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The New United Nations:
What It Can't and Can Do
- Abstract
IN TRYING to assess the contribution the United Nations makes today, and might be able to make tomorrow, to the settlement of international conflicts, it is indispensable to keep in mind that what we call the United Nations today is not what the United Nations started out to be. A sharp distinction must be drawn between the constitutional provisions of the Charter and the manner in which the agencies of the United Nations, under the pressure of unforeseen political circumstances, have actually performed their functions under the Charter. What we habitually do with regard to the government of the United States we must also do here: confront the provisions of the constitution with the realities of political practice. Nor does our task end here. For within this sphere of political practice we must also clearly distinguish between two phases in the development of the United Nations: one covering roughly the first decade of the organization’s existence, the second starting in 1957. The United Nations of the first phase differs in its character and the functions it was able to perform from the United Nations of the second phase, as both differ from the United Nations envisaged by the text of the Charter.
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