League Of Nations: Strength and Weakness

This is a short follow up on last week’s LN essay.

The League of Nations managed to end secret diplomacy and alliance to a large extent and also open up new international relations between states and the international organization. It promoted peace and international cooperation between states. Living conditions like health and education also improved.

However, there were major weaknesses in the league that caused its downfall. It can be classified into two categories, structural and non-structural.

For example, collective security was too idealistic as it was very difficult to get members to agree. Thus it impeded many peacekeeping efforts. It also lacked worldwide membership. This made carrying out sanctions difficult as non-member states did not need to adhere to the covenant. The absence of USA meant the loss of economic and political backing of a super power. Because of its close linkage with the much hated treaty of Versailles, it was seen as a victor’s club. Russia got isolated because it was a communist country. These caused the League its popularity. The lack of supra-natural powers meant that the league could not effectively influence states. The council also met too infrequently, causing decisions to be slow. A flaw in the covenant did not make contributing of troops for military sanctions compulsory. This meant that sanctions could not be carried out if States did not contribute.

However, there were non-structural weaknesses too. The Great depression made members busy with their own domestic issues and thus did not bother much about international issues. Many peacekeeping efforts were impeded because of the lack of funds. Due to the great depression, member states especially the permanent members pursued a policy of appeasement to keep their allies. This had allowed rogue states like Germany to break free and show aggression, which finally lead to World War II.

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