League of Nations & International agreements Flashcards
aims of league
- uphold and enforce T of V
- stop war by encouraging negotiation rather than aggression
- disarmament- encourage countries to have smaller militaries
- improve life and jobs of people around the world
important articles of covenant of league
- article 10- collective security- any member threatened with war should be protected by other members
- League was a peaceful organisation and so didn’t have a standing army
mitigation and its weaknesses
+ getting disagreeing countries to talk through problems
- could simply ignore league
moral condemnation and its weakness
+ publicly telling off and pressuring aggressor using guilt and shame to stop their actions
- aggressor could simply ignore the league
economic sanctions and its weakness
+ members of league wouldn’t trade with aggressors causing conflicts
- countries unwilling to stop trade as they also lose out
- countries such as USA not in league, so cannot enforce effectively
military action and its weakness
+ counties in league contribute towards an armed force to act against aggressor
- no standing army, so took time to build army
- countries unwilling to send troops in with WW1 in hindsight
countries absent from league
- USA
- Russia
- Germany
Weakness of USA’s absence
- hard to enforce trade sanctions when USA, a large trading partner of many were not in league
- as it was idea of USA to create league, many felt this undermined its effectiveness/purpose
issues with league from start
- USA’s absence
- no standing army
- Britain and France main countries, but neither were enthusiastic about it and were willing to undermine it
different parts of league
- Assembly
- Council
- International court of Justice
- special commissions
- secretariat
what was the assembly
- over 50 members, like league’s parliament
- met once a year
- needed unanimous vote to pass a decision
problems with assembly
- with this many members, hard to reach a unanimous vote
- hard to deal with rising issues when only met once. a year
what was international court of justice
- had 15 judges
- settled disputes between countries
problems with I.C of J
- could only get involved if countries agreed to take problems to court
- couldn’t make countries obey its decisions
what was the council
- small, powerful group of members (Britain, France, Japan, Italy)
- met 5 times a year to discuss urgent matters
- permanent members had a veto
problems with council
- Veto could prevent decisions being made, meaning smaller countries have almost no say