Functions of an International Secretariat

Functions of an International SecretariatAuthor(s): Anne WinslowSource: Public Administration Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1970), pp. 211-216Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public AdministrationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/974030 .

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INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE 211

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 defenders 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-

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tional secretariat than of propounding hard and fast categories. Activities have been divided into five broad areas: service, intercommunication, 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



212 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW

other than to keep the machinery turning. The category embraces a wide range of activities, including not only those concerned with house- keeping and administration, but also committee secretaries, interpreters, translators, precis writers, as well as some of the work of personnel offices and of departments of public information as, for example, press releases.

This is an area where neutrality and objec- tivity are obviously essential, but one where the built-in checks and balances are fairly efficient. Governments scrutinize this output with con- siderable care and are quick to complain if they feel they have been misrepresented. To safeguard against complaints, international organizations normally institute fairly elaborate editorial and supervisory machinery. In terms of personnel selection, therefore, it is not particularly necessary to screen candidates for impartiality, an international outlook, etc. Rather, the candidate must have the actual or potential capacity to act as a good mirror.

Because of the very nature of the work, geographic distribution is also of little impor- tance. Prime requirements are, on the one hand, the requisite skills and, on the other, discre- tion, honesty, and willingness to work. These differ little from requirements for any job within a national setting. The one element that is unique is the necessity of operating within a multinational 'framework. There is no single set of administrative procedures, no common culture, language, habit of communication, etc. Thus the individual must have a modicum of flexibility and ability to adapt to the setting in which he finds himself.

Intercommunication

The second function, intercommunication, operates within a very different context. It implies the ability to collect and distill both facts and attitudes from the outside world and to retransmit their essence to the outside world. If a secretariat is to express the will of the world community, it must reflect within it the emotions, desires, and ideas of that community. This means wide geographical distribution. It also means keeping in touch with one's own country. A truly neutral, sanitized, international civil servant would be of little use in

dealing with this function. Those in an ivory tower soon lose touch with reality and thus the ability to serve and to have influence.

This function, however, is one of the trickiest and the most debated. A recent informal discussion in a group of governmental and inter- governmental officials of the use of secretariat officials as a "hot line" to governments re- vealed sharply opposed viewpoints. Some thought this realistic and efficient. In fact, certain secretariat members had been perform- ing precisely this function. Others objected on such various grounds as the following. Policy initiatives come more often from delegations than from the home office, and, generally speaking, this arrangement has been satisfac- tory. The idea of a hot line to capitals could be extremely dangerous: (a) because it would be disliked by nations that did not have such a privilege, and (b) because it could breed divided loyalty for the senior officials. It would distort the essential nature of the secretariat. How is such an officer to decide when and when not to give information to his government? It the government provides the secretariat member with information, it is likely to press for a quid pro quo. The trend toward thinking of secretariat members as nationals of their countries has already had a damaging effect. It has become impossible to use certain nationalities in certain situations even though they are excellent international civil servants with no links to their government.

The dilemma was well expressed by Charles Winchmore, a pseudonym for a then secretariat member. "Their quality as international civil servants is achieved at the cost of ceas- ing to act as the tentacles of Member Govern- ments, and it is precisely with these tentacles that the Secretary-General must remain in touch." 1 The theory that national tentacles do not belong in a body of international civil servants has much to recommend it, but the dilemma remains. The Secretary-General is one man-and the chief administrative officer as well-and there are currently 126 member states. Furthermore, if the tentacles play only around the Secretary-General, the rest of the secretariat, which is doing the mani- fest and tangible work, may soon find itself cozy as can be in its ivory tower.

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The alternative seems to be to accept a less than perfect world and try to counter its more invidious manifestations. The UN glass house, like the headquarters of other intergovern- mental organizations, has relatively few secrets, but it does have a few. Governments sometimes give the Secretary-General or a member of his staff confidential information or speak with undiplomatic frankness. Hammarskjbld apparently was the recipient of an amazing number of such communications. The Secre- tary-General himself sometimes plans certain initiatives that he does not want made public ahead of time. Some secretariat members, particularly seconded officials, send regular reports home as if they were operating out of a national embassy, and may receive what amounts to instructions from their governments to achieve certain objectives.

