Description
The United Nations was founded, among other reasons, with the goal of institutionalizing political power at the international level, particularly to counter and thus deinstitutionalize colonialism and imperialism. This aim has been—and continues to be—reflected in various institutional mechanisms for decolonization, such as the Special Political and Decolonization Committee and the Special Committee on Decolonization. To understand these processes of institutionalization, IR literature has primarily focused on the diplomatic level. In contrast, this paper examines the emergence of international power within the dependent territories themselves during decolonization. Using Actor-Network Theory, it shows how international power emerged through a network of actors connecting international organizations like the UN with local actors in the territories. It explores the various instruments in this network, which can be seen as prerequisites for international power to take effect. These include international missions, such as visiting and observer missions, as well as fact-finding initiatives, all of which have historically contributed to making the United Nations a powerful actor. The paper illustrates this with examples such as the first UN mission to Western Samoa in 1947.
