Thousands of words have been written on “strains within NATO” and the “conflicts of interest” which attend any international organization. For several years—almost from its inception—various prognoses have been made as to how soon NATO or its subordinate agencies would fly apart from the centrifugal forces of diverging self-interest. As early as 1953 General Gruenther warned that with the recovery of self-confidence, the cohesive glue of fear would have less effect. Yet, as Secretary Dulles stated last spring at Copenhagen, we are often inclined to ignore the successes of NATO and to concentrate on its problems.

The United States has played a dominant role in the establishment of international organizations since World War I, especially with respect to the League of Nations and the UN. However, the United States is also largely responsible for some vital limitations on the functioning of these organizations. One, perhaps the most important, is the subject of this study.

The negotiations leading to the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), both in their political and psychological contexts, are an interesting and indeed unique episode in post World War II diplomatic history. The most significant feature of the negotiations was that they succeeded. The Soviet Union and the United States reached a measure of agreement in the vital field of atomic energy. Virtually the entire world joined enthusiastically in this agreement. An international organization came into being with vast potential—even though today in a changed political atmosphere doubts exist that the potential will ever be realized.

Listed below is membership of UN bodies for 1959. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated.

The thirteenth session of the General Assembly met at UN Headquarters from September 16 through December 13, 1958, when it was adjourned. It was decided at the Assembly's 782d plenary meeting to reconvene on February 20, 1959, to consider exclusively the question of the future of the trust territories of the Cameroons under French administration and the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration. At the opening plenary meeting, Mr. Charles Malik (Lebanon) was elected President of the session, having obtained 45 votes to 31, which were cast for Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub (Sudan). At its 755th plenary meeting, the Assembly adopted the recommendation contained in the report of the General Committee that the Assembly reject the request of India for the inclusion in its agenda of the question of the representation of China in the UN and decide not to consider at its thirteenth session any proposals to exclude the representatives of the government of the Republic of China or to seat representatives of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.

The Security Council held its 841st meeting on December 8, 1958, in response to an Israeli request that it convene to consider what was termed by this request an act of aggression committed on December 3, 1958, by the armed forces of the United Arab Republic against Israel territory in the Huleh area in northeast Galilee. The Council also had before it a report on the matter by the Chief of Staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). Opening the discussion, Mr. Eban, the Israeli spokesman, stated that on December 3 a Syrian army post in the area had opened fire on Israeli shepherds and on a security patrol which came to their aid. This occurred on Israel territory in the area to which the demilitarization provisions of the 1949 Agreement were not applicable, according to Mr. Eban. Later, according to Mr. Eban, defensive fire was directed by Israeli forces against the Syrian posts. Syrian forces then opened a heavy artillery barrage on seven Israeli villages. These facts were confirmed, said Mr. Eban, in the reports of UNTSO. He informed the Council that Israel had asked UNTSO for an immediate cease-fire which was set by the latter for 1700 hours. The Israelis did not fire after 1700; on the Syrian side small arms fire again broke out after dark at 1940. Mr. Eban described a radio broadcast in Hebrew from Cairo on December 4 which indicated, in his view, that Cairo and Damascus did not repent of the bombardment or promise the cessation of such acts.

The 26th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was held in Geneva from July 1 through July 31, 1958. Mr. George F. Davidson (Canada) continued as President of the Council.

Case concerning the Aerial Incident of July 2J, 1955 (United States v. Bulgaria): In an order of October 8, 1958, the Court, in accordance with a request from the agent for the government of Bulgaria, extended the time limit for the filing of the counter-memorial of the government of Bulgaria to September 9, 1959.

The eleventh session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly met in Montreal from May 20 to June 2, 1958. Represented at the meeting were 52 contracting states; two non-contracting states (the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) sent observers, as did the UN, the International Labor Organization, and the International Air Transport Association. After statements by various delegations, the President of the ICAO Council reviewed the activities of the organization since the last Assembly meeting in 1956. He stated that the intervening period had been one of great activity in ICAO centering around preparations in all fields for the advent of turbine-powered aircraft. A specially created Jet Operations Requirements Panel had studied the requirements of the new long-range jet aircraft, and a Special Implementation Panel had been created by the Council. A preliminary study of the economic implications of long-range aircraft had been prepared by the Air Transport Committee and was being submitted to the Council. He stressed that while special attention was being given to the coming operations of jet aircraft, this emphasis should not cause the organization to disregard the continuous growth of aviation during 1956 and 1957. The technical assistance activity of ICAO had continued, during the period under review, to give important support to implementation through the assignment of experts and technicians and the training of students in countries where there were technical assistance missions, as also by granting fellowships and scholarships for study abroad.

The 41st (Maritime) session of the International Labor Conference was held in Geneva from April 29 to May 14, 1958, under the presidency of Mr. I. Kawasaki (Japanese government delegate). It was attended by 370 delegates, advisers, and observers, representing the governments, shipowners, and seafarers of 46 member countries. The Conference took note of reports from its credentials committee, declaring that the objections lodged against the nomination of the Chinese delegation and the Indian workers' delegation were irreceivable.

