To understand and appraise the United Nations in its twentieth year we must consider whence it came and where it has come. As Abraham Lincoln once so wisely said: “If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending we could better judge what to do and how to do it.” When the Charter was drafted, it was contemplated that the Great Powers would work out an acceptable peace which the United Nations could maintain. But a stable and acceptable peace—a consensus or modicum of common understanding on the basic principles of coexistence—was never established after the last world war. The Great Powers were in no position to cooperate to maintain a peace the terms of which they were unable to agree upon. Rivalry and conflict among the Great Powers led to a Cold War in which the adversaries lost sight of their common interest in peace and were prone to exploit their differences rather than to attempt to find means of composing them. Even apart from the Cold War the whole world was struggling to adjust itself to revolutionary political, economic, and social changes, and the adjustment in many areas was difficult, painful, and not altogether rational. There was widespread need of adjustment to the radically changed conditions of life which modern science and technology made possible. In many areas the striving for economic improvement was accompanied by movements to break the bonds of colonial rule and feudal and tribal relationships. The very survival of the United Nations under these circumstances attests to humanity's essential need of the United Nations as an instrument of international cooperation in a world which has become increasingly interdependent despite ideological, national, and cultural differences and outlooks.

It is the purpose of this article to examine the role which the three regional economic commissions of the United Nations serving the developing world play, whether consciously or unconsciously, in promoting integration within the regions which they serve. The emphasis is upon economic integration, not because it is more important than political union or federation or because it is a necessary antecedent to political integration. No attempt is made here to establish the thesis that the relationship between economic and political integration is that of a continuum. Any contribution which the UN regional economic commissions make to regional or sub-regional integration will almost certainly be in the economic area, given their terms of reference, the nature of their work programs, and the environmental conditions in which they operate. Economic integration resulting from ideas and initiatives originating in the regional commissions may contribute to the evolution of political union.

I intended to assure France primacy in Western Europe by preventing the rise of a new Reich …; to cooperate with East and West and, if need be, contract the necessary alliances on one side or the other without accepting any kind of dependency; … to persuade the states along the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees to form a political, economic, and strategic bloc; to establish this organization as one of the three world powers and, should it be necessary, as the arbiter between the Soviet and Anglo-Saxon camps.

Since its founding in 1946 the United Nations has experienced a remarkable expansion of membership, growing from the 51 original Members to 117 as of the twentieth session of the General Assembly. Much has been said about the membership question; but this discussion has largely ignored the fact that while the Organization's roster never has included and still does not include all states, it has come much closer to universality than is generally recognized and much closer than the roster itself would indicate.

Listed below is the membership of United Nations bodies for 1966. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated in parentheses. Where names of individuals are listed, the members serve in their personal capacities and not as representatives of states; their nationalities are given for information only.

The General Assembly held its twentieth session, comprising the I332nd–1408th plenary meetings, at UN Headquarters from September 21 to December 21, 1965, during which time it took action on 108 agenda items and adopted 125 resolutions. By acclamation the Assembly admitted three new states, Gambia, the Maldive Islands, and Singapore, to United Nations membership, thereby bringing the Organization's total membership to 117.

The Second (Economic and Financial) Comittee held its 953rd-1020th meetings between September 22 and December 17, 1965; its 955th–970 meetings were devoted to a general debate on world economic problems.

Consolidation of the Special Fund and the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance in a United Nations Development Program: The Second Comittee considered this item as its 971st–980th and 989th and 990th meetings, November I–II and November 19, 1965. It had before it two notes by the Secretary-General; a report in two parts by the Secretary-General on the various UN technical assistance programs; the report of the twelth session of the Governing Council of the Special Fund; the report of the Technical Assistance Comittee (TAC); the report of the Administrative Comittee on Coordination (ACC); and the report of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the nineteenth session of the General Assembly.