The end of collective security Notes

The End of Collective Security

1. As we have seen in previous sections, the 1930s was a period of heavy economic and political crisis, impacting both on the domestic and foreign policies of nations.
2. The idea of the end of collective security shows how WW2 was in a way allowed by the lack of commitment of countries to preserve peace.

Why did collective security fail?

1. The Impact of the Great Depression

1. The Great Depression brought high levels of unemployment and very low productivity.
2. The political translation this had was that peoples in different parts of the world grew disillusioned by democracy and liberal capitalism.
3. Partly as a consequence of the Great Depression, Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 with an explicit aim of disrupting international order and rejecting treaties.
4. The US had not joined the League of Nations in 1920, and the Depression only deepened its political isolationism.
   1. Apart from recalling loans, the Americans raised tariffs and established protectionist measures.
   2. This suggested that the US would not be available to support or uphold international peace if a crisis erupted.

2. The League of Nations Failed as a Peace Keeping Body

1. The League came into existence in January 1920, as part of the results of the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles.
2. In 1920 there were 42 countries in the League, and in 1933 (before Japan and Germany leave in that year), membership peaked to 60 countries.
3. As an aim, it strove for collective peace sustained by the goodwill and collaboration of member countries. Nevertheless, it had initial structural weaknesses:
   1. The Assembly of the League had one representative from each country.
      1. They could vote on general policies and budget, but for important decisions, such as the ones related to security, they needed a unanimous vote.
   2. This means that decisions were difficult to achieve, because if only one country refused a proposal, it would not pass.
   3. The Security Council was made up by permanent and non permanent members.
   4. The first permanent members were Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, and they all had veto power.
      1. That meant that decisions over borders, potential military intervention and sanctions had to be fully agreed upon. Again, a difficult task!
   5. Important countries were absent.
      1. Even when the League was the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson, the US president at the time, the US Congress did not approve of the US joining the League: they were adamant of focusing on isolationism.
4. The lack of support of the US impacted on the League both economically and symbolically.
   1. Also, it was a flaw that two of the most powerful states in Europe, Germany and Russia, were not members from the beginning.
5. The League did not have an army of its own.
   1. As a peacekeeping organization, the League relied on cooperation and common values and interests to foster diplomacy instead of military clash.
6. Nevertheless, articles 10-16 of the covenant of the League did explicitly state the concept of “collective security”: if one country of the League got attacked by a third party, all the other members would join to protect the one being attacked.
7. Also, article 16 stated that if a member resorted to war in violation of the Covenant, it would be considered an act of war against all members, and economic and military sanctions could be applied.
8. During the 1920s the League was overall respected and its decisions abided by.
   1. For example, they were able to sort out conflict in Upper Silesia, in the Aaland Islands and prevented hostilities between Greece and Bulgaria, among other successes.
9. But in the 1930s, it had major failures.
   1. The inaction in Manchuria, as we have seen, undermined its credibility and prompted Japan to leave the League.
10. When Hitler got to power, he withdrew from the League and in 1935-6, the international organization faced a death blow in the conflict of Abyssinia (see the section on Italian expansion).