Such activities are obviously potentially dangerous and disruptive. Governments certainly will not continue to confide in secretariat members if they find their confidences breached. Premature disclosures may result in the breakdown of negotiations. If the secretariat becomes not a center for expressing the will of the community but a battlefield of war- ring pressures, it loses its raison d'etre. Never- theless, the reality expressed by such individuals is vital for the health of the secretariat. Moreover, as long as we live in a world of nation states there will always be a percentage *of such secretariat members.

Nor can one afford to ignore the fears of the U.S.S.R. that its social system, which still obtains in a minority of states, will be sub- merged. In his article in International Organi- zation Henri Reymond quotes a U.S.S.R. dele- gate as follows: Only temporary contracts "will ensure the necessary influx of new strength to the Secretariat and the constant contact and interplay between the Secretariat and the States Members of the United Nations with varying political tendencies and social systems." 2 While the sharp edges between capitalist and socialist systems are becoming increasingly blurred and the mix ever more heterogeneous, it should not be forgotten that attitudes change more slowly than situations.

There is clearly no solution to the problem. What is normally done-although this exists

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in no handbook of administrative practice and would never be publicly admitted-is to wall off secretariat members with too strong tentacles from sources of confidential information. They are given jobs of little or no political sensitivity and used largely as informants re- garding their government's interest and attitudes.

Before moving on to the next category of activities, however, reference should be made to the more positive side of this coin. By no means do all or even most secretariat members who entertain close relations with their governments view their function as that of a diplomat in a foreign capital. Many of them are deliberately used to persuade their governments to adopt positions more consonant with the wishes of the international community. There is a fair amount of evidence that, all things being equal, a national has far more influence with his government than a foreigner. There is also evidence that such influence has been most profitably exerted.

Synthesis

The third function is that of synthesis. The secretariat is like a central switchboard bomb- arded by incoming calls. Disparate and often conflicting fragments have to be synthesized into coherence. A key task is to "translate into precise form the often inchoate elements of cooperation which can be discussed between the Members of the Organization." 3

The simplest and most obvious type of synthesis is reflected in something like the World Economic Report or the World Social Report, where data from all over the world are analyzed and formed into meaningful pat- terns. The secretariat takes the pieces of national puzzles and orders them so that the individual nations can see the global perspec- tives. This is obviously easier to do in economic, social, and legal fields than in political. Some synthetic studies have been made in the field of armaments but little else. A political synthesis is inevitably subjective and incredibly difficult, and would involve stepping on some very tender governmental corns-something any secretariat seeks to avoid.

What kind of qualities are needed for this




function? Definitely an international horizon and an ability to subdue one's prejudices and one's hobby horses. Also great intellectual integrity. In this area career men are vitally important because of the complexity of the subject matter and the necessity of an international optic. Obviously there are many pro- fessionals working within a national setting who have an international outlook, but there is almost inevitably some national bias, some selective mechanism at work, and a manner of presentation acceptable and comprehen- sible to the national audience but not capable of serving as a vehicle of communication to a global audience. All of this is likely to come only by prolonged living in the middle of the spider web.

Negotiation

The fourth function is negotiation, that is, the effort to bring about agreement between two or more states or between the organization and member states so that the purposes of the organization can be fulfilled. This takes place at many different levels and for many different purposes. A meeting may come to a full stop because it has gotten totally and hope- lessly into a procedural tangle. If no government comes forward with a bright, shiny pair of scissors, the secretary of the meeting, if he is worth his salt, will negotiate a solution. Similarly, he has an important backstopping role in helping to determine the most efficient order of agenda items or in persuading the chairman of the best course of action.

In the early days of the United Nations, the secretariat played a key role in drawing up the slate of General Assembly officers. The responsible secretariat official would discuss the matter with delegations and negotiate back and forth to ensure a balanced slate and, insofar as politically feasible, sidetrack those candidates most likely to be bad chairmen. When special meetings or conferences are scheduled, secretariat members travel to the capitals concerned to negotiate material ar- rangements, participation, and agenda. Secre- tariat members are deployed on various fund- rising activities-delinquents who have not paid their UN dues, governments that might

increase their voluntary contributions to the United Nations Development Programme, and so forth. Every time the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development floats a loan, this has been preceded by elaborate negotiations with bankers and brokers. Per- sonnel recruitment involves constant negotiations with governments or private institutions on the nomination or release of individuals.

