Introduction

International organizations, it is generally agreed, can only work on the basis of their legal powers. Thus, organizations have acquired certain powers to found their actions on, and once they act beyond those powers, their acts may be declared invalid, at least in theory. To give a simple example: it is reasonably clear that a predominantly economic organization such as the OECD will not be able to enter into a military pact; if and when it does, the act by which such a pact was concluded will, if all works according to plan, be invalidated.

That raises the fundamental question of where organizations derive their powers from, and, if anything, it is this precise question which has boggled our minds for decades and is likely to continue to do so. Surprisingly, analysis as well as conceptualization has rarely been forthcoming; most authors content themselves with making a few general remarks on the powers of organizations before moving on to their specific topic of investigation. Monographs are, in other words, scarce, as are scholarly articles on the topic.

Fortunately, though, there is a wealth of court decisions on the powers of organizations, going back to the early 1920s. Questions as to origins and scope of the powers of international organizations arose already in one of the first requests for an advisory opinion submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice, in 1922.