoble University in
1956,
it
~as
subsequently published under the auspices
of
the Carnegie Endowment
,or
International Peace, European Centre, which awarded its author the first
pr~~
in
their Prize competition for
1956.
The book's
674
pages are so packed
~It
detail that consecutive reading
is
virtually impossible and it
is
even a
lttt~e
difficult, sometimes, to
see
the wood for the trees. This
is
not to say that
it
IS
not avaluable contribution to the subject. On the contrary it can unreservedly
be
characterised as athorough description
and
analysis
of
the many, often
d~lI
cate, problems raised
by
the slow development
of
an international civil
ser~lcei
The list
of
abbreviations alone, intended to guide the reader through the thlcke
of
existing,
or
even merely projected, international organisations contains
nearlY
seventy entries.
The book, written
in
French, consists
of
two main Parts, preceded
by
an
IntrO-
duction and aPreliminary Chapter and followed by aGeneral Conclusion on
,th~
future
of
the"
fonction publique internationale". After ashort histofl
ca
survey showing the gradual increase
of
the most varied assortment
of
internaJion
al
Commissions, Unions
and
other .. international administrations" the author
proceeds in his preliminary chapter to build up an adequate definition
of
the
.. fonctionnaire international"
by
considering successively the necessity
of
an
international instrument, creating the international administration concerned,
its purpose
of
satisfying the common interest
of
States, the need for an absence
of
ties with any national Civil Service and its regulation and control
by
an
international ..
statute",
In the course
of
his argument he adduces
manY
580
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