Reflections of an International Civil Servant

Reflections of an International Civil ServantAuthor(s): David OwenSource: Public Administration Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1970), pp. 207-211Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public AdministrationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/974029 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 11:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Wiley and American Society for Public Administration are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Public Administration Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.78 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 11:55:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aspa

http://www.jstor.org/stable/974029?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE 207

supranational allegiance and because of the peculiar nature of international work, personnel policies and processes occupy a place which is even more significant than in national or local administrations.

In much of the same way that civil servants in national bureaucracies and hierarchies, whether federal or local, generally exercise increasing power in an age of specialization and technology and are far more influential now and potentially than their 19th-century pred- ecessors and even those of only three or four decades ago, the international civil service, especially in the absence of a sovereign exec- utive power, has gained impressive responsibilities, duties, authority, and power. How- ever, this role cannot be fully understood, much less carefully considered in terms of the future, without more knowledge concerning the social origins, education, mobility, attitudes, and personality structures of international civil servants.

Research and assessments are needed, and this symposium represents an attempt to frame some of the questions around which hypo- theses can be developed and examined. The articles in the symposium deal with selected issues of interest in the international civil service. They do not attempt to analyze all of the major areas of concern; nor do all of the contributors agree on central issues. While some of the contributors, for example, call for greater centralization and unification in personnel administration in the UN common system, other contributors question the utility of

such action. Furthermore, there even are dif- ferences in the way in which such terms as "unification" and "centralization" are used in the various articles and in the meanings which different contributors assign to these terms. We do not believe this is critical, however, for our primary purpose is to stimulate and provoke further analysis and clarification.

There are those who, in assessing the experience of the past 25 years, view the emerg- ing international civil service with much pes- simism and indeed distrust; they point to its many shortcomings in composition, performance, and competence. There are others who adopt a more tolerant stance. They would assert that, especially in certain of the spe- cialized agencies, policy formulation and exe- cution is often very effective, indeed, at times, inspired. Noting that the international civil service is the embodiment of the will of so many diverse cultures, admirers of current practice would express appreciation of so many positive achievements and especially of the promise of even more positive growth and development to come.

It will take a future symposium to decide which sets of perceptions are more balanced or whether, indeed, both sets of observations do not have significant measures of merit. For the present, however, the writers of the following articles attempt more directly to reflect upon experience, put forth categories of analysis, highlight certain unresolved problems, and, finally, categorize research needs and require- ments.

REFLECTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVANT

DAVID OWEN, International Planned Parenthood, London

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, in July 1945, I became an international civil servant. This is by no means the longest record of international service of this kind, for there are many who, having worked with the old League or the

MAY/JUNE 1970

International Labour Organisation before the Second World War, have continued to serve one or other of the United Nations- family of organizations in postwar years. My fortuitous distinction is to have been the first continuously



208 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW

employed member of what became the em- bryo secretariat of the United Nations-the staff of the Preparatory Commission which came into being in London soon after the signing of the Charter in San Francisco. If certain trade union practices were observed in international life, I should be entitled to have number "one" on my union card.

It has been a long run and, for the most part, a happy one; and now that it has come to an end with my departure for new international responsibilities, I look back with few regrets on my decision not to go back to my univer- sity or on to some new form of national administrative work in my own country when I was asked by the first Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, to come with him to New York in February 1946.

The world is now used to the idea of there being in existence a vaguely conjectured number of officials answering to the description "international civil servant." Fifty years ago no such animals existed among the administrative fauna of nations and the concept of service which they embody had hardly taken shape even in the minds of those who had begun to talk and write about the organization of the peaceful world which it was hoped would be established at the end of the First World War. The small group of officials serving a number of small international institutions, such as the Universal Postal Union, which existed before 1914, were essentially national officials tem- porarily seconded for special duty; and this was even more obviously true of the officials, usually of the host country, who were made responsible for the organization and manage- ment of great international conferences and other smaller meetings of the same sort.

It was not until the coming of the League of Nations and the International Labour Organisation in 1919 that the revolutionary concept of an international civil service came to be accepted; and even at the high point of the League the secretariat never exceeded 706, and the ILO accounted for no more than 421 in the years before 1939. With the Second World War and the establishment of the United Nations family of international organizations, the numbers of international civil servants increased enormously, and the increase has con-

tinued as larger and wider responsibilities have been placed upon international institutions.

The handful of men and women who attached to the new United Nations service at the time of the Preparatory Commission has grown to a worldwide force of over 35,000 employed by international organizations today, not counting military personnel. These men and women, drawn from over 125 nationalities and a wide range of professional backgrounds, are a remarkably heterogeneous group, but they can be characterized by one unifying principle. This is their acceptance of a particular loyalty to an autonomous international organization whose purposes are set out in a fundamental charter, whose basic policies are the subject of intergovernmental discussion and decision, and whose day-to-day manage- ment is in the hands of an official-Secretary- General, Director-General, Managing Director, or whatever he may be called-whose duty is -day in, day out-to serve exclusively what he considers to be the best interests of the organization which he leads.

