the structure of world order in terms of regional functional organizations

The Structure of World Order in Terms of Regional Functional OrganizationsAuthor(s): Sydney LesterSource: Social Forces, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Oct., 1950 - May, 1951), pp. 52-56Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2572757 .

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52 SOCIAL FORCES

THE STRUCTURE OF WORLD ORDER IN TERMS OF REGIONAL FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATIONS*

SYDNEY LESTER North Texas State College

P~3~H E basic postulate of world organization consists in the assumption that world order, peace, and progress are indispensable to

the future welfare of mankind. The assumption is made in this paper that these are achievable goals attainable under the capable guidance of trained social scientists working with and through the folk regional societies. A thorough understanding of the cultural variability in a folk group within its areal setting that socially and spatially differentiates and demarcates it from other folk regional entities is a primary requisite to the development of world order. It is only when educators, statesmen, businessmen and the general public the world over understand and respect cultures in the larger framework of the regional approach that a realistically practical foundation for world order will be capable of being initiated.

There is, apparently, no rapid procedure to attain systematic, harmonious interaction between all the nations of the world. The One World theor- ists and the World Federationists are aware that, under the present conditions, the variability of cultures, and the difficulties encountered in the communication of ideas as exemplified within the structure of the United Nations Organization-the practical implementation of their plans is veritably impossible. Born of a mass enthusiasm for world peace and order during the second war, the subsequent years have reflected the complexity of the problems encountered militating against such proposals. The result has been a definite waning of response of both supporters and followers and an increasingly negative attitude even by democratic governments against world order through the One World concept or by means of Federation.

The regionalist approach, on the other hand, is vitally aware of the mass of complexities involved and bases its procedure on first, research under the capable guidance of social scientists to the end that world regions will be delimited based on the totality of historical, geographical, physical, political. and cultural data, and secondly that the

response, support, and implementation of these regional delineations will become integrated functional wholes through the folk regional culture group.

Regionalism as a sociological scientific viewpoint in human affairs may be said to be a unitary concept in the field of sociology to designate the totality of natural, historical, and social factors that differentiates one composite portion of the earth from another, and conceives of these delineations as parts of an integrated, structured, functioning whole. Regions may, in their theoretical, organiza- tional, and functional framework embrace not only land masses as to geographical entities, but cross rivers, seas, and oceans to combine peoples and areas reflecting similarities of cultural homo- geneity and like social psychological interests. The uniqueness of the regional approach in the analysis of world problems is that the areal regional deliniation of the culture is made on the basis of the multiple and complex factors of geographic, historical, political, physical, and cultural back- grounds. It is this comprehensive analysis of the totality of cultural elements, combined with regional flexibility in the over-all pattern of integra- tion that assures the validity of the promise of regionalism.

The sociologically defined regions of the world in accordance with Howard W. Odum's theoretical frame of reference are in process of deliniation. However, operating within the concept of world regionalism in the United Nations Organization and in accordance with articles 51, 52, and 53 of the United Nations Charter providing for regional organizations between and among member nations are the following functional organizations that may be called regional in scope.

THE ARAB LEAGUE

The Arab League, composed of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi-Arabia, and Yemen, was established by the pact signed by these states on March 22, 1945.1 The pact, which may be regarded as the League's constitution * Read before the thirteenth annual meeting of the

Southern Sociological Society, Biloxi, Mississippi, April 15, 1950.

1 The American Journal of International Law, XXXIX (1945), Documents Section, p. 266.



STRUCTURE OF WORLD ORDER 53

emphasizes that the purpose of the League is: (1) to strengthen relations between the member states; (2) to coordinate their policies in order that they achieve cooperation between and among them- selves; and (3) to safeguard their independence and their sovereignty. Taking into full considera- tion the specific organization and circumstances of each member state, cooperation is to be effected specifically on (1) economic and financial affairs including such matters as commercial relations, customs, currency, and questions pertaining to agriculture and industry; (2) on all matters pertaining to the comprehensive field of communications including the railroad industry, roads and highways, aviation, navigation, telegraphic services and postal services; (3) those pertaining to cultural affairs; (4) those matters involving na- tionality, passports, visas, extradition procedure, andt the execution of judgments; (5) social affairs (the content of which is not specified); and (6) those pertaining to health and the physical well- being of the populace within the orbit of the Arab League.2

