History Of International Organizations Research Articles

Ardeleanu , Constantin The European Commission of the Danube, 1856–1948: An Experiment in International Administration (review)

SEER, 99, 4, OCTOBER 2021 768 Ardeleanu, Constantin. The European Commission of the Danube, 1856–1948: An Experiment in International Administration. Balkan Studies Library, 27. Brill, Leiden and Boston, MA, 2020. xiii + 379 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. €124.00: $149.00. The history of international organizations is not a subject to set pulses racing. Yet the story of the European Commission of the Danube (ECD), set up at the end of the Crimean War to reopen the mouths of one of Europe’s longest rivers for maritime commerce, proves an absorbing one in the hands of Constantin Ardeleanu, professor of modern history at the University of the Lower Danube in Galați, Romania. For only the second time in European and world history, following the creation in 1815 of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, a body consisting of the representatives of seven member-states was established, charged with the immediate task of clearing the silted-up central channel of the Danube at Sulina, and establishing some sort of regulatory framework or ‘security regime’ for future traffic. Originally envisaged as needing only a two-year period to achieve these ambitious goals, the ECD’s life was repeatedly extended until, in 1883, it was decided to make it a permanent body; in the twentieth century it survived both World Wars and was only replaced in 1948, after the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe. Ardeleanu locates this saga within an overarching framework connecting international, institutional and riverine history, and with reference to a growing literature on the ‘security culture’ of post-1815 Europe. In this context the ECD stands out as an early ‘community of experts’, in which states pooled resources not so much monetary as human: on the assumption that no one state or even empire could do so on its own, hydrological engineers, jurists, bureaucrats and others were assembled from across Europe to solve a common problem, the navigability of a ‘European’ river. It is the author’s thesis that the ECD evolved organically into a purpose-specific bureaucracy acting ‘like a state’, furthering international cooperation in the interests of its memberstates . The ECD also became increasingly successful at tooting its own horn as an effective, because cost-efficient, organization which got results. As such it served as a prototype for growing numbers of such international bodies in the twentieth century. The book starts with a lucid summary of the basic problem created by Russia’s domination of the Balkans after 1815, and in which Russian mismanagement of the Danube delta was one of the contributory causes of the Crimean conflict. Simply put, Russia was either incapable or unwilling to keep the mouth of the Danube open. The bar across the central channel at Sulina had long since silted up by the 1850s, creating conditions highly perilous for shipping; and yet in the decades after 1815 the growth of steam navigation, and the increasing market REVIEWS 769 for Danubian grain in western Europe, especially industrial Britain, made the river’s accessibility a matter of international concern. The decades before the Crimean War were the heyday of British Russophobia, personified by the egregious publicist David Urquhart; but the underlying clash of interests at what Ardeleanu calls an ‘inter-imperial boundary and junction’ (p. 36) was real enough. Because of the impossibility of entering the Danube, ships had to anchor in an exposed, storm-swept roadstead, and cargoes had to be loaded onto or unloaded from lighters capable of crossing the bar. Cargoes and lives were routinely lost, while a state of ‘economic banditry’ (p. 42) prevailed at Sulina as well as upstream due to the costs of lighterage and the unreliability of pilots. Russia’s responsibility for letting these conditions continue, and the inability of the Ottoman Empire, the notional suzerain power, to redress the situation, were painfully obvious. Following Russia’s defeat, Articles 16 to 18 of the 1856 Treaty of Paris created the new Commission, charged with removing the physical obstacles to navigation, together with a subsidiary body, the Riverain Commission, responsible for setting regulations for navigation and the mechanisms needed for enforcing those regulations. The seven commissioners of the ECD were each...

‘A pretty kettle of fish’: United Nations assistance in the mass dismissal of labor in the Iranian oil industry, 1959–1960

ABSTRACTThis article examines the assignment of John Alexander-Sinclair, a British United Nations (UN) development expert, in Iran. In the late 1960s, Alexander-Sinclair was invited to arrange the ‘redeployment’ of 20,000 allegedly redundant oil workers and mediate between the consortium of European and American companies, which was in de facto control of the country’s oil industry, and the state-led National Iranian Oil Company, which was nominally in charge. His UN mission enabled the cooperation between Iranian officials and foreign companies, which eventually led to the severance of workers on a massive scale. Much of the existing scholarly work on the history of international organizations and labor has focused on the role of the former in advocating international norms to improve the lives of workers across the globe. This article, by contrast, examines the use of UN assistance as a means to circumvent workers’ existing protections and benefits. Second, the notion of a ‘rule of experts,’ which suggests that development practitioners gained unprecedented powers after World War II, dominates much of the secondary literature. By showing how the UN representative in Iran appeared as a rather impotent pawn in the politics of local interest groups, the article demonstrates the limits of this argument.