Loyalty

It may well be asked, is it really possible that men and women, conditioned by their own particular national and social inheritance and upbringing, governed by normal human passions and frailties, can exhibit such a loyalty in continuous practice? In any case, can ar- rangements dependent on people drawn from such different national and social backgrounds be relied on to work with reasonable impar- tiality and efficiency? These are not unfair questions, and I have often reflected on the answers which I might give in the light of my experience.

Loyalty is a mysterious business which does not admit of dogmatic treatment, but in my experience it has always seemed much less of a problem than I thought it might turn out to be when I first joined the international service. It is true that I have come to feel more self-consciously British than ever before and that I am affected with ever sharper pains of joy and anguish at the course of our national fortunes and misfortunes. But this has had little or nothing to do with my loyalty to the

MAY/JUNE 1970




organization and to its three successive Secretaries-General.

It is, after all, a fine thing to belong to a service which, whatever its failings and frustra- tions, is engaged in the practical business of trying to establish more effective forms of international cooperation in the pursuit of peace and human well-being. It is something well worth working away at, even if there are long depressing stretches when the results seem meagre. And I am bound to admit to the professional satisfaction of the work itself, the rich variety of associations in many countries, the friendship of colleagues drawn from widely different societies.

It has been my good fortune to be in at the beginning of exciting new developments-the Charter Conference itself in San Francisco, the Preparatory Commission in London, the establishment of the main Secretariat in New York, the early days of the Economic Affairs Department, the birth of the Technical Assist- ance Board, and the creation of the United Nations Development Programme. And even when I have not been directly involved I have been close enough to watch as a privileged inside observer the responses of my colleagues in the secretariat to the challenges of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Kashmir, Suez, Lebanon, Laos, the Congo, and Cyprus. Long weeks of misery during the McCarthy crisis, the inspir- ing leadership and tragic death of Dag Ham- marskjold, the dreary discouragements of the 19th General Assembly, and the modest practical results, sometimes disappointing, more often encouraging, of our work in the devel- oping world; these things, good and ill, have been the stuff of life in the international secretariat. Although the great majority of my colleagues may not have had the positions of advantage which I have enjoyed, I am con- vinced that their share of these experiences has given most of them a sense of identifica- tion with the fate of the organization and its leadership which is at the heart of loyalty.

There have been times when decisions of bodies of the United Nations have seemed to me to conflict with what I considered to be reasonably wise and responsible policies of the Government of the United Kingdom, and I have been distressed about this. But I have

MAY/JUNE 1970

never had any doubt where my duty lay when I was called upon to act in such situations, any more than does a civil servant at home who is faced with the responsibility of carry- ing out policies of which he privately dis- approves.

Mr. Khrushchev may have been right in say- ing that there are no neutral men, but he was wrong in supposing that men are not capable of acting loyally to an international organization whose basic purposes they accept even if they do not altogether agree with this particular policy or that. In my experience there are many such men and women of many different nationalities in the international secretariat, and their number increases as time goes by. Even those staff members whose na- tionality imbues them with fierce and unrelent- ing passions on certain topics have in most cases, with enviable self-discipline, accepted facts of life and policy where their duties as international civil servants require this of them in particular situations.

I must not, however, claim too much. The world of international organization is yet young. Men are men, and moved by deeper instinc- tive stirrings than we care to recognize. The international frame of reference is tenuous and no one should discount the compulsions of ideological and racial feeling. Undue pres- sures are sometimes brought to bear. We move step by step, sometimes not forward. The young people take their oath. A sense of group loyalty and professional pride is born. These are tender plants; some wither, but others survive and grow. Perhaps I should say no more than that I have been greatly encouraged by most of what I have seen.

Effectiveness

There is, however, the question of effectiveness. At the last meeting of the League in July 1946, Philip Noel-Baker recalled how fearful Carl Hymans had been in 1919 concerning the proposed secretariat of the new organization. "How can men and women of 40 different nations work together beneath a sin- gle roof? It will be not only a Tower of Babel, but a Bedlam too." Noel-Baker went on to testify that, proud as he was of our British



210 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW

Civil Service, he could say with truth that "in none of our departments did I find a higher standard of technical efficiency, a higher level of personal and official probity, a greater industry and devotion to their cause," than he found in the secretariat in the early days as he knew it from the inside. And he went on to say that "after some evil days, the members of the secretariat have kept their qualities and their loyalty to the very end."

I can add my own testimony to the high qualities of the League secretariat, many of whom played a fundamentally important role in the establishment and early development of the secretariat of the United Nations. But the old doubts came to be expressed again as the new organization, all too precipitately, ab- sorbed hundreds of new staff members, partly to meet a series of urgent political crises, the like of which the old League was never called to face for at least 18 months after its birth.