At a higher and more rarified level, there are the familiar political negotiations. Ham- marskj6ld's negotiations with the People's Re- public of China to obtain the release of the U.S. flyers was one example. Ralph Bunche negotiating the armistice agreements between the Arab and Israeli governments was another. One could also cite U Thant's negotiations with the United States and the U.S.S.R. dur- ing the Cuban missile crisis.

Mostly unsung, in the background of these highly newsworthy efforts, is an unending round of lesser negotiations; a small spark, potentially dangerous, in some remote country extinguished by the efforts of a quiet UN presence, or a deadlock between government representatives resolved. Here again special, and rare, qualities are needed. These vary obviously with the assignment. Fund raising demands the power of persuasion. Political negotiation the ability to listen, the ability to appear as a buffer and yet be almost non- existent, a sense of timing, and the capacity to see and seize upon any opportunity to les- sen the area of disagreement. All of these tasks demand not only skills but fortitude, the acceptance of anonymity, and of being used as a lightning rod.

In many instances, national face can be saved by blaming the secretariat. Also, as anyone knows, the man who interposes himself between two fighters is unlikely to come off unbruised. Many of the qualities needed here are those of a labor mediator, but the task is more exacting because there are no estab- lished rules of the game. There is no superior authority to fall back on or to use as a threat. There are all the cultural, psychological, methodological variations in the gamut of nations states, to say nothing of language.

When one moves from the intermediate range of problems to issues affecting national

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security, the requirements become even more exacting. The total number of individuals in the world equipped at the present time to serve as high-level mediators is pathetically low. More may have the native capacity but lack the training and experience. The United Na- tions has been forced, and probably always will be to a large extent, to draw upon temporary staff. A mediator must be of a nation- ality and type acceptable to the disputants and must be able to function within the cultural environments involved. This inevitably means relatively short-term assignments for a relatively large number of people. But there is a gap here that needs to be filled by some kind of national or international training, by facilities for identifying promising individuals, and by accelerated and easier means of obtaining their release for international service.

Keeper of the Collective Conscience

The final category of functions is keeper of the collective conscience or defender of the UN Charter or other constituent instruments. This role falls first of all upon the head of the institution, but it percolates down in varying degrees throughout the professional hierarchy. Personnel administrators are deeply involved in this function. It is they who man, or fail to man, the barricades against the forces of whim, conflict, and disintegration. Moreover, a "conscious effort is required to develop the corporate spirit capable of absorb- ing into itself the energies of the individual members of the secretariat and of imparting to them a sense of 'belonging' in order to com- pensate in some measure for their alienation." 4

Hammarskj6ld was particularly vocal about his function as guardian of the principles and objectives of the Charter. But most heads of organizations have felt it their duty to com- ment on the world scene, the problems and dangers, and the virtues and shortcomings of governments. The United Nations Secretary- General does this in the Introduction to his Annual Report, in speeches, and in press statements. It is obviously critically important, if an organization is to function properly, that its goals and objectives be kept clearly in mind and that development be constantly measured

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against them. This can only be done by one voice at the center. It is, however, a dangerous role. It is inevitably somewhat subjective and always open to criticism. Governments are singularly adverse to having their knuckles rapped or to be told they ought to do something they do not want to do. If the Secretary- General goes too far, he loses his reputation for being above the fray, and his capacity for leadership dwindles. Equally, of course, if he is too cautious, he becomes merely a figure- head "stagnating with modest usefulness, in the margin of the great events." 5 The achieve- ment of the role is a challenge to any professional tightrope walker.

While the Secretary-General is so hedged in that he is unlikely to espouse particular causes or to interpret the Charter from an extremely individual viewpoint, this becomes less true as one descends in the hierarchy and responsibilities are more particularized. Raul Prebisch's economic policy for Latin America was by no means a synthetic product. It was his vision of the future road for Latin America. As head of UNCTAD he aligned himself with the 77 developing countries and tried to re- shape trade policies to serve the needs of the developing countries.

