Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Equivocal Couple in Multilateralism: Dyads in the United Nations

  • Chapter
Building Sustainable Couples in International Relations

  • 112 Accesses

Abstract

Applying the metaphor of interstate couples to the United Nations (UN) may disconcert at first sight — and it is indeed original1 — as these seem antithetic.2 International cooperation within an intergovernmental organization (IGO) such as the UN intrinsically relies on multilateral relationships — that is, institutionalized relations between member states so as to produce agreed policies, common rules and shared values out of diverse and often conflicting standpoints (Ruggie, 1993; Petiteville, 2009). If multilateralism shall not cursorily be opposed to bilateralism, relations inside a multilateral organization are much more numerous and complex than the mere addition of bilateral interactions, be they between each member state and the whole institution, between two member states or between any two other actors in the collaborative process. Besides, the UN embodies a sort of quintessence of multilateralism as its membership is henceforth quasi-universal, its actions cover all fields of international cooperation and it is composed of a myriad of institutions and programmes that are ruled by various decisional procedures. Each actor of the UN therefore needs to convince most of its partners using strategic and persuasive devices which go beyond face-to-face tools.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Albaret, Mélanie. (2007) “Les formes régionales du multilatéralisme: entre incertitudes conceptuelles et pratiques ambiguës” in Bertrand Badie and G. Devin, eds. Le Multilatéralisme. Nouvelles formes de l’action internationale. Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albaret, Mélanie. (2010) Le Brésil et le Mexique dans le multilatéralisme onusien depuis 1945. Les dynamiques circulaires de l’engagement multilatéral. Doctoral dissertation in political science. Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ariffin, Y. (2009) “Contribution à l’étude des passions dans les relations internationales” in Senarclens (de), Pierre, ed. Les frontières dans tous leurs états: les relations internationales au défi de la mondialisation. Bruxelles: Bruylant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, S.D. (1969) Voting in the Security Council. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedjaoui, M. (2005) “Article 73”, in J.P. Cot and A. Pellet, eds. La Charte des Nations Unies: commentaire article par article. Vol. 2. Paris: Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand, Gilles. (2012) “Résolution 186 (1964) — Chypre”, in Mélanie Albaret, E. Decaux, N. Lemay-Hébert and D. Placidi-Frot, eds. Les grandes résolutions du Conseil de sécurité. Paris: Dalloz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassan, H. (2005) “Article 24 §3”, in J.P. Cot and A. Pellet, eds. La Charte des Nations Unies: commentaire article par article. Paris: Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charillon, Frédéric. (2011) “Peut-on choisir sa loyauté en politique étrangère?”, in Josepha Laroche, ed. La Loyauté en Relations internationales. Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claude, Inis. (1966) “Collective legitimization as a political function of the United Nations” International Organization 20 (3): 367–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claude, Inis. (1967) The Changing United Nations. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colard, Daniel. (2006) “Du couple franco-allemand au partenariat Paris-Berlin” Arès 22 (57): 37–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Devin, Guillaume and D. Placidi-Frot. (2011) “Les évolutions de l’ONU: concurrences et intégration” Critique internationale 53: 21–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devin, Guillaume and M.C. Smouts. (2011) Les Organisations internationals. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, Norbert. (1978) What is Sociology? Original Edition (1970). London: Hutchinson and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagot Aviel, J.A. (2005) “The evolution of multilateral diplomacy” in J. Muldoon, J.A. Fagot Aviel, R. Reitano and E. Sullivan, eds. Multilateral Diplomacy and the United Nations Today. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farley, J. (2008) Brock Chisholm, the World Health Organization, and the Cold War. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaddis, J. (1997) We now Know – Rethinking Cold War History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garzuel, A.-L. (2009) L’Allemagne aux Nations Unies. Une diplomatie modeste. Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbet, Pierre. (1962) “Les nouveaux Etats et les organisations internationales”, in J.B. Duroselle and J. Meyriat, eds. Les nouveaux Etats dans les relations internationales. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbet, Pierre. (1964) “La politique des grandes puissances au sein des Nations unies en expansion”, in Jean-Baptiste Duroselle and J. Meyriat, eds. La communauté internationale face aux jeunes Etats. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbet, Pierre, V.-Y. Ghebali and M.-R. Mouton. (1996) Le rêve d’un ordre mondial: de la SDN à l’ONU. Paris: Imprimerie nationale.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghebali, Victor-Yves. (1969) La France en guerre et les organisations internationales: 1939–1945. Paris: Mouton.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Grosser, P. (2012) “Résolution 109 (1955) — Admission de nouveaux membres”, in M. Albaret, E. Decaux, N. Lemay-Hébert and D. Placidi-Frot, eds. Les grandes résolutions du Conseil desécurité. Paris: Dalloz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guieu, J.M. (2008) Le rameau et le glaive: les militants français pour la Société des Nations. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, K. and R. Langhorne. (2011) The Practice of Diplomacy: Its Evolution, Theory and Administration. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hippolyte, M. (1970) Les Etats du groupe de Brazzaville aux Nations Unies. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, S. (1954) Organisation internationale et pouvoirs politiques des Etats. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, H.J. (1971) “Decolonization”, in A.Z. Rubinstein and G. Ginsburgs, eds. Soviet and American Policies in the United Nations: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jervis, R. (1976) Perception and Misperception in International Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahler, M. (1992) “Multilateralism with small and large numbers” International Organization 46 (3): 681–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R. (1986) “Reciprocity in international relations” International Organization 40 (1): 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R. (1990) “Multilateralism: An agenda for research” International Journal XLV: 731–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, P. (2007) “Friendship in politics” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (2): 9–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lall, A. (1971) “The Superpowers, the U.N., and Disarmament: A View from the Third World”, in A.Z. Rubinstein and G. Ginsburgs, eds. Soviet and American Policies in the United Nations: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laroche, Josepha, ed. (2011) La Loyauté dans les Relations internationals. Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lévesque, J. (1987) L’URSS et sapolitique internationale de Lénine à Gorbatchev. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luard, Evan. (1982) A History of the United Nations. The Years of Western Domination, 1945–1955. Vol. 1. New York: St Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luard, Evan. (1989) A History of the United Nations. The Age of Decolonization, 1955–1965. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luck, E. (1999) Mixed Messages: American Politics and International Organization, 1919–1999. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manigand, C. (2004) Les Français au service de la Société des Nations. Berne: PIE-Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millar, T. (1962) “The commonwealth and the United Nations” International Organization 16 (4): 736–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petiteville, Franck. (2009) Le multilatéralisme. Paris: Montchrestien.