To mark the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO), the eleventh regular session of the Assembly was preceded by a special two-day tenth anniversary commemorative session. The eleventh session was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from May 28 to June 13, 1958. The President of the Assembly (Dr. Leroy E. Burney) stated in his inaugural address that WHO's efforts during its first ten years had been concentrated largely on the fight against the major communicable diseases. He emphasized the necessity for more research, the importance of intensifying training activities, and the need for wider public participation in health work. The Director-General, introducing his report on the work of WHO during 1957, stated that one indication of the direction in which WHO's work was likely to develop in the future was to be found in the repeated references made in the report to the coordination of research. He stated that one of the most pressing immediate needs continued to be the strengthening of national health services. He proposed an effective working budget for 1959 of $14,287,600, which represented an increase of 5.3 percent over the effective working budget for 1958. The Assembly approved the proposed budget.

The second part of the tenth session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held from October 10 to 17, 1958. The Assembly first discussed the supplementary report of the Committee of Ministers. M. Fatin Zorlu (Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs and present Chairman of the Committee of Ministers), presenting the report, recalled that two of the Council's most important achievements during the period covered were the setting up of the Cultural Fund and the fulfilment of the requirements for the setting up of the European Court of Human Rights. He also reviewed several topics worthy of particular attention, such as strengthening the Assembly's relations with national parliaments, nuclear and thermonuclear tests, and the European Social Charter. Concerning the development of Africa, which was treated in the report, the Assembly adopted an order instructing its Economic Committee to present detailed proposals regarding an investment statute, a guarantee and financial assistance fund, and the expansion of technical assistance by the European countries.

The Intergovernmental Committee of Ministers engaged in negotiating the proposed free trade area met in Paris, July 24–25, 1958. It was reported that following the session, the chairman of the group, Mr. Reginald Maudling, expressed hope for a definite agreement on most major issues. He stated that if real progress toward an accord were attained, less importance would be attached to the much-discussed proposal to extend to the members of OEEC the 10 percent tariff reductions to be made among the members of the European Economic Community.

The European Parliamentary Assembly met in ordinary session from October 21 to 24, 1958, at the House of Europe in Strasbourg. After M. Robert Schuman, President of the Assembly, had opened the proceedings, statements were made on the activities of the European Economic Community (EEC or common market) during the first nine months of its existence and on the activities of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In regard to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the Assembly heard a statement by M. Pierre Wigny, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium, in which he noted the present coal crisis in Europe, and the differences between the common market and the free trade area—the one aiming for progressive integration, the other only for facilitating trade. This speaker was followed by M. Paul Finet, President of the High Authority of ECSC, who set out the present situation concerning coal in the common market area. He stated that the situation was undeniably serious and pointed out that pithead stocks had more than trebled, rising from 7 million metric tons in 1957 to 22 million tons in 1958. Belgium and Germany had been particularly hard-hit. He reviewed the action taken by the High Authority in trying to make the marketing rules more flexible and to stabilize production and imports, and appealed to the Parliament for support in these proposals, which had been made to the Council of Ministers of ECSC. A debate ensued on the general subject of the European communities.

Ministerial representatives attending the thirteenth session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) held a meeting from October 16 to 18 preceding the plenary session. According to the communique issued after the meeting, it was the view of the ministers that the outlook was promising for a continuing steady expansion in international trade and for substantial further progress in achieving the objectives of GATT, but they noted that serious trade and payments problems continued to confront many of the less developed countries, that unsatisfactory conditions still prevailed with respect to world trade in a number of primary commodities, and that special difficulties threatened to impede the future growth of international trade in agricultural products. The ministers reviewed the trends in international trade and in particular took into account a report prepared by a Panel of Experts, entitled Trends in International Trade The report, which was also before the thirteenth session, contained a number of recommendations. Among them were: the extension of more economic aid; more adequate domestic measures against business recessions; the provision of greater international liquidity; the provision of funds for buffer stock action; a reduction of certain revenue duties in countries consuming tropical foodstuffs and beverages; a moderation of agricultural protectionism in western Europe and North America; a shift in methods of agricultural protection in such countries away from price supports toward deficiency-payment systems; a reduction of protection against the import of minerals; and the avoidance of trade-diverting measures in regional economic arrangements such as the European Economic Community (common market).

The seventh annual meeting of the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries was held in Portugal from May 20 to 25, 1957. The Commission approved the recommendation of the Committee on Finance and Administration to appropriate $45,175 for the year 1957/58 and noted that the committee had adopted a budget estimate for the year 1958/59 of $48,500. An ad hoc committee considered matters of administration and management and made the following recommendation, inter alia: that the commissioners of the member countries should be asked to furnish on behalf of their governments the texts of the national laws or regulations giving effect to the mesh regulations prescribed by the Commission, information on the measures taken to make known to the fishermen the requirements of the mesh regulations, and an annual return showing what inspections had taken place and with what results. The Commission accepted this and other recommendations.

The International Wheat Council held its 24th session in the Council's headquarters in Haymarket House, London, on June 25 and 26, 1958. The Council decided that the Secretary-General of the UN should be requested to convene a conference early in 1959 to negotiate a possible renewal or replacement of the International Wheat Agreement, which would enter into force when the present agreement expired on July 31, 1959. The agreement regulated the quantities of wheat exported and imported by participating countries, set a price range for wheat traded under it, and was intended to ensure greater economic stability to the international wheat trade.