Another secretariat member in the early days of the United Nations took an embryonic provision in Article 73(e) and built an effective weapon against the colonial powers. The provision merely states that subject to "security and constitutional considerations" governments shall provide "technical" information relating to "economical, social and educational conditions." The first step was an ad hoc committee of member governments to review the information that had been carefully tabu- lated and analyzed by the secretariat. The ad hoc committee turned into a permanent committee with an increasingly preemptory voice and this in turn evolved into the famous Com- mittee of 24 which gave itself a virtually un- limited mandate and took the center of the stage at the General Assembly.

Such dynamic efforts to transform the international system are clearly crucial to the growth of the organization. But there are many pitfalls along the way. Don Quixote was a valiant gentleman, but his following was rather




limited. System transformers also need a fair sense of direction. Defenders who move side- wise or backwards can inflict rather serious damage on the institution they are purporting to defend. "The leader's job is to test the en- vironment to find out which demands can become truly effective threats, to change the en- vironment by finding allies and other sources of external support, and to gird his organization by creating the means and the will to withstand attacks." 6

The five categories of functions which have been discussed above are designed merely to suggest a yardstick for looking at the special needs and potentialities of an international secretariat. It is the author's belief that it may be more profitable to look at particulars and to move the discussion away from the mono- lithic, theoretical, ideological, and quasi- theological debate that has centered on Khrush- chev's "there are no neutral men."

At an interagency conference on the international civil service sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment in 1958, it was pointed out that: the words "civil service" connote the use of public authority and are applied to a group of national civil servants who wield part of the power of the State.

In the foreseeable future international secretariats,

are unlikely to constitute anything to which the name of a "true" international civil service can be justifiably applied. International civil service, for a long time to come, will remain sui generis. Only in the future when, in the evolution of human society, the sovereign State will yield its power to international political structures and when consequently the loyalty and allegiance of the individual will be primarily to them, will the prerequisites exist for what may be called a "true international service."

Even before that day arrives, there is an intermediate step that vitally affects the inter-

national secretariat, namely, the establishment of national civil services. In many of the newer countries, this is only just begin- ning, but it is coming as the inexorable require- ment of a modern state. This trend offers hope for a growing acceptance of the idea of effective international secretariats. This hope, however, is predicated on the assumption that secretariats will make a conscious adaptation to existing realities and, at the same time, hold firmly to a course.

More than ten years ago a group of high- level international officials forecast the pressures by the newer countries for wider geographic distribution and suggested that young men "be selected from less developed countries and be trained by the international organizations, since intelligence is easier to find in such areas than the requisite skills." This, it was pointed out, would "overcome the inherent contradiction between competence and geographical distribution." Unfortunately, the few faltering steps that have been taken since then have been totally inadequate. The result has been a flood of ill-equipped or unequipped individuals scattered like sand through the machinery. The not unexpected consequence is that many of these individuals are walled off as much as possible and carried as super- numeraries. This is of no benefit to the staff member, the secretariat, or the developing countries, and positively harmful to relations between the secretariat and the governments.

If, as has been said, "the world's success in dealing with its major political problems is likely to depend on the establishment and maintenance of sound and effective practices of an administrative character," 7 the time may have come for a purposeful adaptation of international secretariats to the realities of our time.

Notes

1. Charles Winchmore, "The Secretariat, Retrospect and Prospect," International Organization (Sum- mer 1965), p. 637.

2. Henri Reymond, "The Staffing of the United Nations Secretariat," International Organization (Autumn 1967), p. 761.

3. Winchmore, op. cit., p. 629. 4. Winchmore, op. cit., p. 624.

5. David Owen, "The Concept of an International Civil Service," convocation lecture at the Uni- versity of Leeds, July 2, 1966, p. 20.

6. Ernst B. Haas, Beyond the Nation-State: Function- alism and International Organization (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1964), p. 101.

7. Winchmore, op. cit., p. 628.

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Documents

Functions of an International Secretariat