UN General Assembly
1952

117. I now turn to another consideration. At the outset of my statement, I observed that most of the difficulties encountered by the United Nations arose from the fact that the United Nations was not a government superimposed on States. The States are merely Members of an Organization which can operate only through its Members on the basis of general agreement. The difficulties of settling disputes between Member States are not so great as the difficulties which must be met in halting overt aggression. If the United Nations were a government superimposed on States, that super-government would merely have to initiate police action. Obviously, that is not the case. The Charter instead adopted the idea of collective security, in which all Members of the United Nations should participate.