Inadequate coordination of governmental representation in intergovernmental organizations

Member States of intergovernmental bodies are obliged to organize a network of representation at the headquarter offices of the bodies and to coordinate their activities in relation to numerous committees. The complexity and often the relative unimportance of the problems dealt with makes it impossible for a central administration to give instructions on all subjects. Furthermore the foreign ministries responsible for this coordination do not have all the powers they need to supervise the representatives of technical ministries. The result is that in a very large number of cases, in spite of considerable paperwork, the personality of the representatives has greater impact on the official position taken up by governments than the directives sent from the capitals themselves. Representatives of the same government may then take different positions according to the organization to which they are accredited. In order to overcome the difficulties inherent in the complexity of the whole, delegations are forced not only to learn how the machinery conditions the interplay of influence, but also to follow closely the most trivial administrative matters.