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3 - The Shape of Things to Come

Aviation, the League of Nations, and the Transformation of World Order

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2021

Waqar H. Zaidi
Affiliation:
Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
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Summary

Chapter Three argues that British thinking on aviation and internationalization became radicalized in the early thirties, and remained so until the onset of the Second World War. By the start of the decade, scientific disarmament was no longer enough for internationalists. They now pushed for a more comprehensive aerial transformation of international relations. The 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference, and internationalist organizations such as the League of Nations Union and the New Commonwealth Society, emerged as sites for the discussion and propagation of these aerial visions. Arguments about the convertibility of civilian to military aviation were used to make the case for comprehensive international control of both military and civilian aviation. In the most radical proposals existing airlines and air forces were to be transferred to the League of Nations, which was to run them and use them to ensure international peace and security. By the mid-thirties, as the fascist threat loomed large, there emerged a more muscular internationalism willing to use bombing to bolster the fledgling League order. A central argument in this chapter is that these proposals were not simply a response to the rise of German aviation or fear of bombing but instead reflected a national enthusiasm for aviation, as well as British aerial and scientific might.

Type
Chapter
Information
Technological Internationalism and World Order
Aviation, Atomic Energy, and the Search for International Peace, 1920–1950
, pp. 74 - 106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • The Shape of Things to Come
  • Waqar H. Zaidi, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
  • Book: Technological Internationalism and World Order
  • Online publication: 25 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108872416.004
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  • The Shape of Things to Come
  • Waqar H. Zaidi, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
  • Book: Technological Internationalism and World Order
  • Online publication: 25 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108872416.004
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Shape of Things to Come
  • Waqar H. Zaidi, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
  • Book: Technological Internationalism and World Order
  • Online publication: 25 May 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108872416.004
Available formats
×