Moreover special committees have been organ- ized under the provisions of the League Pact in order to aid the League to promote the economic and social development of the region. These committees have recommended action by the League membership on the following regional proposals: (1) a draft treaty for a unified educational system which would include the exchange of students and teachers among the member nations of the region; (2) the development of regional libraries to serve the best interests of its approximately 50 million people; (3) the establishment of permanent offices exclusively dealing with the cultural affairs of the region; (4) the establishment of permanent offices to coordinate action on the legal problems of the region; (5) recommendations for the regional development of trade and communications; and (6) such forward-looking progressive regional concepts as (a) a regional postal union, (b) an organ- ized custom union to serve the region, (c) a recommendation that there be established a common citizenship for the inhabitants of the cultural area embraced by the Arab League, and (d) that there be a regionally unified approach to the pass- port system.3

The Arab League Pact provides for the creation of a League Council, a general secretariat, and a

series of special committees dealing with each of the League's functions as outlined above. The delegations from the member states, each possess- ing one vote, make up the League Council, which is required to meet in ordinary session twice yearly, in the months of March and October. However these biennial meetings may be augmented by extraordinary sessions whenever two or more member states request it.

Cairo was chosen as the League's permanent seat; however the membership agreed to a flexibility of arrangement providing for meetings to be held at any other place the League may designate.4 Politically, the Arab League through its Council voted: (1) to support Egypt's request for the withdrawal of British troops from Egyptian territory as soon as conveniently possible; (2) expressed approval of a special committee proposal to grant common citizenship to Arabs of all Arab states.5 In a special extraordinary session at Bludan, Syria, from June 8 to June 13, 1946, the following measures were formulated pertaining to the Pales- tine situation: (1) the formation of a special Palestine Committee of Arab League States; (2) the formation of a Palestine Arab Supreme Execu- tive Commission headed by Jamal al-Husseini, (3) an agreement to raise one million pounds to try to recover Palestine land lost in warfare to Jewish forces; (4) the recommendation that Arabs selling land to Jews or aiding Jewish immigration be subject to repressive action by the Arab states6; (5) that demands be made to the United Nations for the demobilization of the Zionist forces; and (6) a resolution to work for the independence of Libya and other Arab countries.7

In subsequent meetings of the Arab League official support was given to Egypt's demands for unity with the Sudan under the Egyptian crown. Too, the League supported a plan to obtain full independence for Tunisia, Algeria, and French and Spanish Morocco.

THE CARIBBEAN COMMISSION

The Caribbean Commission may also be said to be regional in scope for its purpose is to streng-

2 Ibid., Article 2. 3 Foreign Policy Reports, XXII, No. 17, pp. 213-15.

4Pact of the Arab League, The Arab Office, Washing- ton, D. C., Article 10.

5Arab News Bulletin. Arab Office, Washington, D. C., February 15, 1946.

6 London Times, June 14, 1946. 7 V. McKay. "The Arab League in World Politics,"

Foreign Policy Reports, XXII (November 15, 1946), 213.



54 SOCIAL FORCES

then cooperation among the signatory powers of the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and France and their dependencies in the area "with a view toward improving the economic and social well-being of the peoples of the territory.8

The agreement formally establishing the Carib- bean Commission was signed in Washington, D. C., on October 20, 1946. Auxiliary bodies to the Commission are the regional Caribbean Research Council and the West Indian Conference. The Commission is an outgrowth of the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission established in March 1942. In order to make the Commission a more inclusive, successfully functioning region, Franice and the Netherlands were invited to become members of the Commission, and, on July 15, 1946 the agreement was initialed. However, unlike the Arab League, the Caribbean Commission serves only in an advisory and consultative capacity. Its main function is to "study, formulate, and recommend measures, programs, and policies with respect to social and economic problems ... make recommendations for the carrying into effect of all action necessary or desirable in this connection. . . [and to] assist in coordinating local projects which have regional significance and to provide technical guidance."9 Like the Arab League, non-member governments located within the region, are invited to participate in its conferences and consultations of the various specialized committees on matters concerning the social and economic welfare of the region.

The Caribbean Commission through the Articles of the Agreement provided for the establishment of a permanent central secretariat to be located in the region and for the appointment of a Secre- tary-General to aid in its policy-making decisions. Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in the British West Indies was chosen as the site for the secretariat, and Lawrence W. Cramer, a former Governor of the Virgin Islands, was appointed the Commission's first Secretary-General.

