He is the author of Th e Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-colonialism in the Republic of Gabon, co-author of Oil Policy in the Gulf of Guinea: Security and Confl ict, Economic Growth, Social Development and co-editor of the third edition of the Historical Dictionary of Gabon. [...] Th is in turn means downgrading the importance of the 192-member UN General Assembly, and shift ing the centre of gravity to the more collegial and manageable entities, such as the fi ft een-member UN Security Council and the executive boards of the Bretton Woods institutions: the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). [...] Th e organisation was born in the American city of San Francisco with the following loft y aspirations, contained in the preamble of its Charter: to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war ... to reaffi rm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small ... to promote social progress and b. [...] Chapter III lists the functions of the UN's six 'principal organs': the Security Council; the General Assembly; the Economic and Social Council; the Trusteeship Council; the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice, and also known as the World Court; and the secretariat. [...] Th e temporary absence of Russia from the UN (in protest at the People's Republic of China not being allowed to take up its seat at the UN in place of Taiwan) in 1950 saw the US make the 'extra-legal' transfer of the Security Council's role to the US-dominated General Assembly during the Korean War of 1950-1953.