Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:29:53.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of the Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Gabriella Rosner Lande
Get access

Extract

Dag Hammarskjöld not long before his death called attention to the mainspring propelling the successful operation of the United Nations. The growth of the United Nations into an increasingly effective organization, he declared, will be dependent upon the cooperation extended by its Member nations in making the Charter “a living reality in practical political action as it is already in law” and in giving enhanced respect to United Nations decisions.

Type
Research Notes
Information
World Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , October 1966 , pp. 83 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 “Introduction to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, 16 June 1960—15 June 1961,” General Assembly, Official Records (16th Session), Supplement IA, 1-8.

2 In other words, one might speak of its “political potential,” in the sense defined by Harold and Margaret Sprout “as the total, or aggregative, attraction, pull, pressure, or simply effect that one political unit . . . exerts on others” (The Ecological Perspective on Human Affairs [Princeton 1965], 22Google Scholar).

3 Haas, Ernst B., “The Comparative Study of the United Nations,” World Politics, XH (January 1960), 308-9Google Scholar.

4 Legitimacy provides a presumption of “repetition or expansion of peaceful change procedures . . . ,” whereas mere authority does not. For discussion, see , Haas, Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization (Stanford 1964), 133Google Scholar.

5 The United Nations Conference on International Organization: Selected Documents, Department of State Publication 2490 (Washington 1946), 706Google Scholar.

6 General Assembly Resolution 377 (V), November 3, 1950.

7 “Bringing Law to Bear on Governments,” Harvard Law Review, LXXIV (April 1961), 1134-35Google Scholar.

8 The following disputes and situations, then, form the research background of the framework here presented: (1) The treatment of peoples of Indian origin in the Union of South Africa; (2) The relations of Members of the United Nations with Spain; (3) Threats to the independence and territorial integrity of Greece; (4) The question of Korean independence; (5) The future government of Palestine; (6) The observance in Bulgaria and Hungary of human rights and fundamental freedoms; (7) The disposal of the former Italian colonies; (8) The question of an international regime for Jerusalem; (9) The holding of free elections in Germany; (10) Intervention of the People's Republic of China in Korea; (11) The racial situation in the Union of South Africa; (12) The question of Morocco; (13) The question of South West Africa; (14) The status of West New Guinea (West Irian); (15) Intervention by Israel, France, and the United Kingdom in Egypt; (16) The question of Hungary; (17) The question of Algeria; (18) The question of Jordan; (19) The question of Lebanon; (20) The future of the Togolands; (21) The situation in the Congo; (22) The situation in Angola.

9 See Haas, “Comparative Study of the UN,” 304-10. Haas's schematization has been extremely useful in formulating a number of the variables outlined here.

10 For a discussion of terms, see Goodrich, Leland M. and Simons, Anne P., The United Nations and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Washington 1955), 225-32Google Scholar, 354-60.

11 , Hoffmann, “Sisyphus and the Avalanche: The United Nations, Egypt and Hungary,” International Organization, xi (Summer 1957), 452Google Scholar.

12 For details and discussion, see Goodrich and Simons, Parts 3, 4.

1S Philip Jessup, “The United Nations Begins to Show Power Against Power,” New York Times Magazine (October 23, 1949), 12.

14 Beyond the Nation-State, 39.

15 Of course, not all governments will consider and review all resolutions with equal care, and some may never review one or another at all. A government's capacity to give attention to Assembly resolutions is sometimes limited by its state of political development, by the administrative machinery at its disposal, or by other factors. National attitudes and reactions may, however, be discerned from the UN record and, in the case of the parties concerned, there is a strong presumption that the resolution will receive some attention.

16 See the series of twenty-four National Studies on International Organization prepared by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

17 Article 2 states that the Organization and its Members shall act in accordance with a number of stated principles. All Members shall (i) fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the Charter; (2) settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace, security, and justice are not endangered; (3) refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the UN's purpose; and (4) give the Organization every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter, and refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the UN is taking preventive or enforcement action. The Organization is based on the principle of sovereign equality of all its Members. It shall ensure that states which are not Members act in accordance with the above principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security. It shall not intervene in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state nor require Members to submit such matters to settlement under the Criarter, although this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures.

18 The General Assembly is granted authority under Articles 10 to 14 of the Charter to consider the general principles of cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security and to make recommendations with tegard to such principles to the Members or to the Security Council or to both. It is tckinitiate studies and make recommendations for the purposes of promoting internatiVial cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, educational, and health fields, and of assisting in the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the Charter and on measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation that it deems likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations, except while the Security Council is exercising in respect to any dispute or situation the functions assigned to it in the Charter. Subject to the same proviso, the Assembly may discuss and make recommendations on any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, although any such question on which action is necessary shall be referred to the Security Council either before or after discussion.

19 UN Conference: Selected Documents, 668.

20 The Development of International Law through the Political Organs of the United Nations (London 1963), 62Google Scholar.

21 “Introduction to the Annual Report, 1960-1961,” 3.

22 “The United Nations and the Revision of the Charter,” Review of Politics, xvi; (January 1954), 13Google Scholar.

23 More specifically, resolutions on the following matters are pertinent: (a) The regulation, limitation, and balanced reduction of all armed forces and armaments; The suspension of nuclear weapons tests; The prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons; The denuclearization of Africa, (b) Condemnation of propaganda against peace; Peace through deeds; Peaceful and neighborly relations among states; Appeals to the great powers to compose their differences and establish a lasting peace, (c) The promotion, achievement, and observation of human rights and fundamental freedoms; Permanent sovereignty over natural resources; The duties of states in the event of the outbreak of hostilities; The legal principles governing activities of states in the use of outer space; The granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples; The elimination of all forms of racial discrimination; The principles of international law concerning friendly relations and cooperation among states; The inadmissibility of intervention in the domestic affairs of other states, (d) Voting procedure in the Security Council; Admission of new Members; Representation of Members; The implementation of Article 43 of the Charter; Uniting for peace; The financing of peacekeeping operations.

24 Haas, “Comparative Study of the UN,” 321.

25 Cleveland, Harlan, in Wilcox, Francis O. and Haviland, H. Field Jr., eds., The United States and the United Nations (Baltimore 1961), 147Google Scholar.

26 For a discussion of this problem, see Beloff, Max, “National Government and International Government,” International Organization, xiii (Autumn 1959), 541-42Google Scholar.

27 Beyond the Nation-State, iii.

28 See Hoffmann, Stanley, “An Evaluation of the United Nations,” Ohio State Law Journal, xxii (Summer 1961), 483Google Scholar.

29 United Nations Review, iv (October 1960), 270Google Scholar.

20 Claude, Inis L. Jr., Swords Into Plowshares (New York 1961), 168Google Scholar.