At the second biennial meeting of the West Indian Conference held at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, from February 21 to March 13, 1946, representatives of the four signatory powers and delegates from 15 different dependencies within the Caribbean region were present. A wide range of subjects pertaining to regional welfare was considered by the Conference, including the im-

provement of health, education, nutrition, agricul- tural diversification, the development of efficient units of local industry and manufactures (including handicrafts), the standardization of vital statistical procedures, and the extension of regional policies pertaining to human, plant, and animal quaran- tine.

Specifically the Conference went on record in recommending: (1) the calling of a special regional conference for the purpose of discussing the regional development of industry, transportation and trade; (2) that, in order that the Commission's program be better understood, the Commission publish a quarterly devoted to regional activities plus the publication of a yearly bulletin that would be devoted to regional research problems within the Caribbean orbit; and (3) that a Caribbean Tourist Trade Conference be sponsored by the Commission to be followed by the establishment of a permanent regional body concerned with tourist trade problems.

The dependencies represented at these meetings were British: Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad, and Windward Island; for the French: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique; the Dutch: Curacao and Surinam; and the American: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.10

At the third session of the biennial West Indian Conference that met at Guadeloupe, French West Indies from December 1 to 14, 1948, specialized committees on regional affairs made the following recommendations. The Committee on Trade Sta- tistics and Information recommended that a regional conference of customs officers and statis- ticians be called to formulate measures to achieve uniformity in the preparation and publication of trade data and inaugurate uniform reports on specific commodities. The Committee on Industrial and Development Survey stated that it was necessary for the region to develop further and improve its industrial program if the standard of living in the region was to be raised in spite of the increasing population. They went on record as not favor- ing the establishment of a regional bank for, as a result of their analysis of the situation, the need of the Caribbean region was primarily that of trained personnel and equipment, rather than capital which would be available through the

8 Preamble to the Agreement. 9 The Agreement, Articles III and IV.

10 Report of the West Indian Conference, Second Ses- sion, Department of State, Washington, D. C. (Publi- cation 2615, Conference Series 88).



STRUCTURE OF WORLD ORDER 55

International Bank. The Committee on Transport and Communications suggested that, through the regional organization of the Commission, attempts be made to remove all forms of discriminatory actions and restrictions which have hampered the development of sea and air transport in the region. The Committee on Migration and Labor Condi- tions in the region discussed the possibilities of setting up a program of orientation and guidance to inter-and intra-regional migrants, and that the territories of the region through their governments try to bring their labor practices up to the stand- ards recommended for the region by the Interna- tional Labor Organization. The meeting of the Conference this year (1950) will be mainly concerned with the problem of Agriculture in the Caribbean region.

THE SOUTH PACIFIC COMMISSION

The South Pacific Commission, established as a permanent regional organization at the second session of the Commission meeting at Sydney, Australia, October 25 to Novembeir 2, 1948, is also an example of the increasing validity of the prin- ciples of regionalism in world affairs.

The experience gained from the successful functioning of the Caribbean Commission by four of the six participating governments, provided a working basis for the creation of a South Pacific Commission. Delegates representing the governments of Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which administer non-self-governing territories in the South Pacific region, met at the South Seas Conference at Canberra, Australia from January 28 to February 6, 1947, to prepare an agreement for the establishment of a regional commission to promote the social and economic welfare of the two million people of the South Pacific. The regional scope of the Agreement is defined in Article II which states that the Commis- sion "shall comprise all those non-self-governing territories in the Pacific Ocean which are adminis- tered by the participating Governments and which lie wholly or in part south of the Equator and east from and including Netherlands New Guinea." * The 15 territories within the region which would be invited to send delegates to the South Pacific Commission Conferences include: Papua, Nauru,

New Caledonia, French Oceania, Dutch New Guinea, New Guinea under Australian trusteeship, Western Samoa, Tokelau Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, Gilbert Islands, Ellice Islands, British Solo- mon Islands Protectorate, American Samoa, and the New Hebrides. In addition, the independent government of Tonga, located within the region, has been invited to send representatives to the conferences.

