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Transgovernmental processes in the League of Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Martin David Dubin
Martin David Dubin
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the International Relations minor at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.
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Abstract

International relations specialists who have been examining transgovernmental processes in the contemporary international system may be surprised to learn that at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 conscious efforts were made to organize the League of Nations along transgovernmental lines. Key British and French officials, most notably Sir James Arthur Salter and Jean Monnet, supported by Americans involved in implementing the Covenant, hoped to employ both the Secretariat and the organs designed for functionally specific cooperation to bring officials of national social and economic ministries into direct contact with one another, without the intermediation of their respective foreign ministries. While these officials only partially realized their objectives, sections of the League's Secretariat, an elaborate system of expert committees, and the League of Nations Assembly did provide transgovernmental linkages during the interwar period.

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Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , Summer 1983 , pp. 469 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1983

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References

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13. Hankey, , “The League of Nations, Sketch Plan of Organisation,” 31 03 1919Google Scholar, LNA29/ 266/255.

14. Salter, J. A., “Note on Organisation of League of Nations,” 10 05 1919Google Scholar, LNA25/263/111, and SirSalter, Arthur, The United States of Europe (London: Allen & Unwin, 1933), pp. 3–31Google Scholar.

15. Salter, , Memoirs of a Public Servant (London: Faber & Faber, 1961), pp. 73ffGoogle Scholar; Slave of the Lamp, a Public Servant's Notebook (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967), pp. 59ffGoogle Scholar; and Allied Shipping Control. An Experiment in International Administration (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921)Google Scholar.

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17. Salter's consistency is reflected in his 1920 lecture, “Some Problems of International Administration,” in Society of Civil Servants, The Development of the Civil Service: Lectures Delivered before the Society… 1920–21 (London: The Society, 1922), pp. 214–27Google Scholar, observations in Allied Shipping Control, pp. 243ff, and his 1924 lecture, “Economic Conflicts as the Cause of War,” in SirChirol, Valentine et al. , The Reawakening of the Orient and Other Addresses (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925), pp. 143–60Google Scholar, esp. pp. 156–60. See also his 1945 remarks regarding postwar international organization: “No longer could we have distinct nations with contacts only at the ‘top’ or Foreign Office level; it is necessary to ‘mesh in’ the life of various countries at all stages,” and “[i]t was not possible to jump straight from national individualism to denationalised officialdom; something intermediate was needed.” Salter, , “Concluding Remarks by the Chairman, Conference on International Administration,” Public Administration 23 (Spring 1945), p. 2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18. Much of what follows comes from the Cecil diary, from Miller, David Hunter, My Diary at the Peace Conference (New York: privately printed, 1924), vols. 1Google Scholar and 9, and from the diaries of Edward M. House (hereafter cited as House diary) and Gordon Auchincloss (cited as Auchincloss diary) located respectively in the Edward M. House and Gordon Auchincloss Papers at Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

19. “Organization of the Secretariat of the League of Nations,” 20 May 1919, LNA29/301/ 225.

20. Monnet's memorandum, dated 27 May 1919, is in Miller, , My Diary, 9:447–53Google Scholar. A slightly different version, dated 31 May 1919, is in LNA29/260/255.

21. Butler, J. R. M., “Organisation of the League of Nations, Its Functions and the Responsibility of Its Officials,” 30 05 1919Google Scholar, LNA25/111/256.

22. Drummond's memorandum is in FO 608/242, in the papers of the British Foreign Office, Public Record Office, (hereafter cited as PRO), Kew, England.

23. Cecil diary, 4 June 1919; and Auchincloss diary, 4 and 5 June 1919.

24. Cecil diary, 4 June 1919.

25. Auchincloss diary, 4 and 5 June 1919.

26. LNA29/1018/38.

27. LNA29/115/38; House diary, 9 June 1919; and Auchincloss diary, 9 June 1919. Auchincloss noted regarding the Belgian who objected: “He wished to maintain the instrumentality of the Foreign Office which we are bent on destroying.” Months later, Shepardson would say “It cannot be expected, however, that the present conception of the Secretariat will be so easily accepted: for, since it is intended that this body shall be the clearing house of every sort of information upon which such an alternative understanding depends, its such as must be commensurate with the decline of Foreign Offices; or at least commensurate with the resignation by Foreign Offices of a certain amount of control which they have hitherto exercized over every conceivable item of international concern which has its origin in their own countries. There is, therefore, a conflict between Foreign Offices and the Secretariat, between the old nationalistic conception of the manipulation of foreign affairs in secret and the new convenanted hope that foreign matters may be largely aired through the medium of an international Secretariat, on the principle of open crises openly arrived at.” Shepardson, W., “The Present Situation in the Secretariat of the League,” 9 10 1919Google Scholar, Raymond B. Fosdick Papers, Seeley G. Mudd Library, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. These views, by implication shared by House, were not universally held in Washington. Whether Woodrow Wilson was even aware of the issue is unknown. However, Breckinridge Long, third assistant U.S. secretary of state, thought that all communications should pass through the U.S. Department of State: Long, , “Memorandum on the Administrative Position of the State Department in Connection with a League of Nations,” 18 07 1919Google Scholar, copy in House Papers.

