THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 1222

20 THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 1222

2 Earlier in this chapter we argued that the student of IR had to make

3 some decisions about how best to characterize what appear to be

4 significant developments in political history such as the establishment

5 and conduct of a Concert of Europe, the League of Nations, or the

6 United Nations. There is no doubt that the level of international

7 cooperation that we can see in the operation of the League and the

8 UN is of real historical significance. The question is whether or not

9 these attempts to build international organizations changed the

30 essential nature of world politics.

1 Woodrow Wilson was the US President who led his nation into

2 the First World War in 1917. In January 1918, in a speech to Congress,

3 President Wilson famously set out ‘Fourteen Points’ designed to

4 ensure that after the war,

6 the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be

7 made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to 822

live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice

34 A NARCHY AND THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and

selfish aggression. (Full text of the speech can be found at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wilson14.htm on the website of the Avalon Project, Yale University)

Wilson’s plan was designed to change the very constitution of world politics. His liberal internationalism wanted to move beyond the balance of power politics of anarchical international relations. He was convinced that establishing firmer institutional structures that supported an idea of collective security would highlight the fact that all peace loving nations could be seen to have a common interest in peace rather than war. His idea of a general association of nations was to find concrete (if imperfect) expression in the League of Nations established at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

EXPERIMENTS IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE? THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The covenant of the League of Nations created an organization of

42 states with a bold remit to manage international affairs (Box 2.3). The structure of the organization was to set the pattern for the future of international and regional organizations and diplomacy (Armstrong et al. 2004: 31). It consisted of three principal organs. The council was the most important organ of the League and was in charge of security issues. While some, principally Britain, had argued that membership of the council should be open to major powers, article 4 of the covenant, provided for four non-permanent members to be elected from the assembly in addition to the perma- nent ‘principal allied and associated powers’ (the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan). Every member country was represented in the assembly which dealt with budgetary matters, elected non- permanent members to the council, amendments to the covenant and, under article 4, was to deal with ‘any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world’. As such it became the body that the council reported to annually. The final organ of the League was its secretariat, a permanent body of international officials.

A NARCHY AND THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM