Weaknesses and Failure of the League of the Nations
Weaknesses and Failure of the League of the Nations
The onset of the Second World War demonstrated that the League had failed in its primary purpose, which was to avoid any future world war. There were a variety of reasons for this failure, many connected to general weaknesses within the organization.
Weaknesses
Origins and structure
The origins of the League as an organization created by the Allied Powers as part of the peace settlement to end the First World War led to it being viewed as a "League of Victors".[1]*[2] It also tied the League to the Treaty of Versailles, so that when the Treaty became discredited and unpopular, this reflected on the League of Nations.
The League's supposed neutrality tended to manifest itself as indecision. It required a unanimous vote of its nine-, later fifteen-, member Council to enact a resolution; hence, conclusive and effective action was difficult, if not impossible. It was also slow in coming to its decisions as certain decisions required the unanimous consent of the entire Assembly. This problem mainly stemmed from the fact that the main members of the League of Nations were not willing to accept the possibility that their fate would be decided by other countries and had therefore, in effect, by enforcing unanimous voting given themselves the power of veto. Any member of the league assembly whose interest was concerned in the decisions out come also had the right to veto league action.[3]
Constitutional
The Covenant of the League of Nations did not outlaw war as such. The members of the League were not allowed to go to war under certain conditions. By the same token, they were not allowed to go to war in the absence of those conditions. Thus the preamble to the covenant stipulated “the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war until three months after the award by the arbitrators”. By virtue of Article 13, paragraph 4, the members agreed “that they will not resort to war against a member of the League which
The onset of the Second World War demonstrated that the League had failed in its primary purpose, which was to avoid any future world war. There were a variety of reasons for this failure, many connected to general weaknesses within the organization.
Weaknesses
Origins and structure
The origins of the League as an organization created by the Allied Powers as part of the peace settlement to end the First World War led to it being viewed as a "League of Victors".[1]*[2] It also tied the League to the Treaty of Versailles, so that when the Treaty became discredited and unpopular, this reflected on the League of Nations.
The League's supposed neutrality tended to manifest itself as indecision. It required a unanimous vote of its nine-, later fifteen-, member Council to enact a resolution; hence, conclusive and effective action was difficult, if not impossible. It was also slow in coming to its decisions as certain decisions required the unanimous consent of the entire Assembly. This problem mainly stemmed from the fact that the main members of the League of Nations were not willing to accept the possibility that their fate would be decided by other countries and had therefore, in effect, by enforcing unanimous voting given themselves the power of veto. Any member of the league assembly whose interest was concerned in the decisions out come also had the right to veto league action.[3]
Constitutional
The Covenant of the League of Nations did not outlaw war as such. The members of the League were not allowed to go to war under certain conditions. By the same token, they were not allowed to go to war in the absence of those conditions. Thus the preamble to the covenant stipulated “the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war until three months after the award by the arbitrators”. By virtue of Article 13, paragraph 4, the members agreed “that they will not resort to war against a member of the League which