The UIA might usefully be understood as operating out
of domain defined by negatives. This condition has been famously and
fruitfully defined by the poet John Keats as "negative capability",
namely the capacity to be "in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts,
without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" (1817). |
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Non-profit legal status |
The UIA is incorporated in accordance with a Belgian
law of 25 October 1919 providing (uniquely) for the establishment of
international non-profit associations. Pressures based
on for-profit criteria tend to be resisted where they conflict with improving
the quality of data content and coverage |
Non-governmental |
The UIA is an international non-governmental organization
(NGO) and is so recognized by the provisions of Article 71 of the Charter
of the United Nations. |
Non-political commitment |
The documentary commitment, and centennial tradition,
of the UIA precludes any particular political or ideological commitment.
It is fundamentally non-partisan. This is reinforced
by its criteria of membership. In order to ensure adequate documentation
and coverage of any variety of human activity expressed internationally
it has notably resisted political pressures exerted by intergovernmental
organizations. |
Non-dependent |
Being essentially self-funding, the UIA avoids dependency
relationships associated with many conventional forms of program funding
and partnership. |
Non-formal dimensions |
Although conventionally defined as "operating as
an institute for research, study, information, consultation, promotion
and service" with an appropriate General Assembly and Executive
Council, the operations of the UIA benefit to a high degree from an informal
supporting network of bodies and individuals. |
Non-traditional focus |
The UIA is an unusual body both in its focus, in its mode of action, and in the quality of the people who are attracted to its working environment. |