The Commission, designated as an advisory and consultative body to the participating governments was authorized to: (1) study, formulate, and recommend measures for the social and economic welfare of the inhabitants of the region; (2) facilitate research in technical, scientific, economic, and social fields; (3) to make recommendations to coordinate local projects in the above mentioned fields on a regional level; (4) provide technical assistance and information to the region to the participating governments; (5) promote cooperation with non-participating governments; (6) make recommendations for the establishment of auxiliary bodies to the Commission; and (7) make administrative arrangements for the exercise of its functions.'2

A Research Council was established as an auxiliary body to the Commission as a necessary aid to the Commission in successfully carrying out its authorized functions. The members of the Re- search Council qualified through training and experience are social scientists interested in the social and economic development of the region. The functions of the Council include: (1) the main- tenance of a continuous survey of research needs with a view of making recommendations to the Commission; (2) arrangements for carrying out conclusions of research studies approved by the Commission; (3) coordination of research activities of other bodies within the scope of the Commis- sion's activities; (4) appointment of technical standing research committees for specific problems of regional research; and (5) the creation, when approved by the Commission, of ad hoc research committees.'3

Cognizance of the full significance of cooperating with folk societies in the achievement of regional harmony and balance is clearly evident in the recommendations for action at the Commission's second meeting at Sydney, Australia. As a positive methodoloav in the implementation of folk-regional

"1 Agreement Establishting the South Pacific Commis- sion. Canberra, Australia: South Seas Commission Conference Papers, February 12, 1947, pp. 1-2.

12 Ibid., pp. 2-5. 13 Ibid., pp. 9-10.



56 SOCIAL FORCES

concepts, the Commission endorsed the principle of having full-time members of the research council visit administrative centers of the South Pacific, in order to consult with local administrative and research specialists and discover local needs. More- over, the Commission approved a regional analysis to be made of the preservation and transportation of food from areas of plenty to those of scar- city. In addition they authorized: (1) a review of the existing air and sea transport services as a means for attaining greater regional efficiency; (2) the interchange of epidemilogical information; (3) establishment of contact with those private and public agencies doing experimental work in agriculture or industry; (4) the preparation of a master file of those individuals and organizations interested in research in the South Pacific region; and (5) that the Research Council investigate the

possibilities of improving tropical pasture land by the scientific selection of adaptive fodder grasses and measures for the control of weeds.

Regionalism today is a dynamic functioning reality. It represents, thanks to the foresight and influence of Howard W. Odum,'4 one of the most fruitful leads in sociological investigation for -the understanding of man in society and his relation- ship to future peace and progress in the structure of world order.

14 See Dr. Odum's prolific writing on the concept of regionalism, especially Southern Regions of the United States (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1936); American Regionalism (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1938; with Harry E. Moore); and Understanding Society (New York: Macmillan, 1947).

CAN THE INDIVIDUAL PROTECT HIMSELF AGAINST PROPAGANDA NOT IN HIS INTEREST*

ALFRED McCLUNG LEE Brooklyn College of the City of New York

A GRASP of propaganda analysis is a central part of the promise of a liberal arts education. Those who have confidence in Ameri-

can liberal arts ideals thus answer the question faced in this paper quite simply and directly. They affirm that the individual can protect himself somewhat against propaganda not in his interest. The extent to which a person can so protect himself depends-within the limits of available knowl- edge and competence-upon the extent to which he has benefited from a liberal arts education. Variously stated and interpreted, the development of an ability to assess and accept or reject propaganda is one principal purpose of a liberal arts education. And the social sciences join power- fully with the humanities and the physical and biological sciences in contributing to the accom- plishment of that purpose.

Large sections of social science methodologies deal more or less popularly as well as technically with the nature of reports, statements, allegations,

efforts to convince, efforts to describe, and efforts to confuse. These include the methodologies of documentary criticism, interviewing, statistics, and terminology as well as of psychology, political science, history, sociology, cultural anthropology, and related fields. Since any material can be used propagandistically, propaganda analysis represents in part an application of whatever of such methodologies are appropriate in any given case. The analysis of propaganda, adequately conceived, is thus an orientation of what an individual may know of science and art to the understanding of propaganda messages that reach him. This implies the acceptance of such a non-normative definition of propaganda as that it is the use of symbols with the intention of forwarding or attacking an interest, cause, project, institution, or person with a public. The symbols may be words, cartoons, paraphernalia, events, personalities, buildings, or whatever else might be appropriate and useful. Propaganda is aimed especially at achieving social action goals through changing attitudes, prejud- ices, opinions, loyalties, modes of living.1

* Paper presented before a joint session of the American Sociological Society and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues at New York, Thursday, December 29, 1949.

I See the author's "Interest Criteria in Propaganda Analysis," Amnerican Sociological Review, 10 (1945), pp.