International Organizations and Rural Development: The FAO Perspective

ABSTRACTThis epilogue reflects on the findings of the articles collected in this section and discusses their contributions to the history of international organizations and rural development.

International Organizations: Loose and Tight Coupling in the Development Regime

In this essay, we explore how international organizations (IOs) have shaped how economic development has been conceptualized, promoted, and practiced since the end of World War II. We conceive of development as an international regime that provides structure and coherence to an area in international relations. We argue that over time, the international development regime has varied in how tightly coupled it has been—that is to say, in the degree to which it has been characterized by interdependence, centralized authority, and standardization. IOs have played a leading role in determining the tightness of coupling within the regime by selectively channeling resources, enforcing policy rules, and disseminating norms and ideas. We describe three distinct periods in the history of IOs in the international development regime. In the first period, which lasted through the end of the 1970s, the UN and its agencies specialized in diffusing norms and ideas, and the World Bank in providing resources, but neither played a significant role in enforcing policy rules, resulting in relatively loose coupling. The second period, which lasted until the early 2000s, was associated with the centralization of authority in the World Bank, closer linkages between rules, resources, and ideas, and tighter coupling. Finally, we argue that we are entering a more loosely coupled third period, characterized by the rise of new actors, the decentralization and fragmentation of authority, and the declining influence of policy paradigms.

The Politics of Music in International Organizations in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

AbstractThis article examines the activities of international organizations in the field of music in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite the common association with music as a universal language and international art, it has not often been systematically investigated in the context of institutionalized international co-operation. By focusing on the International Musical Society, the International Society for Musicology, the International Society for Contemporary Music, the Permanent Council for the International Co-operation between Composers, and the activities of the League of Nations in the field of music, it analyzes common topics and different strategies to establish stable networks and co-ordinate the flow of information. By locating the activities of the experts involved along the two analytical axes of nationalization/internationalization and politization/standardization, it becomes not only possible to integrate the activities in the field of music into the history of international organizations, but also to gain important insights into the international and political origin of musicology as an academic discipline.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Past and Present Research

This article addresses from a multidisciplinary perspective key questions, trends, and debates that have determined how the history of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been conceived over the past ninety years. ILO historiography has to be understood in relation to the historical development of the ILO as an institution; the international political, economic, and social context; and the developments within the scientific discipline, especially the fields of (a globalizing) labour history and international relations/organizations. A starting point for this survey essay is the central hypothesis that the scientific interest in the history of international organizations is very much related to the general importance attached to multilateral structures and the belief in the effectiveness of international cooperation. Based on this analysis of the past trends and the current state of the field, I conclude with comments on lacunae and possible paths for future research on ILO history.

The United States and the Second Hague Peace Conference: American Diplomacy and International Organization, 1899-1914

Permanent organizations of the society of nations began with the Second Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 and the Permanent Court of Arbitration founded by the Peace Conference of 1899. establishment of the League of Nations by the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 began a second period in the history of international organization. A third period began in 1945 when the United Nations replaced the League of Nations. In his prize-winning book, The United States and the First Hague Peace Conference, Professor Davis told the story of American participation in the Peace Conference of 1899. In the present volume he focuses on the role of the United States in the Peace Conference of 1907, but also describes the connections between that conference and the Pan-American Conferences, the Geneva Conference of 1906, the London Naval Conference and may other important relations of the era. He concludes this new book with a discussion of connections between the internationalism of the Hague period and the League of Nations and the United Nations.

