Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The problem of coordination and its setting
- 1 Relationship problems inherent in the decentralized United Nations System
- 2 Developments that have affected inter-agency relationships and coordination
- 3 The content of coordination activities
- 4 Intergovernmental organs responsible for coordination
- 5 The Administrative Committee on Coordination
- 6 The Secretary-General and the secretariats of the United Nations and the agencies
- 7 Some current constraints on order and coordination in the system
- Part II Some conclusions and suggestions
- Postscript
- 1 Abbreviations and glossary of institutions
- 2 Principal organs of the United Nations (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and Secretariat) with main subsidiary organs directly concerned with economic and social cooperation and coordination (Status as of Spring 1976)
- 3 Chart of agencies related to the United Nations
- 4 Regional and branch offices of organizations of the United Nations System
- 5 Chart of the United Nations System
- 6 A new UN structure for global economic cooperation–list of conclusions and recommendations of the Group of Experts, prepared by the Secretariat
- Notes
- Index
4 - Intergovernmental organs responsible for coordination
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I The problem of coordination and its setting
- 1 Relationship problems inherent in the decentralized United Nations System
- 2 Developments that have affected inter-agency relationships and coordination
- 3 The content of coordination activities
- 4 Intergovernmental organs responsible for coordination
- 5 The Administrative Committee on Coordination
- 6 The Secretary-General and the secretariats of the United Nations and the agencies
- 7 Some current constraints on order and coordination in the system
- Part II Some conclusions and suggestions
- Postscript
- 1 Abbreviations and glossary of institutions
- 2 Principal organs of the United Nations (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and Secretariat) with main subsidiary organs directly concerned with economic and social cooperation and coordination (Status as of Spring 1976)
- 3 Chart of agencies related to the United Nations
- 4 Regional and branch offices of organizations of the United Nations System
- 5 Chart of the United Nations System
- 6 A new UN structure for global economic cooperation–list of conclusions and recommendations of the Group of Experts, prepared by the Secretariat
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Coordination is naturally fostered by knowledge, and hampered by ignorance, of what others in the international field–Governments, organs and staff–are doing and thinking. The obligation to take account of what others are doing which rests on Governments and intergovernmental organs, as well as on individual staff members, is fundamental. In a very real sense, coordination is also exercised, willy-nilly, by every expert group or person or organ whose views carry authority. There is certainly a need for international institutions and procedures especially concerned with coordination and we shall now discuss briefly the roles of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in this connexion, while bearing in mind that the importance and the usefulness of institutionalized coordination have tended to be exaggerated–with resultant loss of time and effort. Whatever the effect on the General Assembly's authority and effectiveness of the confrontations on economic policy that have occurred in recent years, it is well to bear in mind that in this period both the General Assembly and the Council have been making a serious attempt to address themselves to the task of increasing not only efficiency but also coherence and coordination in the United Nations System.
The General Assembly
Under the Charter, the General Assembly is the highest authority in matters of coordination within the system.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The United Nations SystemCoordinating its Economic and Social Work, pp. 62 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1978