Cottrell- The League of Nations. Enduring Legacies of the First Experiment at World Organization

Question 1

How did the League of Nations differ in organization and structure from the European Congress?

Answer 1

Organizationally, the League went far beyond past experiments in international governance. Its machinery consisted of four major bodies:

1) an Assembly in which all members were represented;

2) a smaller Council in which major powers had a permanent seat;

3) an administrative secretariat staffed by 700 international experts and headed by a secretary-general

4) a Permanent Court of International Justice.

Alongside the League of Nations, the functional need for cooperation produced a range of other multilateral institutions to deal with common international problems, including the International Labour Organization (ILO), what would later become known as the Health Organization, and the International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation, among others. As Chapter 4 shows, many of these institutions and associated expert networks continue to serve as pillars of contemporary international governance architecture, reflecting a core legacy of the League experience.

Moreover, in perhaps the most ambitious application of the idea at the time, many conceived of the League of Nations as a multilateral but universal project. The notion of a true universal international organisation made important headway in creating institutional machinery that reached far beyond its Eurocentric predecessors. Still, the rhetoric of universalism did not match up with the procedure of the conference itself and had difficulty being reconciled with the naked self-interest of the victors. While some 26 states were represented at the Peace Conferences, only the “Big Four” (Britain, France, Italy, and the United States; some include Japan as well in a “Big Five”) had a meaningful seat at the table. In many respects, the decision-making apparatus reflected that of the Concert, except that the losing powers did not have a formal seat at the table and were forced to swallow the bitter pill of a victors’ peace, undermining notions of universal equality.

A second underpinning assumption of the League connected, for the first time, the self-determination and sovereign equality of all states to the stability of the future world order. The political disintegration following World War I created fault lines for conflict that would have to be stabilized for a lasting peace to exist, given the implications for empires past and present. To some extent, Wilson foresaw this, devoting several of his 14 points to establishing a peaceful transition to the post-war order based on the principles of sovereignty and self-determination

Question 2

The League needed to be an organisation based on universal membership to guarantee international peace and security. Was it indeed successful in becoming this?

Answer 2

• international organisation made important headway in creating an institutional machinery that reached far beyond its Eurocentric predecessors. Still, the rhetoric of universalism did not match the procedure of the conference itself and had difficulty reconciling with the naked self-interest of the victors. While some 26 states were represented at the Peace Conferences, only the “Big Four” (Britain, France, Italy, and the United States; some include Japan as well in a “Big Five”) had a meaningful seat at the table. In many respects, the decision-making apparatus reflected that of the Concert, except that the losing powers did not have a formal seat at the table and were forced to swallow the bitter pill of a victors’ peace, undermining notions of universal equality.
• Second, the League never ended up even resembling a universal international organization. In the end, the United States refused to join, effectively undermining the League’s power base, a blow from which it would never recover. The USSR and Germany were denied membership at the outset and when they did eventually join, their tenure was short-lived and unproductive.78 Moreover, as a result of the mandates compromise, about half of the globe remained in some state of colonial dependence, lacking real representation

Question 3

To what extent was the principle of self-determination implemented by the League, according to Wiesner and Cottrell? Use the mandate system developed by the League in your answer.

Answer 3

• Self determination articulated by Woodrow Wilson, is about the right of a nation to determine its own political status without a external influence of coercion.
• The mandate system established by theleague after wwI helped govern former german and ottoman territories with the aim of guiding them to independence and self determination
• Cotrell argues the system and self determination fell short because the big powers prioritised their own economic and stratigic interest, often treating these territroies as colonies.
• Self interest can be seen when japan proposes a commitment to racial equality. Wilson declines as he wants treaty to pass in the senate, instead he allows japan control of Shandong, which had been under German control during WWI.