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Permanent Delegations to the League of Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Pitman B. Potter
Pitman B. Potter*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
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Extract

The student of international organization who visits the League of Nations in its home city of Geneva encounters one phenomenon associated with the organization and activity of the League which seldom receives much, if any, attention in the news of the day or in current discussions of League problems. That is the so-called Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations. As will appear, these institutions are sometimes located elsewhere than in Geneva; but most of them are located there, and it is there that their activities are most easily observable. It is proposed to describe this institution as regards its nature and its proper nomenclature, its history, its organization, its functions, and its actual and potential value for international government.

The title inscribed at the head of this paper was adopted, to speak frankly, because it had become somewhat familiar by usage, official and unofficial, and because, superficially at least, it seems to describe the institution under discussion. A little analysis, however, will reveal both its shortcomings and the difficulty of labelling, in familiar language, the phenomenon in question. Both the nature and the consequent nomenclature of the institution must be studied by reference to the formal legal status given to it by the official agencies creating and maintaining it, and also by reference to its own activities and essential character as observed in operation; the former test will be applied first and the second reverted to later.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 1931 , pp. 21 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1931

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References

1 This study is based upon documentary materials in the League Secretariat, observation of and visits to most of the delegations in Geneva, and conferences with various persons in both the Secretariat and the delegations. It should be said, however, that the absence of a current list of such delegations issued by the Secretariat which could be relied upon by the student, and the absence of any full—or even partial—documentation of the subject by the Secretariat, makes investigation of the problem very difficult; the grounds upon which this attitude of the Secretariat rests will appear later. And no student of such problems will be surprised by the additional statement that the delegations themselves lack complete records and information on their own history. An article by S. H. Bailey in the Spectator for January 18, 1930, and unsigned articles in Servant of India for February 13, 1930, and the Canadian Labour Gazette for January, 1925, were read, and Ottlik's Annuaire de la Société des Nations and the Annuaire International de Genève, published by the Centre Permanent d'Informations Internationales, were consulted. There are also brief references to the problem in an article by Corbett, in British Year Book of International Law (1924–1925), p. 122Google Scholar; in Schücking, and Wehberg's, Satzung des Vòlkerbundes, pp. 116–117Google Scholar; and in Fauchille's Droit International (No. 660) and elsewhere.

2 The position of the International Labor Office and of the whole International Labor Organization, as well as that of the World Court, in relation to this question, will be discussed later; for purposes of simplification and clarity, the League is considered here apart from these institutions.

3 Cf. Article 1 of the Staff Regulations, League of Nations Secretariat.

4 A contrary opinion is expressed in Schücking and Wehberg, pp. 116-117.

5 This paragraph reads: “Representatives of the members of the League and officials of the League when engaged on the business of the League shall enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities.”

6 Official Journal, May, 1921, p. 305Google Scholar.

7 Brazil alone seems to have employed this rank. See Official Journal, May, 1924, p. 761Google Scholar.

8 Frei, P. H., La Situation Juridique des Représentants des Membres de la Société des Nations, p. 27Google Scholar.

9 See early list in Official Journal, May, 1921, p. 306Google Scholar.

10 No official list being available, and unofficial lists varying as widely as they do, it has been necessary to construct this list anew from all available data. The tables give (1) the names of countries maintaining permanent delegations of one type or another, (2) the rank officially conferred upon or assumed by the permanent delegate in each case, (3) the style formally bestowed upon or assumed by him, or that by which he is commonly known, and (4) the seat of the delegation. “Minister” signifies either envoy extraordinary and ministor plenipotentiary or ministor resident or other variants. In the stylo, the term “near” is a translation of “auprès” or “près,” as in the familiar English phraso “near the Court of St. James.” In connection with tho seat of the delegation, the sign * indicates that the country in question also maintains a consulate or other office in Geneva, and the sign ** that such office is expressly designod for liaison with the Secretariat or/and the Labor Office.

11 Non-member states.

12 The Portuguese office at Geneva is called a chancelleric.

13 There seems to be confusion of thought in current criticism on this point. One hears the complaint that the argument just stated implies that persons in the Secretariat act as nationals of their own states in providing information and exercising influence, and that this would undermine the international character of the Secretariat civil service. The critics are quite right in the latter respect, it seems. But the fact is that the Secretariat personnel is not today entirely free from nationalistic attitudes; and the permanent delegations seem not to aggravate, but may be the best means of relieving, the situation.

14 It will have been noted, from the list of delegations existing today, that none of the European great powers maintains a full-fledged delegation in Geneva. On the other hand, most of the delegations are maintained by small powers, and, like the governments which they represent, are not very active in League business. The result is that some eight or ten delegations, from powers such as Canada, China, Poland, and so on, constitute the most active and most prominent element in the list.

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