Liberal Internationalism, the League of Nations Union, and the Mandates System

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of liberal internationalism in Great Britain following the First World War. Britain was an active participant in post-war international organizations, in part to maintain its status as an imperial power. This participation had both official and non-official support. The League of Nations Union (LNU), in particular, was a strong advocate of liberal internationalism, especially the mandates system that emerged from the peace settlement. The mandates system promised a more liberal relationship between European and colonial peoples in the form of trusteeship, yet conflicts over sovereignty between the mandatory powers, the League of Nations’ Permanent Mandates Commission in Geneva, and indigenous actors compromised the system’s effectiveness. The article sheds light on the early twentieth-century development of non-governmental interest groups, the increasingly important role of international organizations to domestic British politics, and the ongoing (re)construction of Britain’s national identities; and the emergence of the international community between the wars.