Toward the Concept of Collective Security: The Bryce Group's “Proposals for the Avoidance of War, ” 1914–1917

A remarkable document in the history of international organization is a detailed constitution for a league of nations which was given limited distribution in March 1915 under the title “Proposals for the Avoidance of War”. Prepared by British liberal and socialist critics of prewar British diplomacy headed by Lord Bryce, the historian, jurist, and retired ambassador to the United States, it undoubtedly was the single most influential scheme for a league of nations produced during the First World War. Although the “Proposals” recommended neither international social or economic cooperation nor measures of international administration, it was known to the authors of the major league schemes prepared in the United Kingdom and the United States during the First World War and to officials in both countries. Indeed, the document was the source of key concepts and language embodied in 1919 in the Covenant of the League of Nations and subsequently in the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and of its successor, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Yet discussion of the “Proposals” in the literature on the origins of the League of Nations is both cursory and imprecise. Even such writers as Henry R. Winkler and Alfred Zimmern who recognize its importance seem not to understand how the “Proposals” evolved and how early and pervasive an influence it had.

The Executive Head: An Essay on Leadership in International Organization

The quality of executive leadership may prove to be the most critical single determinant of the growth in scope and authority of international organization. Now sufficiently long and varied to allow a comparative approach, the history of international organization may provide elements for a theory of leadership. This essay is but a preliminary effort in that direction. It is concerned not only with how the executive head protects and develops his position as top man but also with how, by doing so, he may be the creator of a new (if yet slender) world power base.

International Inspection: From Proposals to Realization

A proposal for an international inspectorate lies at the heart of every contemporary plan for armament control. Alternatives to the increasing perils of the unprecedented arms race of our era are made dependent on the development of a reasonably effective method of monitoring treaty compliance. Reduction of tension through control of weapons can be attempted only by the creation of a type of political instrument with which the world has had little previous experience. The achievement of a system of inspection, when viewed in the perspective of the history of international organization, is a task of political and administrative architecture on an unprecedented scale. Even the more modest proposals envisage staff and budgetary resources comparable, if not greater, in size than those of the present UN. More significantly, these plans imply an extension of international authority within national borders. Therefore, if arms control should become a viable instrument of international diplomacy, a rapid development of international political, judicial, and administrative techniques will be required.

International Politics and the Structure of International Organization: The Case of UNRRA

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), created in November 1943 and dissolved in September 1948, was in some respects unique in the history of international organization. Unlike traditional functional organizations it was not established to deal with some technical problem of common interest but of limited significance. Nor was its creation motivated as was the institution of the League and the United Nations by the hope that it might solve the vast problems of war and peace. Its scope, the management of postwar relief and the caring for displaced persons, was limited but significant. Its decision-making powers within the field of relief operations were broad when compared with the authority of both prior and subsequent functional organizations. Since national influence within the organization had operational, not simply technical orpropaganda, significance, it was not surprising that the structure of the organization should be a matter of considerable concern to its member states. Both in its creation and in its subsequent development thestructure of UNRRA reflected the conflicting interests of the constituent governments in international relief.

What the Pan American Union Is Doing to Foster the Study of the Spanish Language and of Spanish American Literature and Culture

EARLY in the fall, as school and college faculties were making plans for the coming school year, a superintendent of schools in Kansas wrote the Pan American Union, asking how his school-system might become an associate of the Pan American Union, in order benefit from the assistance of the Union in planning school programs. The answer was, of course, that since the United States is a member of the Union of American Republics, of which the Pan American Union is the headquarters and secretariat, all teachers, superintendents and pupils, and indeed all the people in general, are automatically associate members, so speak, with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. Before listing the various concrete programs of the Pan American Union in the field of cultural exchange, encouragement of the study of language and literature, and so on, let us consider for a moment the less tangible, but no less important aspect of fellowship which is characteristic of this organization, truly international in its plans and programs. Fifty-six years is not very long in the history of the world, but in the history of international organizations it is impressive. The Pan American Union, with its background of continuous cooperation, has increased its activities and services, while holding its fundamental purpose: to promote friendship and close relations among the Republics of the American Continent and peace and security within their borders by fostering constructive cooperation among them. This very international aspect of the organization of the Pan American Union, with staff-members representative of many of the American republics, and with close working relations with individuals and agencies, governmental and private, in all the republics, makes possible a unique contribution the work of educators, in both formal and informal programs in the field of language, literature, and culture. Without tracing in detail the historical development of the interest and services of the Pan American Union in educational matters, it may be