Book Review: International Law and Organization, the International Civil Service
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000212 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Author | J. King Gordon |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
250
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
International
Law
and
Organization
THE
INTERNATIONAL
CIVIL
SERVICE.
Its
Origins,
Its
Nature,
Its
Evolution.
By
Georges
Langrod.
1963.
(Leyden:
A.
W.
Sythoff.
New
York:
Oceana
Publications.
358pp.
$13.00)
Professor
Langrod, a
distinguished
writer
on
international
adminis-
tration,
is
modest
in
establishing
the
justification
for
another
book
in
a
crowded
field.
"What
seems
to
be
lacking,"
he
says,
"is
an
over-all
view
aimed
at
clarifying and
defining
the
conception
of
international
administration
to
which
the
idea
of
the international
civil
service
is
closely
linked."
International
administration
has
arisen
out
of
the
necessities
of
an
interdependent
world
in
which
"international
co-opera-
tion tends
to
be
overshadowed
by
the
diplomatic
and
ideological
strug-
gles."
With
Virally
he
feels
that
international
administrative
action
"modified
international
relations
in
depth, and
in
the
long
run
will
have
a
greater
effect
than
any
other
form
of action."
The
appearance
on
the international
field-hitherto
occupied
only
by
States--of
an
impartial
third party
is,
in
Professor Langrod's
view,
a revolutionary
event.
This
third party
is
not,
"like
the
international
judge,
called
on
to
settle
disputes or
give advisory opinions
on
legal
questions.
His
task
is
to
undertake
continuous
administrative
action
in
the
interest
of
the
whole
international
community.
Thus
his
appearance
symbolizes a
new
attempt-of
capital
importance
because
institutionalized-to
introduce
the
element of
order
into
international
life."
The
great
value
of
this
book
comes
from its
sense
of
history.
Prin-
ciples
find
expression
in
international
agreements. Practices
evolve
which
are
accorded
international
consent. The
fabric
of
international
law
is
slowly
woven.
The
independent and
impartial
status
of
the
in-
ternational
civil
servant
is
first
outlined
in
the
constitution
of
the
pre-League
International
Institute
of
Agriculture.
It
enters
into
the
philosophy
of
the
League
in
the
"Balfour
Principles"
contained
in
a
report
in
1920.
It
finds
explicit
expression
in
Article
100
of
the
Charter
of
the
United
Nations.
But
the
concept
has
never
been
free
from
challenge.
In
the
League
crisis
of
1929-31,
the
Italians
and
the
Germans
insisted
that
the Secretariat
should
be
representative
of
the
political
opinions of Member
States.
Thirty
years
later
in
the
General
Assembly
of
the
United
Nations, Khrushchev,
who
believed
that
"there
can
be
no
neutral
men,"
pressed
his
plan
for
a
tripartite
scheme
of
Secretariat
reorganization
so
that
the
world's
three
main
political
blocs
could
be
represented.
But
although
bent
a bit
by
pressure
and
compromise,
the
principle
of
the impartial
and
independent
Secretariat
has
persisted
intact.
The role
of
the
Secretary-General
must
also
be
viewed
in
historical
perspective.
And
here
Professor
Langrod's
documentation
is
most
useful.
For forty
years
there
has
been
an
ongoing
debate.
Sir
Eric
Drummond,
first
Secretary-General
of
the
League,
was
a
suave
product
of
the
discreet and
self-effacing
British
civil
service.
For
him
the
office
was
primarily
an
administrative
one,
strictly
subordinate
to
the
decisions
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