To the contemporary liberal humanitarian the acceptance of the League Mandate System by the world's chief colonial powers signified the advent of a New Deal for dependent areas in which the older and baser motives of empire were defeated even if not completely eliminated. To the con-temporary mind impressed with the prevalence of power politics, how-ever, the acceptance of the Mandate System signified nothing of the kind. It merely represented a new form of compromise between clashing imperial powers who sought to remove one source of friction by recourse to “internationalization”

It has now become quite axiomatic to say that United States participation in the United Nations system is having an effect upon the substance I of United States foreign policy. What is not so well known as yet is that this participation is the cause for the creation of a new piece of machinery I for aiding the conduct of our foreign policy. Established in 1946 as the United States Delegation to the United Nations, this new outpost of the Department of State illustrates in its organization and operation many of the changes which have come about as bilateral diplomacy has given way to multilateral, “conference-type” United Nations diplomacy. Located at the headquarters of the international organization in New York City, the permanent Mission and its work are symbols of the importance and endless variety of problems posed for American foreign policy by our membership in and support for the United Nations. Since it is still in the process of development, the following study of the organization and role of the United States Mission to the United Nations should be taken as a preliminary analysis.

The four books under consideration in the present review fall readily into two groups. The first two deal with various legal questions relating to the Charter of the United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice. The others share a concern about the role of an interi national secretariat, although their points of view are quite different.

For the convenience of readers, we are listing here membership of United Nations organs for 1953. Dates in parentheses represent ends of terms; the states serve through December 31 of the year listed.

The seventh regular session of the General Assembly opened on October 14, 1952, and elected as its President Mr. Lester B. Pearson of Canada. Representatives of China, Egypt, France, Honduras, USSR, United Kingdom and United States were elected vice-presidents of the session, and chairmen of the committees of the Assembly were elected as follows: Political and Security Committee, Joāo Carl Muniz (Brazil); Economic and Financial Committee, Jiri Nosek (Czechoslovakia); Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, S. Amjad Ali (Pakistan); Trusteeship Committee, Rodolfo Muñoz (Argentina); Administrative and Budgetary Committee, Carlos P. Romulo (Philippines); Legal Committee, Prince Wan Waithayakon (Thailand). The session also established an Ad Hoc Political Committee, with Alexis Kyrou (Greece) as its chairman. General debate extended from the 382d meeting on October 16 to the 385th meeting on October 20.

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from the 593d meeting on August 26, 1952, through the 604th meeting on September 19, 1952. During August, the representative of the United States (Austin) acted as President of the Council; he was followed in September by the representative of Brazil (Muniz). Only two meetings were held during August, both private, during which the Council considered its draft to the General Assembly.

The eleventh session of the Trusteeship Council was resumed on November 19, 1952, and ended on December 3, 1952. Two items remained on the agenda for consideration during this period: the problem of Ewe and Togoland unification, and arrangements for a periodic visiting mission to trust territories in the Pacific during 1953.

In a letter dated November 10, 1952, the Secretary-General (Lie) requested that the President of the General Assembly (Pearson) include on the agenda the item “Appointment of the Secretary-General of the United Nations”. Mr. Lie stated that it had been his intention to submit his resignation as Secretary-General and he had delayed until the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council were present in New York. The General Committee on November 12 recommended the inclusion of this additional item upon the agenda. The subject was not discussed prior to the adjournment of the first part of the seventh session.

In his report on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1951–1952, the Director-General (Dodd) stated that one of the striking developments of the year ending in mid-1952 was the intensified interest in the food and population problem. He believed that during the past year FAO had made more progress in its work than in the previous five years of its existence, adding that this was mainly because nations were “moving ahead more rapidly in the program of technical assistance for economic development.” One of the ways by which FAO was trying to help meet the shortage of competent technical people in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and related fields, which he described as one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in countries where it was most needed, was through regional training and demonstration courses in which governments and organizations cooperated with FAO. Other principal “forward steps” in the work of the organization in 1951–1952 were: 1) increasing international cooperation in the form of regional action programs; 2) more attention was being paid by many governments to working out specific goals and programs for increasing production; 3) a movement to remedy un-satisfactory land tenure conditions was getting under way; 4) proposals for establishing international reserves to relieve acute food shortages and famine were under consideration; 5) expansion in the number of development projects in individual countries; and 6) continuance and improvement of basic technical services useful on a worldwide scale.

