ABSTRACT
No international organization can be stronger than the structure of relationships among the Great Powers that underlies it.
George Kennan1
There are those who see an inevitable tension between the needs of Great Powers and a strong role for global institutions such as the United Nations (UN). Whereas the former are assumed to be guided by narrow concerns of realpolitik, the latter draw inspiration from ideals that include a prohibition on aggressive action, respect for human rights, a commitment to the rule of law, and the replacement of the balance of power with collective security. Realists often view such ideas as naive. So Mearsheimer in a critique of ‘institutionalist’ theories, examines the ‘false promise’ of organisations like the UN and claims that they ‘are based on the self-interested calculations of the Great Powers, and they have no independent effect on state behaviour’.2 Supporters of the UN, on the other hand, claim that positive change is both achievable and desirable through these institutions.
