ABSTRACT
Political institutions are sites of interaction that develop and change over time in reaction to shifts in the broader social context and in actors’ beliefs, expectations, and behavior. Both social context – the global distribution of political power and economic activity – and actor beliefs, expectations, and behavior have shifted considerably in the six decades since 1945. Though the basic characteristics of the General Assembly have remained the same, its impact on world politics and the extent to which it was or was not viewed as a precursor to a global legislature have altered considerably. While some chroniclers see a pattern of constant decline from the high expectations of the late 1940s,1 the story is a bit more complicated. However, it is clear that without significant changes in its ways, the General Assembly will become irrelevant.
