The aim of this thesis is to show that, although the various phases of the membership controversy are fundamentally a part of the overall Soviet -Western crisis, the immediate reason for their development stems not only from the dominant position that the United States occupies internationally but as well from the extreme overbalance of representation in the United Nations in favour of the Americas. This situation, not the free use of the veto by the Soviet Union, is mainly responsible for the stalemate in the admission of new members. The Soviet Union has felt compelled to use its veto lavishly in an effort to protect and strengthen its minority role in the United Nations. It is because the USSR regards the veto in this light that any suggestion to abolish it as far as admission of new members is concerned is completely impractical. The issue would not be of primary import if the Western States had used their preponderant voting power responsibly and the practice of bloc voting had not become such a prominent feature of the United Nations. But these developments which are partially attributable to the existing state of international tension have made the membership composition of the United Nations a matter of great concern, especially to the USSR. In these circumstances it is not surprising that Article 4 has received little more than lip service. Both the Soviet and Western blocs have set up a standard of admission for their own candidates which differs substantially from that applied to candidates of the other. This has left each side open to charges of discrimination and neither has been slow in pointing out the iniquities of the other's obstinacy. In the eyes of the Secretary General of the United Nations, who is well qualified to judge, all the disappointed applicants would qualify if the standard set by Article 4 was administered reasonably. In harmony with this view the USSR has offered what seems to be the only fair compromise, that it will vote for the Western candidates if the Western states will vote for the Soviet candidates. The stalemate is perpetuated because the Western bloc unwisely chooses to regard this offer to compromise as a 'horse trade' or 'blackmail.' A new twist to the membership controversy has been supplied by the fact that there are two claimants to the seat held in the name of China. This is not a question of admitting a new state but merely one of representation. The difficulty in the case of China is that the de facto government, which should logically occupy the seat, is in conflict with: the military forces of the United Nations, which in the view of the majority disqualifies that government from taking its rightful place. This representation question must eventually be resolved in favour of the Central People's Government or the United Nations will place itself in the position of denying representation to the 450 million people of China, the majority of whom seem to support the Peking Government. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / South Africa has played an essential role as one of the founding members of both the League of Nations and the United Nations (UN), the latter of which came into existence in 1945. However, when the South African government introduced and pursued its policy of Apartheid, the country became a pariah within the international community. In 1994, after twenty years of international isolation, a new democratic government was sworn in and was immediately embraced by the international community. In their quest to further strengthen South Africa’s ongoing transformation from an isolated international pariah to an emerging leader of the developing world, the Mandela and Mbeki administrations adopted foreign policy adaptation strategies. These strategies were designed to adapt South African’s foreign policy to the new realities of the post-apartheid era: restructuring the foreign policy establishment; selfpromotion as the leader of the ‘African Renaissance’; adherence to the foreign policy principle of ‘universality’ and assuming a leadership role in international organizations. The United Nations has became one of the most important forums through which the international community’s rapprochement towards South Africa has manifested itself and has continued to play an important role in post-Apartheid South Africa’s international relations. South Africa’s global status has increased significantly through its participation in numerous UN bodies, agencies and General Assembly sessions. It has thus been argued that South Africa’s participation at the United Nations is driven by its intention to reform the organisation as well as showcase itself as a representative of the developing world and especially Africa, in an attempt to increase its global stature as a moral and African power. In addition to this it ostensibly seeks to profile itself as a multilateral leader. This thesis attempts to explore the nature of South Africa’s involvement and participation within the United Nations in the Post-Apartheid era and what the major consequences have been. It assesses the content and consequences of South African foreign policy rhetoric and institutional participation at the United Nations since the end of apartheid. This is done, first, through an attempt to understand the role of international organisations within the international arena and how they are utilised in furthering foreign policy objectives of states through cooperation (which constitutes the theoretical backdrop to the thesis), and second, through a systematic review of South African behaviour and policy objectives at the United Nations. Amongst others, one of the more important themes emerging from this analysis is that South Africa is combining many of its more recent UN initiatives with its participation in other multilateral partnerships.