The seventh annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development took place in Mexico City, Mexico, from September 3 to 12, 1952, under the chairmanship of Horacio Lafer, Minister of Finance of Brazil. Two of the Boards seven plenary sessions were joint sessions with the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund. In presenting the seventh annual report of the Bank to the Board, the President (Black) indicated that private participation in Bank lending would become an increasingly important feature of its operations and that from then on European countries would have to rely more on their own savings and mobilize their own capital more effectively. Mr. Black said that “the Bank, should it be called on, would be glad to search for feasible ways to assist” the European Coal and Steel Community. At the opening session the Chairman (Lafer) stated that the International Monetary Fund “must take a more active role” in using its resources, helping its members find a practical solution to their ex-change problems, and providing greater facilities for meeting temporary un-balance in international payments. He said that “it would be preferable to establish a system which would not compel countries to resort to harmful regimes of severe restrictions”, and that without “an international mechanism capable of supplying credits to an extent corresponding to the general credit Worthiness of each country, it will be impossible to attain the kind of multilateral trade we all hope to restore.”

The seventeenth session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization opened in Montreal on September 9, 1952 and concluded on December 5. The Council sanctioned the holding of a special frequency meeting to consider certain problems associated with frequency assignments in the European-Mediterranean region in Paris in October and decided that the first ICAO Air Navigation Conference should be convened in Montreal in February 1953. After discussion and exchange of views, the draft agenda for the 1953 ICAO Assembly was referred to the Air Navigation Commission, the Air Trans-port Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services for their consideration and report. After withdrawal by the French government of its invitation to hold the seventh session of the Assembly in France, the Council accepted the invitation of the United Kingdom and decided to hold the seventh session in Brighton, England, opening on June 16, 1953.

From November 24 to 28, 1952, the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization met in its 120th session in Geneva, under the chairmanship of Fernando Cisternas (Chile). The Governing Body decided that the thirty-seventh session of the International Labor Conference, to be held in Geneva, should open on June 4, 1954. After long discussion on proposals relating to the agenda of this session, the Governing Body decided to add the following to those items necessarily included: a) technical assistance, b) penal sanctions for breaches of contract of employment, c) migrant workers (underdeveloped countries), and d) vocational rehabilitation of the disabled. It was agreed that the next Asian regional conference should be held in Japan in September 1953 and that its agenda should include problems of wage policies and workers' housing in Asia and measures for protection of young workers in Asia. Regarding other meetings, the Governing Body instructed the tripartite subcommittee of the Joint Maritime Commission, which was to meet in 1953, to consider the need for a tripartite regional conference on hours of work and manning in the short-sea trades of northwest Europe and a resolution under which the United Nations Economic and Social Council would be invited to study the possibility of establishing machinery to regulate freight rates for shipping in this region; decided that a meeting of experts should be held in July 1953 to examine systems of payment by results in the construction industry and the techniques involved in their introduction and operation; fixed the agenda for the fourth session of the Permanent Agriculture Committee, to be convened in May 1953 in Geneva; and authorized the Director-General (Morse) to convene the eighth international conference of labor statisticians early in 1954 in Geneva, the conference to be preceded by a preliminary meeting of statistical experts in 1953 in order to define the scope of the conference's agenda.

The seventh annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Mexico City, Mexico, September 3 through 12, 1952, under the chairmanship of the Governors for Brazil, Eugenio Gudin and Horacio Lafer. Presenting the seventh annual re-port of the Fund, the Managing Director (Rooth) stated that the payments problem had persisted for so long and was so little understood that the public might lose interest in its solution, but that with positive measures by the deficit and surplus countries, he believed the problem could be solved. After remarking that it could not be solved by “retreating behind a network of restrictions and discriminations”, he expressed concern with the recent spread in western Europe of dollar retention systems and similar arrangements. In the subsequent discussions of the policies and activities of the Fund as reported in the annual report, many Governors emphasized the importance of proper credit and budget policies in solving payments difficulties; some mentioned the need to recognize the responsibility of the surplus countries in restoring payments balance, it being suggested that joint discussions between surplus and deficit nations be held with the Fund; a number referred to the need for a clearer policy on the use of the Fund's resources, emphasizing the payments problems which arose in underdeveloped countries when there was a sudden depression in world markets; and several spoke about the price of gold.