28. House diary, 22 June 1919; and Auchincloss diary, 23 June 1919.

29. LNA29/1081/38. The revised text was referred to in an early draft agenda of the Council but apparently was not discussed by the Council: LoN, Council Documents 8 and 10.

30. Commenting upon this compromise, J. R. M. Butler again asserted that it was unnecessary for all communications to pass through national representatives: Butler memorandum, 10 June 1919, LNA29/262/255. “Most of the correspondence will be technical, and [sic] National Representative cannot possibly keep in touch with all negotiations. To attempt to do so would mean a large staff at Geneva duplicating-without responsibility-the work of national ministries.” Also: “Only political papers, and especially important papers on other subjects, would need, I should have thought, to be communicated to the Nation Representatives. Others would go direct from the sections of the Secretariat to the corresponding National Ministries.”

31. Monnet, J., “Note for Mr. Tardieu, Organization of ‘The Machinery’ of the League of Nations,” 23 07 1919Google Scholar, copy in Auchincloss Papers.

32. Shepardson, W., “National Liaison with the League of Nations,” 14 08 1919Google Scholar; and Salter, J. A., “Method of Communication From and To National Governments Through the Medium of the League Secretariat,” 22 09 1919Google Scholar, copies in Auchincloss Papers.

33. Copy E. Drummond to Sir M. P. A. Hankey, 6 October 1919, copy in Fosdick Papers.

34. Hankey, M. P. A., “League of Nations. British Organisation. Note by the Secretary,” 17 10 1919Google Scholar, G.T. 8369, CAB 14/90, PRO; and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, “Communication Between the League of Nations and His Majesty's Government,” 1 11 1919Google Scholar, C.P. 44, CAB 24/92, PRO.

35. “Conclusions of a Conference held at 10 Downing Street, S.W. on Monday, 10th. November 1919, at 12.30 p.m.,” CAB 23/18, PRO.

36. “Minutes of a Meeting held in the Secretary General's Room, on Wednesday, 12th November 1919, at 3.30 p.m.,” LNA40/2006/854.

37. See, for example, LNA20/6, 28, 30/52.

38. LNA20/31/34.

39. The beginnings of the ILO can be traced in Shotwell, James T., The Origins of the International Labor Organization, 2 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934)Google Scholar; International Labour Office, Official Bulletin 1 (04 1919–08 1920) (Geneva, 1923)Google Scholar; and Phelan, E. J., Yes and Albert Thomas (London: Cresset Press, 1936)Google Scholar.

40. Thomas and Drummond agreed to share publicity, legal, and interpretation and translation services. See LNA15/2471/245 and LNA15/ /2858. Fora report on the internal dynamics of the ILO, see H. Gilchrist to R. Fosdick, 20 January 1920, Fosdick Papers.

41. International Labor Office–Secretariat relations can be traced in LNA15/ /2858. See especially A. Thomas to E. Drummond, 25 June and 20 July 1920; E. Drummond to A. Thomas, 5, 7, and 24 July 1920; and Phelan, , Yes and Albert Thomas, pp. 71ffGoogle Scholar and 106–7.

42. Major constitutional links between the ILO and the League would remain. SeeInternational Labour Office, The International Labour Organisation, The First Decade (London and New York: [1931]), pp. 65–67Google Scholar, and Behrens, E. Beddington, The International Labour Office (League of Nations): A Survey of Certain Problems of International Administration (London: Parsons, 1924)Google Scholar.

43. Drummond, in 06 1919 believed a “Permanent Education Office should be formed on much the same lines as the International Labour Office, a liaison section being attached to the Secretariat of the League.”Google Scholar E.D. Minute, 12 June 1919, attached to H. A. L. Fisher to Lord Robert Cecil, 10 April 1919, unnumbered document in LNA 12/ /114.

44. Telegram H. Gilchrist to R. Fosdick, 17 December 1919, and H. Gilchrist to R. Fosdick, 18 and 22 December 1919, Fosdick Papers. Drummond did not expect the proposed transit organization to have such autonomy, although his views on the complex of organizations tended in the direction described: “Minutes of a Meeting held in the Secretary-General's Room on Wednesday, 17th December, 1919, at 4 o'clock, p.m.,” LNA40/2495/854. In fact, the only technical organization to acquire a semi-autonomous status would be the League's Communications and Transit Organization; see Ranshofen-Wertheimer, Egon F., The International Secretariat: A Great Experiment in International Administration (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment, 1945), p. 118Google Scholar; and SirMance, Osborne, Frontiers, Peace Treaties, and International Organization (London: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp. 59ffGoogle Scholar.

