The constant gardener
League of Nations
Adrian Jones,
McMaster University
The League was established at the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security. Member states pledged to resolve disputes peacefully, maintain open diplomacy, and mutually guarantee each others' territorial and political independence where: "Any war or threat of war is declared a matter of concern to the whole League" (The Versailles Treaty 1919). The League was a partial fulfillment of then-US President Woodrow Wilson's famous appeal for collective security through "a general association of nations" (Wilson 1918/1966). Its effectiveness in this regard, however, was compromised by the abstention of the Soviet Union and the United States itself. Moreover, given its weak enforcement capacities, the requirement of unanimity for most substantive decisions, and the lack of political will among its most powerful members (e.g. England and France) to confront Nazi, Japanese, and Italian aggression in the 1930s, the League failed to prevent World War II and its own demise. Nonetheless, it advanced several international humanitarian objectives in the inter-war years — refugee assistance, combating drug and prostitution smuggling, and coordinating health initiatives — which eventually led to the establishment of formal governance organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
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| First meeting of the League assembly in 1920 |
(Photo: Free Use Image, Wikipedia)
The League is significant for contemporary analyses of continuity and change in global governance. It succeeded the Hague System, itself a novel attempt to prevent international conflict through formal dispute settlement procedures. In turn, the League was the organizational precursor to the current United Nations system, which retained the emphasis on "collective security" and the engagement of militarily powerful states. However, in its enshrinement of international human rights, the UN Charter more explicitly recognized the threats that individuals and non-state collectivities face, whether during international conflict or otherwise, and whether in the midst of external threats or due to internal state oppression. Indeed, the UN's promotion of human rights, democracy, environmental sustainability, and economic and social development, are increasingly viewed as being intertwined, not only with each other, but with international peace and security itself. Each of these domains is affected by globalization and, in turn, fundamentally impacts the well-being and autonomy of individuals and groups.
Works Cited:
The Versailles Treaty, Articles 1-26 (28 June 1919).
Covenant of the League of Nations,
history.acusd.edu/gen/text/versaillestreaty/vercontents.html (accessed 1 December 2004).
Wilson, Woodrow. 1918/1966. The world must be made safe for democracy: The fourteen points, Address to the United States Congress. In Classics of international relations,
ed. John A. Vasquez,
35-40. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Suggested Readings:
About the United Nations.
History,
www.un.org/aboutun/history.htm (accessed 1 December 2004).
Mingst, Karen A. and Margaret P. Karns. 2001. Historical evolution of the United Nations. In
The United Nations in the post-cold war era. 16-45. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.