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Re-reading Mitrany: a pragmatic assessment of sovereignty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Mark F. Imber
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Extract

David Mltrany's functionalism has provided an inspired, if widely criticized approach to the study of international organization,1 Although originally conceived without regional restrictions in its application, it has been interpreted as a prescription for European integration hence the development of the formerly pervasive but now largely discredited neo-functionalist school.2 The contention that will be advanced here is that Mitrany's work may still usefully guide our analysis of international organization. This is especially so with regard to understanding the stubbornness of sovereignty, and the complexity of decision making in a new generation of multilateral conference diplomacy, as typified by UNCLOS and UNCTAD. These forums are likely to feature more prominently in coming attempts to develop codes and rules of conduct in fields of global conflict and co-operation such as technology transfer, economic development, basic health and other ‘common heritage’ resource management issues. The grounds for promoting Mitrany's approach are that a close reading of his principal works reveals a more subtle, conservative and realistic appreciation of sovereignty than many critics have permitted, and furthermore, within this more cautious appraisal there lie a number of procedural pointers to the constructive, if undemonstrative circumvention of the restriction of sovereignty.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 103 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1984

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References

1. Mitrany, D., A Working Peace System: An argument for the Functional Development of International Organisation (London, RIIA, 1943)Google Scholar. First published as a Chatham House paper, this essay was reprinted in 1966 as one of severa l essays in a volume of the same name, A Working Peace System (Chicago, 1966)Google Scholar. A second volume of collected essays, including some previously unpublished, was published as the Functional Theory of Politics (London, 1975)Google Scholar. Other works by David Mitrany which illustrate the development of his approach include those below. Where reprinted in one of the above collections, the works below are indicated thus, ‘and 1966’ or ‘and 1975’. In subsequent references to these many essays each will be indicated where possible by its location in one of the two volumes above (in most cases the only place currently in print). The Progress of International Government (London, 1933 and 1975 pp. 85–104).Google ScholarTerritorial, ideological or functional international organisation (Foreign Office Paper, 1941, unpublished, and 1975 pp. 105–122).Google Scholar‘The Functional Approach to World Organisation’, International Affairs vol. 24, no. 3 (1948) pp. 350–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar‘An Advance in Democratic Representation’ International Associations (Brussels, March 1954, and 1966, pp. 121–126).Google Scholar‘The Prospect for European Integration; Federal or Functional’, Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. IV, no. 2 (December 1965) pp. 119–149, and 1966.Google Scholar The Making of the Functional Theory’ 1969 unpublished, and 1975 pp. 3–46. ‘The Functional Approach in Historical Perspective, International Affairs (vol. 47, no. 3, July 1971) pp. 533–543.Google Scholar‘The End of Morality in War’, International Relations (vol. IV, no. 4, November 1973) and 1975 pp. 231–238.Google Scholar See also, The Problem of International Sanctions (Oxford, 1925).Google ScholarInternational Security (National Peace Council, 1944) and 1975, pp. 180–184.Google Scholar

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5. The concept of ‘national interest’ has of course been the subject of intensive criticism, most notably by Rosenau. However, its validity was wholly accepted by Mitrany and so it is his usage which is liable to criticism. The debate concerning the validity or otherwise of the concept may be followed by Rosenau, J., ‘National Interest’, The International Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (New York, 1968), vol. 11, pp. 34–40Google Scholar. Also Frankel, J., National Interest (London, 1970)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Contemporary International Theory and The Behaviour of States (London, 1973)Google Scholar. Frankel defines ‘national interest’ as ‘the most widely used and generally intelligible shorthand description of all purposive elements in foreign policy’, (p. 77).

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19. Mitrany, op. cit., 1943 (and 1966, p. 125).

20. Ibid, p. 27.

21. Ibid, p. 31.

22. Ibid, p. 95.

23. Mitrany, op. cit., 1941 (and 1975, pp. 115–16).

24. See in particular Sewell, J. P., Functionalism and World Politics (Princeton, 1966), pp. 55–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also Sewell's, ‘Policy Process and International Organisation Tasks’ from Cox, R. (ed.) International Organisation, World Politics (London, 1969), p. 99.Google Scholar And Haas, op. cit., 1964. pp. 21–4.

25. Sewell, op. cit., 1969, p. 99.

26. Cox (ed.), 1969, p. 29.

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28. Mitrany, op. cit., 1943 (and 1975, p. 132).

29. Supra, note 14.

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31. Supra, note 4.

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39. Claude, op. cit., pp. 348–50.

40. Mitrany, 1975, p. 261.

41. Ibid. p. 266.

42. Claude, op. cit., pp. 351–2.

43. Sewell, op. cit., 1969, ch. 4 and Cox, op. cit., 1969, p. 15.

44. Mitrany, op. cit., 1971, p. 403.

45. Mitrany, 1943 (and 1966, p. 75).

46. Ibid. p. 75.

47. Ibid. p. 76.

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50. Provisions for n.g.o. consultation exist in the UN Charter, Article 71.

51. Mitrany, 1943 (and 1966, p. 64).

52. Ibid. p. 65.

53. Ibid. p. 81.

54. Claude, op. cit., p. 111.

55. Mitrany, 1943 (and 1966, pp. 75–6). See also Fawcett, J. E. S., ‘The Havana Charter’ Yearbook of World Affairs, 1951.Google Scholar

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62. Ibid. pp. 107–9.

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