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THE CHANGING EFFECTIVENESS OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS

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... 69 It would be an exaggeration, however, to conclude that because of the enhanced influence of its resolutions, in terms of degree of compliance and political effect, the General Assembly has become "the predominant political body of the world organization". 70 One thing is certain, General Assembly debates did become a test of popularity between contending positions or states and confirmed what states were the opinion leaders. This was even more so during the Cold War when issues easily took on an East/West conflict pattern. ...
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Two traditions of analysis exist with regard to the nature and expression of non-alignment in Nigeria’s foreign policy between 1960 and 1965. The tradition that dates from the early 1960s concludes that Nigeria’s foreign policy towards the Cold War was independent and non-aligned, and the post-war tradition is that Nigeria was ‘aligned’. Both traditions adduce as evidence for their opposing verdicts Nigeria’s voting pattern in the United Nations General Assembly between 1960 and 1965. Yet no thoroughgoing quantitative analysis of Nigeria’s pattern of voting in the General Assembly,both in individual and relative terms, has been undertaken. But can the same piece of evidence at the same time support such opposing conclusions? This paper responds to this problematic by first reviewing Nigeria’s policy toward the United Nations, and analysing the pattern of Nigeria’s voting on Cold War issues in the General Assembly. It employed the Lijphart method of computing Indices of Agreement of roll-call votes, taking account of abstentions, and arranged these indices in matrices anchored on groups of possibly caucusing states. The result is that the coincidence of Nigeria’s pattern of voting was minimal with those of the superpowers, but highly related to the voting patterns of the ‘radical’ African states and putative non-aligned states. This strengthens the conclusion that Nigeria acted as the administration said it would: independent and not routinely identifying with either of the superpowers.
... 126 Some commentators, reticent to the reintroduction of notions of ''consent'' and ''will'' at the heart of the customary process, prefer to speak of States' ''support'', ''opinion'' or ''views''. 127 The fact remains, nevertheless, that it is the ''consensual factor'' which essentially determines how international organizations carry out their normative functions. 128 In the end, the power of the organization stands for its own power only as far as the formal aspect of its decisions is concerned. ...
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It seems to be presumed by many that the simple multiplication of international organizations (IOs) weakens the unity and integrity of international law. There is, in reality, nothing obvious in this assumption. First, there needs to be evidence of duplication or overlaps in the various competences of IOs. Second, it needs to be proven that, in the instances in which the activities of IOs do overlap, such overlap translates into competition, divergence or conflict. Last, and most importantly, rival or competing activities must be of normative significance. This essay proposes to address the preliminary question which, in fact, precedes and underpins all the others as regards the multiplication of IOs and international legal unity: how do IOs matter in the making of international law? IOs, we argue, are more shapers than makers of international law and their multiplication is therefore not a source of increased chaos in the international normative puzzle.
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In May of 1955 five individuals instituted a legal action against the Japanese government to recover damages for injuries allegedly sustained as a consequence of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II. On December 7, 1963, the twenty-second anniversary of the surprise attack by Japan upon Pearl Harbor, the District Court of Tokyo delivered its lengthy decision in the case. The decision has been translated into English and reprinted in full in The Japanese Annual of International Law for 1964. This enables an accounting of this singular attempt by a court of law to wrestle with the special legal problems arising from recourse to atomic warfare. The Japanese court reached the principal conclusion that the United States had violated international law by dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also concluded, however, that these claimants had no legal basis for recovering damages from the Japanese government.
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The United Nations and Lawmaking: The Political Organs - Volume 64 Issue 4 - Rosalyn Higgins
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There is considerable difference in the opinions expressed as to how binding United Nations resolutions are or should be.
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