It was an exciting but somewhat chaotic time. Transatlantic doctrines of administration, Soviet conceptions of intergovernmental organization, and the well-tested conservatism of the old League system struggled for in- fluence in the infant secretariat in the un- likely hurly-burly of New York City, and there were many who doubted that the thing would work. Yet it did settle down in its temporary home at Lake Success and the good work of the Preparatory Commission eventu- ally bore fruit, the temporary staff was found, sound recruitment practices were established, and the fortuitous over-weightage of a few major nationalities was to some extent cor- rected as new people were brought in.

Looking back on those early years of successive political crises, and a vast enlarge- ment of administrative responsibilities in the economic and social field, it seems incredible that so much was done as well as it was. Evil days were to come again with the Mc- Carthy episode which left its scars but also some safeguards for the future. Then the dy- namic response of the organization to a series of political challenges in the Middle East demonstrated its latent capacities for swift and effective improvisation, based on imaginative cooperation between the secretariat and

the political organ. Modest but solid progress was also made in the development of economic and social activities through regional commissions and technical assistance.

Meanwhile, the secretariat had grown, new members had joined, and the question of the geographical distribution of the staff became increasingly acute. Under the terms of the Charter of San Francisco the secretariat was to be recruited on the basis of "efficiency, competence, and integrity" with due regard, however, to broad geographical distribution. These are not necessarily incompatible cri- teria, but they have presented each Secre- tary-General in turn with quite difficult practical problems which have not diminished in later years as the membership of the organization has rapidly increased with the adher- ence of large numbers of newly independent states, most of which not unreasonably have sought some representation in the secretariat in the spirit of the Charter.

Considerable progress has been made in recent years in establishing a more equitable geographical distribution of staff membership. The proportionate share of the Anglo-Saxon and some other Western countries has been reduced, and the range of nationalities employed has increased from 61 in 1950 to more than twice that number in 1969. But the problem remains with us and it is likely to be the subject of much more debate in future meetings of the General Assembly and other bodies.

Recruitment Problems

The desirability of maintaining high stand- ards of "efficiency, competence, and integrity" is not open to question, but it cannot be said that the task of recruitment has become easier as the years go by. Salary scales and conditions of service which to some seemed lavish in the early years are no longer attractive to highly qualified men and women in some relevant professional groups in many countries. And it is a curious paradox that competition for some scarce services in more than a few less-developed countries has driven up professional emoluments to levels at which international organizations are no longer able to compete.

MAY/JUNE 1970




This is a problem which international organizations share with universities, national civil services, and professional groups in many countries, and it will only be solved by raising the prestige and increasing the attractiveness of the services concerned.

This having been said, I can testify to the extraordinarily high quality of most members of the international secretariat coming from an increasingly wide range of nationalities. It is true that their morale and effectiveness may fluctuate somewhat with the changing climate of opinion concerning the future of the organization, with the varying intensity of professional challenge in their work, and with the quality of leadership demonstrated by their superiors. As in every other service, mediocrity (or worse) is sometimes found in the shadow of outstand- ing performance. Linguistic misunderstandings sometimes occur. Certainly, much could be better done, but the best has been first-rate. I can echo the words spoken of the League secretariat by Philip Noel-Baker two decades ago. It is something of which to be proud.

Looking to the future I am fairly confident that international civil servants will be called upon to play an increasingly important role in public life. Wider and heavier responsibilities

are likely to be placed on the international system and there will be no lack of challenging opportunities for the exercise of imaginative planning, resourceful improvisation, and good professional administration on the part of international organizations and the secretariats which serve them.

How much more responsibility will be placed on international organizations will depend largely on the credibility which they inspire as appropriate and efficient means of action. Note will be taken of their peculiar acceptability in critical areas of the world as objective and im- partial agents of economic and social development, free from political motivations or self- interested associations. Reasonably good marks will be given for past performance in limited ventures. But they will be open to criticism if they do not correct shortcomings in interagency relationships, bureaucratic rigidities, critical de- lays in field operations, and any failure to attract first-class professional people to carry out the tasks which have to be done.

It remains to be seen whether we can rise to the historic occasion or whether we will find ourselves stagnating with modest usefulness, in the margin of great events.

F UNCTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT

ANNE WINSLOW, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

MOST DISCUSSIONS of international civil servants tend to approach the question from one of two angles. There are those, both de- fenders and detractors, who concentrate on the basic concept and its implications. Others are concerned with it from the point of view of personnel administration. This article is an effort to look at the international secretariat in terms of functions. What roles do these thousands *of individuals actually perform in the course of their daily activities? Any attempt at classification is inevitably controversial, and the following is proposed more in the hope of suggesting a way of looking at the interna-

MAY/JUNE 1970

tional secretariat than of propounding hard and fast categories. Activities have been di- vided into five broad areas: service, inter- communication, synthesis, negotiation, and keeper of the collective conscience. These, it should be emphasized, are functions and not a description of parts of the secretariat or grades of personnel. Most people may at one time or another perform several such functions.

Service

The first, service, is self-explanatory. It concerns those acts which have no purpose



Date post:	20-Jan-2017
Category:	Documents
Upload:	david-owen
View:	213 times
Download:	0 times

Reflections of an International Civil Servant

Documents