This work describes the ways in which the existence and the procedures of the General Assembly of the United Nations operates and how it influences interactions amongst states as well as how it affects the foreign policy choices of individual states. Three stages in the development of the Assembly are charted - the period from 1947 to 1955 of the US/Latin American coalition, the fluid majorities that existed between 1955 and 1964 and the Third World coalition from 1964 of developing African, Asian and Latin American states.