The Limits of Office

Abstract

This final chapter returns to the balancing act in assessing the difference an individual in charge of a global governance body can make and where his or her limitations are depending on the institutional context and constraints. It argues that values matter and that choices are not pre-determined by origin, despite the impact of social influences in a person’s upbringing. It acknowledges that, despite being from different parts of the world, leading international civil servants share some (middle) class-based commonalities and thereby (re)produce a certain understanding, but refutes the suggestion that this translates into support of white supremacy and Western dominance. It ends with some of the assessments offered as a tribute to Dag Hammarskjöld and the role he played in the decolonization of Africa despite having been faced with institutional limitations.