Completely revised version of a paper which first appeared in 1973 and was published International Associations, 1974, pp. 208-208

Prepared in 1979 in connection with the Forms of Presentation sub-project of the Goals, Processes and Indicators of Development (GPID) project of the United Nations University. Printed in Transnational Associations, 1982, 2, pp 80-89

Paper written on the occasion of the First Global Conference on the Future, Toronto, 1980. (Theme: Thinking Globally/Acting Locally). Printed in Transnational Associations, 1982, 6, pp 400-404.

Introduction

The principal concern of this symposium is to examine how well a limited number of key terms currently employed in international organization discourse convey, in different sectors and language systems, the concepts and meanings they supposedly represent. A related concern, however, is whether particular labelled categories used in describing organizations, match in subtlety and complexity the social reality which they are used to order. It is this second concern which is discussed here.

Prepared on behalf of Mankind 2000 as introductory reports to Working Group 2 of the Journées d'Etudes (Paris, 28-30 mars 1977) de la Fondation Internationale de l'Innovation Sociale. Published in French in Journées d'études Paris, Fondation Internationale de l'Innovation Sociale, vol 2, 1977, 49 p.

Sections of this Article (accessed via the links on the right)

Description

The suggestion has been made (see previous section) that structuring the relationship between theoretical entities (concepts, propositions, problems, etc.) could best be accomplished using graph theory methods. There are three disadvantages to this approach:

A technique illustrated by relations between IGOs and INGOs, particularly for the case of the United Nations system (Part #1)

Produced with assistance from David Horton Smith and published in Transnational Associations 30, 1978, 12, pp. 542-548. Paper presented to the workshop on new forms of presentation (Geneva, February 1979) of the Goals, Processes and Indicators of Development (GPID) project of the United Nations University, Human and Social Development Programme.

1. Union of International Associations. Yearbook of World Problems and Human Potential. Brussels, Union of International Associations and Mankind 2000, 1976, 1136 pages (The author has been concerned with various aspects of this problem as director of a project which produced the (which discusses a number of points with extensive bibliographies)

2. The author has explored the background to these criteria in the publication cited in (1), and also: