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France and the United Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

J.-B. Duroselle
Affiliation:
is Professor at the Sorbonne. He directs the Commission Franco-Américaine d'Echanges universitaires.
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Extract

When French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand proposed in 1929 to establish “a sort of federal bond” between the European members of the League of Nations, these states numbered 27 out of a total membership of 60. Today the United Nations has a membership of 114 states of which 23 are European. Of these 23 states, seven are popular democracies. (The Soviet Union, a special case, is not included in this calculation.) There remain sixteen countries extending in the form of a crescent from Finland to Ireland to France and from Portugal to Turkey which are part of the “free” or “Western world.” The conclusion is obvious. The League of Nations was dominated by Europeans who furthermore controlled a large part of the overseas world in the form of colonies, protectorates, and mandates. The United Nations, where the major influence, linked to power, is exerted by the United States and the Soviet Union, is dominated by non-Europeans. This non-European domination—political, psychological, and moral—is the fundamental phenomenon, and it is the subject of this study.

Type
III. The United Nations and Its Members
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1965

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References

1 For the original text in French, see Mayer, René, Le pacte de l'Atlantique, paix ou guerre? (Paris: Editions du Grand Siècle, 1949), pp. xi–xvGoogle Scholar.

2 For the text of the entire discourse in French, see ibid., pp. 97–131.

3 L'Année Politique (Paris: Editions du Grand Sièle, 1947), p. 107Google Scholar.

4 Department of State Bulletin, 07 3, 1950 (Vol. 23, No. 574), p. 5Google Scholar.

5 UN Document A/C.I/736.

6 General Assembly Resolution 611 (VII), December 17, 1952.

7 UN Document A/C.1/L.60.

8 UN Document A/C.1/L.61.

9 UN Document S/3671.

10 Adopted as UN Document S/3675.

11 UN Document S/3710.

12 UN Document S/3713/Rev.I.

13 UN Document S/3719.

14 General Assembly Resolution 997 (ES-I), November 2, 1956.

15 General Assembly Resolution 998 (ES-I), November 4, 1956.

16 UN Document S/3736.

17 General Assembly Resolution 1123 (XI), January 19, 1957.

18 UN Document A/C.1/L.194.

19 General Assembly Resolution 1012 (XI), February 15, 1957.

20 UN Document A/C.1/L.196.

21 UN Document A/4075.

22 UN Document A/L.276.

23 UN Document A/C.1/L.265 and Add.1–3.

24 General Assembly Resolution 1573 (XV), December 19, 1960.

25 UN Document A/L.333.

26 General Assembly Resolution 1724 (XVI), December 20, 1961.

27 Sondages (Paris: Institut Francais d'Opinion Publique, 1958), Nos. 1–2, p. 192Google Scholar.

28 For the text of this speech in its English version, see Speeches and Press Conferences (New York: French Embassy, Press and Information Division, 09 25, 1958), No. 115, pp. 18Google Scholar.

29 UN Document A/C.I/L.238/Rev.I.

30 For the complete text of the second press conference in its English version, see Major Addresses, Statements and Press Conferences of General Charles de Gaulle, May 18, 1958–January 31, 1964 (New York: French Embassy, Press and Information Division), pp. 5770Google Scholar.

31 Ibid., pp. 113–126.

32 For the text, see “President de Gaulle Holds Eleventh Press Conference,” Speeches and Press Conferences (New York: French Embassy, Press and Information Division), No. 216, pp. 113.Google Scholar

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

34 Le Monde, February 21–22, 1965, p. 2.