Book Review: The United Nations as a Political Institution
| Author | Alan de Rusett |
| Published date | 01 October 1959 |
| Date | 01 October 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/004711785900101204 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
The United Nations as aPolitical Institution.
H.
G.
Nicholas. London,
Oxford University Press. 1959. 215 pp. (incl. Appndx. &Index.) 21s.
As one would expect from Mr. Nicholas, this
is
arestrained and intelligent
POrtrait
of
the United Nations. The spirit in which he writes reminds one
of Spinoza's
injunction-do
not laugh, no not weep, above all
do
not
hate,
but try to understand.
He
is
sympathetic without being uncritical, and
critical without being carping; he
is
unexcited, but
not
bored
or
boring-he
knows how to bring
an
institution or idea to life with apleasant turn of
phrase; and where he
is
somewhat sophisticated, he is never aloof
or
merely
clever. His conception
of
the United Nations, too, though
not
original, is
bound to help towards the understanding he seeks as no other treatment
does. He takes it as amatter
of
common sense
that
the United Nations
works on politics, though
it
may
rest on law;
it
is
apolitical institution,
standing in relationship to international society in much the same way as
national Assemblies and Parliaments
do
to
their more cohesive societies:
and the task
of
understanding the growth and action
of
its many institutions
necessitates an appreciation
of
the attitudes, interests, pressures, hopes and
fears
of
its member States, as in their co-operation and conflict they shape
and develop them, giving them forms and functions peculiar to
our
own
peculiar times, for good
or
iII. By their very existence, too, these
now
very ubiquitous institutions influence the behaviour
of
States and modify
international political and social conduct. So, it
is
this story
of
interplay-
of shaping, mis-shaping, and being
shaped-that
Mr. Nicholas seeks
to
render understandable, and where possible to evaluate, with an economy
of praise
or
blame-and
in less
than
180 pages.
To
do
alI this in ashort
book
is incredibly difficult, and painful to a
conscientious scholar.
It
is
aproblem which neither Mr. Nicholas
nor
any
other
author
can solve to perfection.
The
United Nations is avast complex
of
institutions, and the history
of
the post-war society
of
which it is
part
is
likewise vast and complicated.
How
compress all
that
is
necessary into a
book that is both brief and comprehensive? The
author
must cut, neglect,
and simplify
on
such ascale
that
his final product is, in fact, an opinion.
aconstant expression
of
judgements-----even when he protests, as does Mr.
Nicholas,
that
he
is
more interested in description
than
judgement. In-
escapably, the shorter the book, the more important
is
one's confidence
in
the author. And this reviewer can only say
that
for him this book stands
well
up
to the kind
of
weighing one should give it.
The
scales may shiver
alittle
at
times,
but
on
balance its author has done welI. He achieves
this very largely on account
of
his understanding approach and sound
initial conception
of
the United Nations, as mentioned above, which enables
him to take over the views and make his own the wisdom
of
so many
of
the best and most perceptive British and American thinkers in this field,
so
that we get aconstant succession
of
intelligent observations and inter-
pretations, which one would otherwise have to go far afield
to
find and
which few could integrate so well. Here Zimmern, there Webster, else-
where Brierly
or
Loveday
or
Hammarskjold himself, alI help enlighten the
scene: and where there
is
need for some local
colour-some
creation
of
..
atmosphere
"-in
order to bring an institution to life, the author's own
first hand observations seem helped not alittle
by
the kindred spirit
of
Bernard Moore: and, who better? The result
is
aconvincing and authorita-
tive little book, which should in particular help University students, who
easily get lost gathering facts among the jungle
of
books on international
organisation, and may gather more wisely
if
they start with Mr. Nicholas.
In particular, by way
of
example, Mr. Nicholas' guidance
is
at its best
when he sensibly explains why nations on
occasions"
tolerate apoliceman
more readily than ajudge ", why arevolutionary and troubled world
is
639
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