The history of the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encompasses essentially two international conferences: the Conference of Ministers of Education of the Allied Governments and the French National Committee (CAME) which took pJace in London from 1942 through 1945 and the Conference of the United Nations for the Establishment of an International Organization for Education and Culture, held November 1–16, 1945. The latter conference, called jointly by the governments of France and the United King dom, was partially a result of the former and was also held in London. At this two-week conference UNESCO's constitution was drafted and adopted. In this development a part was played by the founding process of the United Nations whose Charter, adopted at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in June 1945, foresaw the advancement of international cooperation in culture and education. The founding conference of UNESCO considered itself the executor of this mandate. This article will show how the idea of international cultural cooperation was developed during the Second World War at the meetings of CAME, how it was modified by the United States aid policy toward Europe, how it was influenced by French traditions of intellectual cooperation manifested within the framework of the League of Nations, and how it led finally to the creation of a new specialized agency of the United Nations.

In its efforts to penalize Portugal and the Republic of South Africa for their colonial and apartheid policies the General Assembly has called upon the specialized agencies to deny to those states the benefits of membership in their respective organizations. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has refused to do so on the ground that it is a nonpolitical, functional organization without authority to impose sanctions upon members for conduct unrelated to its purposes. The pointed exchange of views between the United Nations and die World Bank on this question illustrates the serious problem of the proper relationship between the United Nations and the specialized agencies and exposes one of the difficulties of the functionalist strategy for world order. An appreciation of the significance of this dispute requires an examination of its history, the legal context in which it arises, and its relationship to the theory of functionalism.

This article seeks to briefly relate the changing Indian diplomacy at the United Nations to requirements of domestic and international politics. The inferences and observations made in the article have been largely influenced by a series of formal and informal interviews with Indian and other diplomats, particularly those attending the 21st and 22nd sessions of the General Assembly.