IP1018: LECTURE 5

FROM LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO UNITED

NATIONS

Dr Holly Eva Ryan

Holly.Ryan.1@city.ac.uk
Office hours: Fridays 09.00-11.00 (D504)

TODAYS LECTURE
What was the League of Nations?
Why was the League of Nations established?
How was it structured and what did it achieve?
Why was the League of Nations dissolved?

How do the aims, structure and achievements of the

League of Nations compare to those of the United
Nations?

THE LEAGUE OF
NATIONS
Existed between 1920
and 1946
Context: aftermath of
the First World War
Aims: promoting
international
cooperation and
preserving global
peace
Headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland

BACKGROUND TO THE LEAGUE

OF NATIONS

Peace plans - Kants Perpetual Peace, 1795

Concert of Europe - balance of power existing in Europe from the

end of the Napoleonic Wars in the C19th)

Public international unions connecting nations and regulating

international communications

Arbitration processes (1899 Hague court)

Private Associations - League of Nations Society & League to

Enforce Peace

Woodrow Wilsons fourteenth point - a League of Nations to

guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity [of]
great and small states alike.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS
STRUCTURE
The Covenant of the League of Nations was made up of 26
articles:
Article 3 - The Assembly (representatives of all members of the
League)

Article 4 - The Council (Britain, France, Italy and Japan, plus

four other countries elected by the assembly)
Article 5 - Agreements within the Assembly and Council had to
be unanimous.

Article 6 - The Secretariat

Article 14 - International Court of Justice

SECURITY IN THE LEAGUES

COVENANT
Institutionalized Concert of Europe (Articles 4 & 11)
Disarmament (Article 8)
Mechanisms for Pacific Settlement of Disputes
(Articles 12-16)
Collective Security (Article 10)

SECURITY PROVISIONS IN
PRACTICE
1920: Aaland Islands settled under Article 11

BUT, failures too:

1931: Manchuria Japan blocked Article 11 action;
action under Article 15 failed

1933: Collapse of World Disarmament Conference

1935: Ethiopia sanctions applied under Article 16;
Ethiopia fell before oil sanctions applied

THE LEAGUES WORK IN

OTHER AREAS
Mandates (Article 22): category A mandates achieved
independence (e.g. Iraq, 1932)

Administration: Saarland & Danzig

Economic work: lending to reconstruct Austria, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Greece & Estonia
Refugees: Fritjof Nansen repatriated 430,000 PoWs
Health organization: fought typhus, cholera; precursor to World
Health Organization
Intellectual co-operation: UNESCO precursor
Environment: eg. 1931 Whaling Convention
Traffic in women & children: 1933 Convention

THE LEAGUE AND

MINORITIES
New borders created new configurations of national
populations; new minorities
1919-23 Minorities Treaties
Limited effectiveness re. Albania, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Yugoslavia

DEMISE OF THE LEAGUE

Failure of universal vision
Self-interest of states
Inconsistent support for the principle of
collective security
Inability to enforce decisions/act in concert

INFLUENCE ON THE
UNITED NATIONS (UN)
Structure: Council, Assembly, Secretariat
Court of Justice
Health organization

Economic & social work

BUT key differences in light of the League
experience (e.g. drafting of the founding documents,
voting, enforcement mechanisms, Human Rights)

THE UN CHARTER
The Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26
June 1945, in San Francisco,
111 articles, compared to the LoNs 26
Drafted by a 44 nation committee of Jurists
Some overlap with responsibilities and aspirations
of the League

GENERAL ASSEMBLY
(CHAPTER IV)
All members
Article 10: talking shop
Article 11: general principles and
recommendations

Article 13: development of international law;

economic & social co-operation
Article 18: one member, one vote

SECURITY COUNCIL
Article 23: five permanent members (P5); 15
altogether

Article 27(3): veto power of P5

Chapter VI: pacific settlement
Chapter VII: threats to & breaches of peace;
aggression
Peacekeeping: eg. UNTSO (1948); UNMOGIP (1949)
Arguably pushes aside conceptual distinction

between pacific settlement and enforcement

SECRETARIES GENERAL
Article 97: secretary-general as chief administrative officer
Trygvie Lie (Norway, 1946-52)
Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden, 1953-61)
U Thant (Burma, 1961-71)
Kurt Waldheim (Austria, 1972-81)
Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru, 1982-91)
Boutros-Boutros Ghali (Egypt, 1992-96)
Kofi Annan (Ghana, 1997-2006)
Ban Ki-moon (South Korea, 2007-)

**Note the geographical spread and number of non-Western

voices

THE UN AND
DECOLONISATION
UNs role in de-legitimation of colonialism:
independence possible; indeed desirable for all
Articles 73 and 74
Decolonizations impact on UN membership
Decolonizations impact on UN focus

THE UN SYSTEM AND HUMAN

RIGHTS
Context: Leagues minorities work; WW2
atrocities
Charter commitment
1948 UDHR; 1966 Covenants and further treaty
mechanisms
Commission (1946-2006); Council (2006-present)
The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body made up of 47 States
responsible for the promotion and protection of all
human rights around the globe.

SUMMARY
LoN and UN share some structural features and
emerge from a similar vision to uphold
international peace and stability.
LoN had some successes, but many failures too.

Important work in global health, protection of

minorities, efforts in economic and social spheres
UN has carried on work in many of these domains.
In addition, stronger enforcement mechanisms;
strong leadership; more universal; different voting
systems; wider focus on Human Rights.

Questions:

To what extent was the founding of the

United Nations inspired by the League?
Did the League of Nations fail because it
was more ambitious than the United
Nations?