    Google Scholar 

  • Placidi, Delphine. (2008) Le multilatéralisme onusien dans les politiques extérieures française et russe depuis 1945. Ressources et contraintes de la coopération internationale. Doctoral dissertation. Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Racine, J.-L. (2012) “Résolution 80 (1950) — Question Inde-Pakistan”, in Mélanie Albaret, E. Decaux, N. Lemay-Hébert and D. Placidi-Frot, eds. Les grandes résolutions du Conseil de sécurité. Paris: Dalloz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rist, G. (2002) “Le texte pris aux mots”, in G. Rist, ed. Les mots dupouvoir. Sens et nonsens de la rhétorique internationale. Paris, Genève: PUF, Institut universitaire d’études du développement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roche, Jean-Jacques. (2006) “Le couple américano-soviétique durant la Guerre froide” Arès 22 (57): 57–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubinstein, A.Z. and G. Ginsburgs, eds. (1971) Soviet and American Policies in the United Nations: A Twenty-Five-Year Perspective. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie, J. (1993) Multilateralism Matters: The Theory and Praxis of an Institutional Form. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger, S. (2003) Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, P. and P. Le Bihan. (2005) “La PESD et l’ONU, un couple parfait?” Politique étrangère 3: 613–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, C. (2007) The Concept of the Political. Expanded Edition (1932), trans. by G. Schwab. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smouts, Marie-Claude. (1979) La France à l’ONU. Premiers rôles et second rang. Paris: Presses de la FNSP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soutou, Georges-Henri. (2006) “La France et l’entrée des deux Allemagne aux Nations Unies” Relations internationales 127: 79–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoessinger, J. (1965) The United Nations and the Superpowers. United States-Soviet interaction and the United Nations. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberg, A. (1952) The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vassort-Rousset, Brigitte, ed. (2006a) “Les couples interétatiques” Arès 22 (57): 5–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vassort-Rousset, B. (2006b) “Couples interétatiques: l’intérêt national revisité” Arès 22 (57): 9–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viltard, Y. (2009) “Que faire de la rhétorique de l’amitié en relations internationales?” Raisons politiques 33: 127–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Mélanie Albaret
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Delphine Placidi-Frot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Lyon, France

    Brigitte Vassort-Rousset (Professor of Political Science) (Professor of Political Science)

Copyright information

© 2014 Mélanie Albaret and Delphine Placidi-Frot

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Albaret, M., Placidi-Frot, D. (2014). The Equivocal Couple in Multilateralism: Dyads in the United Nations. In: Vassort-Rousset, B. (eds) Building Sustainable Couples in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137273543_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation