Text III

Aside from the difficulties of operating a decidedly
multinational staff organization, once it is formed, the problem of
reconciling the principle of equitable geographical distribution of
recruits with that of “securing the highest standards of efficiency,
competence, and integrity” is a formidable one. This delicate task
was politically imposed upon the League of Nations
secretary-general, and is constitutionally required of his
counterpart in the United Nations.
For better or for worse, recruitment policy cannot be
based exclusively upon the criterion of the individual’s personal
qualifications; in the field of international employment, the
relevant irrelevancy is not “whom do you know” but “where are
you from?” From a strictly administrative point of view, there is
some positive value in securing broad nationality distribution,
even at the expense of sheer quality; for some purposes, a
slightly incompetent man’s nationality may make him more
useful than a more expert civil servant of inappropriate
nationality.
For the most part, however, the Charter principle of
geographical distribution is a concession to political necessity. It
licenses a kind of international spoils system in which states seek
to nourish their national self-esteem by securing an adequate
quota of international jobs for their citizens. Ironically, perhaps,
because it is politically necessary it is also politically and
administratively desirable; what shall it profit an international
organization to maintain its administrative purity and lose its
own members or their political support?

Inis L. and Claude Jr. Swords into Plowshares: The Problems and Progress of International Organization. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984, pp. 196-197 (adapted).