Towards an International Civil Service

Abstract

AS THE PRECEDING ARTICLES in this symposium have pointed out, for over a half a century a slow and frequently broken advance has been made toward an international civil service. Since the hopeful days at the birth of the League of Nations to the threatening hours of the early 1970's, a growing number of men and women from a longer and longer list of independent nations have been appointed for service in international organizations. Across ideological walls and cultural barriers, they have come to join talents in support of global missions. Even in the years of World War II residual staffs in temporary locations preserved the continuity of certain international functions and the evolutionary growth of the international civil service. But if the construction of a meaningful and viable national civil service has fallen short of expectations in the United States, and other Western countries, the international civil service has also failed to match the aspiring standards of the charter writers in postwar years. The ideal of an international merit system where individuals would be selected on the basis of relative ability and qualifications, where national origin would be incidental, where total careers would be committed to international service, and where assignments anywhere on the globe might be expected, has not been realized nor can it realistically be expected to materialize. Some critics refuse to recognize employment with international agencies as a bonafide form of civil service. They point to the continuing emphasis upon geographical distribution, the inequality of linguistic demands, the preservation of national identification in benefits and allowances, the involvement of national governments in recruitment and placement of individuals, the lack of mobility between organizations and points of duty around the world, the high prevalence of short-term assignments, and the absence of firm personnel policies relating to the entire international community. These criticisms have validity but they fail to recognize the conflicting policy positions, the complexity of international staffing, and the rapidly changing national composition of international bodies. With all the seemingly insurmountable problems faced in building an international civil service, it is truly remarkable that a body of employees from more than 100 nations, in virtually all professions and occupations, are on the job in locations on all continents in support of the missions of the United Nations and the several independent organizations. The management of each organization has secured the services of men and women to accomplish the administrative responsibilities, the technical services, and the support for international conferences and meetings which occur somewhere with more than daily frequency throughout the world. Although the forms of coordinated planning and action among the organizations leave much to be desired, there has been agreement on certain basic personnel policies which relate to the entire international community. The chief executive officers of international organizations meet at least semiannually to consider common problems in the personnel field, to accept the advice of the International Civil Service Advisory Board, and to determine common objectives for the future. Their deputies with responsibility for administrative services and their personnel officers meet with even greater frequency to form a more consistent management front with respect to the human side of international government. The time has long passed for the world verdict on whether or not there should be an international civil service. There must be a multinational body of men and women to play the parts in the international drama of drawing together the purposes of all mankind. As Dag Hammarskjbld viewed it, it was the task of in-