The Balance-Sheet of the League Experiment

Abstract

International Organization, no longer the exclusive preserve of dreamers and idealists, is now, for better or for worse, one of the palpable realities of world politics. Whether we choose to consider it our best hope or a snare and a delusion or something in between, we are compelled to reckon with its effects, one of which is the foreseeable cost of non-participation in it. Its characteristic features – public debate, parliamentary procedures and resolution, majorities and voting blocs – all have become instruments of undeniable and indeed often painful efficacy in international relations. A review conference for the purpose of evaluating the experience of the first ten years of Charter operations is scheduled for 1955. Meanwhile, institutional developments within the framework of the Charter occur constantly, and call for policy decisions based on a profound understanding of how this or that change is likely to affect the international scene. In this situation, the publication of the first comprehensive history of the League of Nations must be considered a significant event.