The report of the Director-General (Torres-Bodet) on the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from April 1951 to July 1952 stated that “remarkable progress” had been made during these fifteen months. The Director-General reported that the number of member states rose from 60 to 65, a “more precise conception of aims” resulted in better coordination of endeavor and greater economy in drawing up the program, and that methods of action improved. The report was divided into four parts which dealt with execution of the program, action in the field of international cooperation, administrative and financial questions, and the work of the Executive Board. It revealed that the organization was attempting to promote international cooperation among specialists in two ways: one, by lending its authority to and aiding financially the work of international non-governmental organizations of specialists, and the other, by attempting to compensate for the inadequacy of the national sections of such organizations in some areas through direct action of its science cooperation offices. UNESCO action relating to international organization of specialized documentation also was two-fold: it was concentrating on organizing the national and international standardization, collection and dissemination of specialized documentation; and it had established responsible services within the secretariat, in cooperation with international organizations and national commissions, for assembling and distributing information on program matters. Other phases of UNESCO action described included its work in stimulating and assisting its members to provide their peoples with a minimum of general, technical and moral education knownas fundamental education; expanding primary, secondary and vocational education; promoting higher education and scientific research; protecting writers, artists and scientists; preserving the cultural heritage of mankind; disseminating science and culture; attempting to remove obstacles to the free flow of ideas, concentrating mainly on the international circulation of educational and cultural materials; and studying social problems likely to create national and international tensions.

The thirteenth Congress of the Universal Postal Union was held at the Palais des Academies in Brussels from May 14 to July 15, 1952, with representatives from 91 countries present. The Congress, which met to revise the convention and its executive regulations concluded at Paris in 1947 as well as facultative agreements and their executive regulations also concluded in Paris, had before it more than 1,700 proposals for amending the Paris Acts. After electing E. Pineux (Belgium) President and F. Hess (Switzerland) Vice-President, the Congress established eight committees.

The World Health Organization sponsored an inter-regional conference on rabies, held on Coonoor, India, during July 1952, which gave intensive and individual training in complicated laboratory procedures to an international group. A consultant staff of eight members gave lectures, led discussions, and supervised the laboratory work of 47 participants. One of die objects of die conference was to teach standardized procedures in rabies tests so that results obtained in laboratories diroughout the world might be compared.

From September 9 to 27, 1952, the Executive Committee of the World Meteorological Organization met in its third session in Geneva. The lengthy agenda contained a higher proportion of technical matters than in previous sessions. The committee made suggestions for meeting the shortage of experts in the various specialized aspects of meteorology and invited the regional associations to consider possible application of the United Nations expanded program of technical assistance in their areas. Two of the largest items on the agenda were the reports on the first sessions of Regional Association VI (Europe) and the Commission for Maritime Meteorology. Both sessions had brought to light difficulties in interpreting the WMO general regulations, and the committee issued guidance for use until the points could be finally settled by the Congress. It was generally agreed that the Executive Committee should encourage the work of die regional associations and the technical commissions. After discussing the general procedure for dealing with urgent technical enquiries referred to WMO, a resolution directing the secretariat to take a more active part in such questions was adopted. It was decided that a working group should be established to investigate how WMO could contribute to the UNESCO arid zone program, and that the committee should proceed with the preparation of world maps and tables of thunderstorm frequency. In all, about 50 resolutions were adopted at this session of the committee.

The second part of the fourth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg, September 15–30, 1952. Mr. Baggiano-Pico (Italy) was elected to the vice-presidency vacated by the death of Mr. Jacini. The President of the assembly (deMenthon, France) announced that an extraordinary session would be held in mid-January 1953, to consider the work of the Ad Hoc Assembly entrusted with the preparation of a draft treaty for a European political community, a decision in which the deputies of the Committee of Ministers later concurred.

The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met in Paris, December 15–18, 1952, the first meeting of the Council on a ministerial level since the Lisbon meeting of February 1952. Ministers of foreign affairs, finance and defense of the fourteen NATO members took part in the meeting. Observers agreed that the principal fact conditioning the discussions and decisions of the ministers was the impending change of government in the United States.

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration was established during the fourth session of the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe which met in Geneva from October 13 to 21, 1952. Twenty member governments sent official delegations to this session, which had been called to discuss the need for the continuing existence of the migration committee beyond the twelve month period ending December 1952 and to decide whether the experimental plan of attack on Europe's chronic surplus population problem during the previous year should be broadened or abandoned. Count Justo Giusti del Giaro (Italy) was unanimously elected as chairman and A. L. Nutt (Australia), N. Hadji Vassiliou (Greece) and Fernando Donoso (Chile) as first and second vice chairmen and rapporteur, respectively. During the nine-day conference, the committee voted to change its name to Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM); to continue the activities of the committee in Geneva through, 1953 and to make plans during the coming year for the future; to set themselves the 1953 target of moving 120,000 of western Europe's surplus to new homes overseas; to authorize the committee to attempt to improve the selection and settlement services involved in the movement of migrants in the expectation that this would substantially speed up and increase movement;, to establish a $2,147,000 administrative and a $34,608,475 operational budget to effect the 1953 movements; and to continue investigations and discussions on the possibilities of securing outside financial and technical assistance for the establishment of land settlement projects in immigration countries.