Essay on International Relations

One of the common factors that possibly require every nations attention is the cooperation that results in peaceful coexistence globally. Therefore, peace stands out as a prerequisite recipe for growth and development of any country. From the historical perspective, attainment of tranquility has been difficult for humanity. We are not new to breaking news from mainstream media reporting wars or the social media bluffing equally with such messages. Such news keep on emanating across the globe, for instance, country A is at war with country B, people from race A is breathing feud with another ethnic group or people merely disagreeing over different ideas which escalate resulting in protracted animosity. The result of all these ideological differences is war, save for the current formation of bodies that ensures a given rules and laws is followed to prevent any occurrence of war.

Success and Failure of Internationalist Movement in the Early 20th Century

What happens today is precisely reminiscent of the early 20th century where the universe was a total mess. War was brew and people had to pay dearly with their lives. Examples are the world was that massacred millions of people. As much as the world seemed to have plunged into chaos, some people thought that establishing peace would save the world of the atrocities. They came together with bright ideas to form platforms that could restore order by outlining various restrictions as well as championing to bring people of diverse backgrounds on board. The quest for coming together resulted in the formations of several peacekeeping organs with the primary objective to restore peace by pointing out that togetherness fosters peace. It was during this era that the unanimous decision to for the league of nation was born

The urge of global cooperation dates back to early nineteenth century. In America for instance, isolationism was an established policy. The citizens of the America colonies realized that they could not live in isolation from the rest of the world. The realization of perceived isolation culminated into the formation of American Peace Society under the auspice of William Ladd as the director. However, the civil war in America, as well as other threats to peace, resulted into a conflict that marred the continent undermining the movement. Nonetheless, a the development the law in many nations kept alive the concept of cooperating globally. During this time, several societies emerged to promote the codification of rules to help encourage settling disputes through arbitration by a third party. These were not just mere ideas, but some leading citizens from various nations around the turn of 20th century seized the arbitration concept to guarantee a warless world. These activities substantially led to the evolution of the thought concerning the formation of international organizations in signing arbitration accords by different countries. These events led to the creation of the League of Nations in 1930.

Creation of the League of Nations

League of Nations was born because of disillusionment and destruction that arise from world war one; it had the ambitious apt to construct a peaceful global order. The organization was rooted in a comprehensive liberal critique of pre-war within the international system. One of the main ideas of the league was to root out the four fatal flaws of the old European states and carry out disarmament within the nations. Before the formation of the League of Nations, one of the approaches to the international political system was the Congress in which the European powers held an occasional summit to discuss urgent issues. However, the league started to fall when there was lack of commitment to observe the statutes. The failure and success of this body have been published in various forms with several historians giving different approaches mainly to explain the shortcomings. E. H Carr in his writings articulated some of the most striking reasons that perhaps led to the failure of League of Nations. He pointed out that upon searching the wealth of the numerous scholarships concerning the issues that led to the failure of this body, it was clearer that contrast could be observed between many academic opinions that were published in the interwar during the life of the League of Nations. Consequently, this article seeks to address the importance of the issue concerning how Carr was capable of seeing the failure of the league as well as its compatibility with the power structure that was governing the interwar year. The early American academics scholarships reflected that the political elite had many opinions over the league while dissecting the structure of the organization was closely monitored.

In Harriman writing in the year 1935, he exudes a lot of optimism to the future of the league. However, he articulated that there was administrative side of the league, which was imperfectly developed. In referencing the factor of the establishment of the international law for the first time, Harriman noted that all members of the league were bound to respect the law of the league. Respect to the laws of the League had replicated Roosevelts promise of the United and enfranchised ordinary tribunal. On the other hand, much analysis revealed that the inner working of the league developed different perspective emerges. It was factual that the court did not have a compulsory jurisdiction over other members of the League. Nonetheless, the high powers refused to submit the ratified mandatory jurisdictions. This was one of the significant indicators of the trouble, which presented an acute lack of central authority as well as the duty of enforcing the law of the league. The conclusion of Harriman concerning the league as noted by Carr was that the league would be one of the critical events in all history. His thought about the league was, however, the league would evolve naturally into an initial superstate by ironing all its problems according to the goal of the utopian word united in peace while too strong to fail.

Another approach according to Carr was the work of the potter. Potter wrote his work in 1932 in a more subdued and relaying optimism for the league; perhaps this was the passage of time and the increasing instability, which was occurring during this period. He articulated the problems as well as the need to reshape and to strengthen the league to aid joining of the United States. In his assertions, potter acknowledges that the organization had been less effective than it was mainly hoped. Instead, what was looming was the sharp difference, ineffective of the unions systems and uncertainties in the future times because the members had overstepped their mandates. The concluded by drawing attention to the almost valueless covenant and the immediate for the legislative strengthening of the body was to be implemented if its future was to be guaranteed.

E. H Carr, break the mound and published his determination and frustrations at the point near the outbreak of the Second World War. His confidence to the utopian was dispelled as hollow without substance. Carr outlined twenty years of crisis that attempted to place optimism in the League of Nations, which were fundamentally flawed. He started by labeling the post-war international idealism as a hasty utopian scheme that was based on pure aspirations without basis in political science. His quote the founders of the league of nations some of whom are men with political experience as well as political, understanding summed up all his contempt for the pioneers of the project. He labeled them with scorn, peculiar and a combination of platitude. He rested his arguments on the basis that 19th century the elite notion was somewhat outdated.

It is believed that the principles that in which the league was laid turned to be weak but not because the individual members were not committed, or lack of American membership but the organization failed adequately before it was born ideally. This would call for the world to understand this in reality outside the utopian fantasy. Carr asserts that nationalism became superior to the propaganda of the utopia with the inevitable result in the league being used as a tool for the national interest. In Carr analysis, it is essential to deduce that power cannot be divorced from the politics and that with the great domination of the authority; the league was bound to fail. Carr continues to give an insight into the failure of the league by attesting vehemently that there was no foundation within the context at which treaty signed is easily repudiated as soon as it is formed.

Bibliographies

Carr, Edward Hallett. "The twenty years' crisis, 1919-1939: an introduction to the study of international relations." (1946).

Cox, Robert W., and Timothy J. Sinclair. 1999. Approaches to world order. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Ellis, Charles Howard. 2003. The origin, structure & working of the League of Nations. Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange.

Hinsley, F. H. 1963. Power and the pursuit of peace: theory and practice in the history of relations between states. Cambridge [England]: University Press

Palen, Marc-William. "The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire, by Susan Pedersen." The English Historical Review (2017).