Volume VIII – Number 2
Charles W. Kegley Jr.
Abstract: International organizations such as the United Nations will only fully succeed when citizens of individual nation-states hold more loyalty towards the international community than their respective nation-states. Discussion will center on (1) an assessment of the type of national and international loyalty envisaged by the Organization for the Secretariat, so that (2) some observations and conclusions may be drawn about the nature and extent of the contribution of the United Nations to the development of an internationalist loyalty. Analysis of both American and Soviet Secretariat actions reveals the dual loyalty held by most Offices for the Secretariat and that the ideal envisaged by the UN has not been achieved in practice. The problems faced by the UN include: (1) as an entity created to serve nation-states in political conflict, the UN cannot bypass those states by developing a supranational political system, (2) the conception of loyalty envisaged by the UN is rather limited and incomplete. Despite these problems, the functional contribution by the United Nations Secretariat to the transfer of loyalty from the nation-state to the international community is impressive.
Key Terms: Office of the Secretariat, nation-state, international community, United Nations
