We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2015
To be criticized for not laboring the obvious should perhaps be regarded as a compliment. As careful readers of my article will undoubtedly be aware, I do not assume that governments enter into the United Nations political process “only as objects or implementors of United Nations action after the outputs have been determined by the Organization.” (Kay, p. 952.) My point is quite different: that outcomes in international organizations such as the General Assembly depend not only on governmental interaction but also on the context within which such interaction takes place. Organizational variables help to define that context. Since so many writers have ignored organizational variables in analyzing international organizations, I have attempted, as I said, to “redress the balance”—”without denying the less-onesided formulations of realist theory.” (Keohane, footnote 3.)
page no 958 note 1 In view of his concern for the political process it is surprising that Professor Kay excludes personality variables from his model in Figure 2. For a discussion of these in the General Assembly see Keohane, Robert O., “Political Influence in the General Assembly,” International Conciliation, March 1966 (No. 557), especially pp. 37-38Google Scholar. This article discusses political process with little regard for organizational variables; I now believe that approach to have been inadequate.
