LEAGUE OF NATIONS, INTRODUCTION, ACHIEVEMENT, CAUSES OF FAILURE.

The establishment of a global institution for handling the course of international relations and maintaining peace and harmony has been a unique development in human history. The idea of an International Organisation for averting war, maintaining peace and collective human betterment is found since ancient times in one or the other form. The term international organisation can be defined as collaborative efforts for attaining and implementing the agreed terms for collective security. On the ashes of World War 1, a positive step was taken with the establishment of the League of Nations. The establishment of the League of Nations received special impetus when President of USA Woodrow Wilson announced his momentous fourteen-point programme on 8th January 1918. A commission of nineteen members framed the covenant of the League of Nations. The covenant of the League of Nations appended to the Treaty of Versailles was signed by the German representative on 28th June 1919. After the end of the First World War in 1918, a fluid international system came into being, in which the League of Nations with its collective security system came into being. The League of Nations officially came into existence on 10 January 1920. There were two types of membership, Original members were those states, which were signatories to peace treaties and Non-original members were admitted under Article 1 by two-third majority. The main aims of the league were to maintain peace, and security, promote international cooperation, avoid war conditions and war, make International Law as supreme, and, promote amicable relations among states. The main aim of establishing the League of Nations was to secure peace for the European people. The League of Nations was not created to mitigate the suffering of subjugated people of the world or to give them freedom from colonialism. The main Organs were the Assembly, it was a supreme body, that meets once a year, to solve matters affecting peace, admit non-permanent members, also elects non-permanent members of the council, judges, supervise the work of the council, amend the covenant and meets annually. In the Assembly, each member was allowed to send three representatives, entitled to only one vote; meet once a year, elect President and Vice President, and elected Secretary-General. Any member can withdraw by giving two-year notice. In the course of time, 17 members withdraw from League. Japan withdrew in 1933 and Italy in December 1937. The Council was the executive organ, meets four times a year, and elected nonpermanent members, Germany and the Soviet Union became permanent members in 1926 and 1934 respectively and were expelled five later. By 1939 nonpermanent members rose to eleven and permanent members were reduced to Britain and France. The Secretariat was in Geneva. The Permanent Court of International Justice established in Hague in 1922, consists of 15 judges for nine years, it has advisory and judicial functions. The International Labour Organisation was established to improve labour conditions in Europe. The Technical Organisation was looking after the works of LN. Functions of League of Nations. 1. Peaceful settlement of international disputes and maintenance of peace. 2. Functions relating to mandates. 3. The protection of Minorities. 4. Administrative functions. 5. Non-political functions. The idea of the League of Nations to Enforce Peace was propounded by former US President Taft in 1915. Achievement The formation of LN was the first achievement of political leaders. League of Nations had achieved wonderful achievements in the non-political fields and tried its best to mitigate the suffering of European People. The various functions performed by the League of Nations were prevention and control of disease, economic reconstruction and cooperation, checking slavery and saving women and children from exploitation, rescuing prisoners of war, sending them to their homes, and taking care of refugees. The league spread the idea of international cooperation, which is now the supreme principle of the modern global system. The league solved many problems like the Island problem between Sweden and Finland, the Anglo-French dispute, the question of the nationality of persons born in Morocco and Tunis, the boundary dispute bet Turkey and Britain in Iraq in 1926, Bulgaria and Greece, Italy and Greece, the Bulgarian crisis, and the Corfu incidents on 23 August 1923 in which Italian military official were murdered on Greek soil and occupied the Island of Corfu. It also worked for prohibition of the illegal trafficking of poor women and drugs. The league looked after refugees, protecting children, worked for minorities, and tried to promote economic cooperation among countries. Causes of Failure of League of Nations. The main cause of the failure of the league was the lack of support of the majority of the population of the entire world, as it was not created for the protection of their interest. The league was created with an aim to consolidate victors and perpetuate their political and economic dominance in the international system. The victor trampled all norms of morality and spirituality. However, due to constitutional and structural defects and irrational policies, the League failed and could not achieve its aims of preventing aggression and promoting cooperation among European Nations. The league became a powerless body even smaller nations were flying into his face, failed to stop Japan who attacked Manchuria and left it and Italy who attacked Ethiopia in 1935. The league was not in a position to take action or impose sanctions. The league had no military force that could have controlled armament and arms race among European Nations. The European considered it a dishonourable daughter of a disgraced mother. The vanquished and dissatisfied nations hated and considered as a tool for carrying out the vision of the Treaty of Versailles and considered it an association of victors. They reluctantly cooperated with its working. Germany considered it as the grouping of the imperialist powers to preserve and promote their interest in the world. Russia regarded it as a form of imperialism assembled to thwart its new ideology. The absence of two major powers also weakened its performance. Britain and France were forced by the emerging circumstances to follow the policy of appeasement. Subjugated and destroyed nations like Germany and Italy propounded new theories, but the league has no power to deter them. Nations used it as tissue paper and easily discarded it after fulfilling their interest. The provisions of the covenant were irrational and burdensome, so it could not deal with the situation. Leagues strength reduced from 65 to 49. The France and USA followed such a policy, which realized other nations to save their existence. The victors who could not cope with the situation blamed Germany, Italy and Japan for the failure of the League. Instead of correcting their policies, they were busy expanding their territories in the world. The economic depression of the 30s led to economic rivalry among Europeans. The league did not play a role in preventing the Spanish Civil War. The powerful countries were more conscious of their own interest than working for the supremacy of the league. In reality, the League did not fail, but the members failed due to their myopic policies. In spite of many successes, the League of Nations collapsed and failed to save the succeeding generations from the scourge of war. All these factors shaped an uncertain environment in which the breakdown of the international system became inevitable. With such perception and attitude of its members toward the League of Nations, the league could not play its due role. These cumulative factors were responsible for the failure of the League. Thus, the League of Nations failed to accomplish its assigned role as an international Organisation for maintaining peace. However, the failure of the league was not regarded as a failure of the concept of an international organisation. It was regarded as the failure of leadership of that time who due to their myopic approach and policies did not cooperate with it. They gave priority to their narrow interest over the global human interest. These factors forced the world leader to have a new international organisation devoid of such defects. All these causes were responsible for the outbreak of World War 11. Even today, the world is rapidly moving towards a third world war only due to the presence of the above factors and the world is on the brink of a Third World War between antagonist ideologies. The UN like its predecessor is unable to persuade both superpowers to stop a war. The role of Islamic countries will play a crucial role in the future.