La paix par les organisations internationales:David Mitrany et l’approche fonctionnaliste.

Mitrany David, A Working Peace System. An Argument for the Functional Development of International Organization,

London, The Royal Institute for International Affairs, Oxford University Press, 1943, 60p.

Cours de C. Tenenbaum, Sciences Po Lille

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Claude, Inis L. Swords into Plowshares; the Problems and Progress of International Organization. 4 éd. New York: Random House, 1971.

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It is conceivable that, in the perspective of history, the mid-twentieth century will be primarily regarded, not as an era of cold war and deep divisive conflict, but as the time when the world began actively to grow together and to develop the capacity for formulating a common agenda and a collective approach to its central problem.

Eléments de contexte3

David Mitrany (1888-1975) Journaliste, professeur d’université, diplomate. A Working Peace System (WPS), publié par le RIIA

en 1943. Large diffusion (rééditions, traductions en Italien,

norvégien, danois). Nouvelle publication en 1966 avec préface de

Hans Morgenthau.

Hans Morgenthau4

« Modern technology has rendered the nation state obsolete as a principle of political organisation; for the nation state is no longer able to perform what is the elementary function of any political organisation: to protect the lives of its members and their way of life »

Hans Morgenthau5

The more enlightened statesmen of Europe and Africa are aware of the contradiction between this fragmentation and the rational requirements of the age, which call for the amalgamation of nation-states into larger supran-national entities. The attempts at creating a united Europe testify to this awareness; do do many – albeit abortive – initiatives at merging a number of African states into larger units.

Repenser la paix… et la guerre6

« process of continuous social adjustment and settlement called peaceful change ».

Une approche « réaliste », « concrète » et « pragmatique ».

« L’alternative fonctionnelle » Stratégie des « nécessités » et des « besoins

communs » Renouveler la conception de la sécurité

David Mitrany, A WPS, 19437

A new sens of peace : not a peace that would keep the nations quietly apart but a peace that would bring them activley together, not the old static and strategic view but a social view of peace.

Every activity organized in that way would be a layer of peaceful like; and a sufficient addition of them would create increasingly deep and wide strata of peace.

Transcender l’Etat et les frontières8

Un constat : L’Etat dépassé Renouveler la notion de souveraineté politique Transcender les frontières Favoriser les relations d’interdépendances

David Mitrany, A WPS, 19439

The whole trend of modern government (…) is to organize government along the lines of specific ends and needs, and according to the conditions of their time and place, in lieu of the traditional organization on the basis of a set consitutional division of jurisdiction and of rights and powers.

David Mitrany, A WPS, 194310

The only sound sense of peaceful change is to do internationally what it [The State] does nationally: to make changes of frontiers unnecessary by making frontiers meaningless through the continuous development of common activities and interests across them.

David Mitrany, A WPS, 194311

(…) one might say indeed that the true task of peaceful changes is to remove the need and the wish for changes of frontiers. The functional approach may be justifiably expected to do precisely that : (…) making frontiers lines meaningless by overlaying them with a natural growth of common activities and common administrative agencies.

David Mitrany, A WPS, 194312

Instead of breaking up government mechanically into a pyramid of subordinate territorial aras, we need for our new ends rather to dissect its tasks and relevant authorities on lines that correspond to and fit those tasks.

David Mitrany, A WPS, 194313

Could such functions be organized internationally without a comprehensive political framework? Let it be said, first, that the functional method as such is neither incompatible with a general constitutional framework nor precludes its coming into being.

David Mitrany, A WPS, 194314

(…) No country need to be forced to come in, no country would be forced to stay out. Countries would come in for those functional activities in which they would be entitle to participate by the weight of their interests and resources, but all countries would benefit from the performance of a general service(…). On the other hand, noone would share power who did not share in responsibility. This good democratic postulate could be reinforce by democratic representation; the functional structure could be made a real union of peoples, not of states, but of the people directly concerned in any specific function, by giving them functional representation somewhat on the lines of the governing organ of the ILO.

Fonctionnalisme / Néo-fonctionnalisme15

Le mécanisme de « spill-over » (Ernst B. Haas) Un « semi-fonctionnalisme » ? (David Mitrany) Un « stratagème » (A. J. R. Groom)

Critiques et limites16

Le postulat des causes matérielles de la guerre « First things first » (Inis Claude) Innovation ou illusion ? Le contexte de guerre froide et la convergence des

intérêts des grandes puissances Le contexte de guerre froide et le retour de l’Etat Le fonctionnalisme au service du développement ? La nature des régimes politiques (dépolitisation des

enjeux). Le jeu des organisations internationales et des Etats.

Documents distribués17

Le système des Nations Unies (organigramme) Extrait de Mitrany, David. A Working Peace

System. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1966.

Références bibliographiques

Devin, Guillaume. “« Que reste-t-il du fonctionnalisme international ? Relire David Mitrany (1888-1975) ».” Critique internationale 01/03, no. 38 (2008): 137-152.  

———. Faire la paix : la part des institutions internationales. Collection Chaos international. Paris: Pepper, 2005.  

Groom, A. J. R, et Paul Graham Taylor. Functionalism: Theory and Practice in International Relations. New York: Crane, Russak, 1975.  

Haas, Ernst B. Beyond the Nation-State: Functionalism and International Organization. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1964.  

———. The Uniting of Europe; Political, Social, and Economical Forces, 1950-1957. The Library of world affairs no. 42. London: Stevens, 1958.  

Mitrany, David. A Working Peace System. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1966.   Taylor, Paul Graham, et A. J. R Groom. International Organisation: A Conceptual

Approach. London: F. Pinter, 1978.   ———. The United Nations at the Millennium: The Principal Organs. London:

Continuum, 2000.  

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