45. P. J. Baker to Sir G. Newman, 6 May 1919, LNA12B/917/126.

46. E. Drummond Minute, 7 June 1919, LNA12B/270/126; and E. Drummond to W. Astor, 7 August 1919, LNA12B/644/126.

47. Those attending agreed but with stipulations: draft letter A. V. Symonds, 11 October 1919, LNA12B/1652/126.

48. LNA12B/126/126 and LNA12B/307/307. Minutes of the meeting held on 29 and 30 July 1919 are in LNA12B/681/126.

49. “Minutes of a Meeting Held in the Secretary General's Room, on Wednesday, September 10th, at 3.30 p.m.,” LNA40/1114/854. Crowdy's sixth draft is dated 12 December 1919, LNA12B/244/126.

50. LoN, Council Document 11.

51. The texts of these conventions can be found in “The Proposed League of Nations Conventions on Transit and Communications,” Memorandum of the President of the Board of Trade, C.P. 2004, CAB24/114, PRO.

52. G. Auchincloss to E. Drummond, 21 June 1919, and E. Drummond to G. Auchincloss, 25 June 1919, Auchincloss Papers. Haas joined the Secretariat on 9 December 1919 (LNA, “Public Summary of Personnel Files”).

53. LoN, , Procès-Verbal of the Fourth Meeting of the Second Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in London…12th February, 1920, at 4 p.m., LNA20/29/5, pp. 2–3Google Scholar and Annex 10, pp. 12–15.

54. See notes 14 and 32 above.

55. LNA 10/243/243. Some of Salter's memoranda are in the Dwight Morrow Papers, Amherst College, Amherst, Mass. His account of his departure from the Secretariat appears in Salter, , Memoirs, pp. 152–53Google Scholar.

56. LoN, , Procès- Verbal of the First Meeting of the Council of the League of Nations Held in Paris… Friday, 16th January, 1920, at 10.30 a.m., LNA20/29/1, pp. 4–5Google Scholar.

57. LoN, , Procès-Verbal of the Third Meeting of the Second Session of the Council of the League of the Nations Held in London… 12th February, 1920, at 10.30 a.m., LNA20/29/4, pp. 4–7Google Scholar and Annexes 6, 7, and 8, pp. 18–23; and Verbatim Record of the Fifth Meeting of the Second Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in London… 13th February, 1920, at 12 Noon, LNA20/33/1, pp. 12–25.

58. LoN, Council Document 37.

59. Minutes of the conference are in LNA20/51/1–8, and its recommendations for an International Health Organization are printed as LoN, Council Document 47.

60. The Times (London), 16, 20, 30, and 31 January and 3 and 4 02 1920Google Scholar.

61. Ibid., 12 February 1920.

62. LoN, , Verbatim Report of the Sixth Meeting of the Second Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in London… 13th February, 1920, at 3.30 p.m., LNA20/33/2, pp.24–35Google Scholar.

63. For a summary of these meetings, see Toynbee, Arnold J., Survey of International Affairs, 1920–1923 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925), pp. 9–14Google Scholar.

64. Ibid., pp. 42–47.

65. LoN, , Procès-Verbal of the Fifth Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in Rome from 14th to 19th May, 1920, LNA20/29/11; Seventh Meeting (Private)… May 18, 1920, pp. 40–41Google Scholar and Annex 59, pp. 274–75.

66. Ibid., First Meeting (Private)… May 14, 1920; and Second Meeting (Private)… May 14, 1920, pp. 6–7, 16–17, and Annexes 39 and 39a, pp. 124–27.

67. Ibid., Eighth Meeting (Public)… May 19, 1920, pp. 44–45 and Annex 51, pp. 186–87.

68. LoN, , Procès-Verbal of the Eighth Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in San Sebastian, from July 30th to August 5th, 1920, LNA20/29/14; Third Meeting (Private) … August 2nd, 1920, pp. 16–19Google Scholar and Annexes 83 and 83a, pp. 104–17. See also LoN, “Recommendations of the International Health Conference, Memorandum by the Secretary General,” Council Document 57.

69. LNA20/4/211.

70. LoN, , Procès-Verbal of the Tenth Session of the Council of the League of Nations Held in Brussels. 20th October 1920–28th October 1920, LNA20/29/16; Sixth Meeting (Private)… October 25, 1920, pp. 28–31Google Scholar; Eleventh Meeting (Public)… October 27, 1920, pp. 56–57 and Annexes 120, 120a, and 120b, pp. 202–15.

71. Ibid.

72. LoN, , The Records of the First Assembly, Plenary Meeting (Meetings held from the 15th of November to the 18th of December 1920) (Geneva, 1920), pp. 323ffGoogle Scholar. The League's permanent “technical organizations” were not very easily established. The British, for instance, were greatly concerned about any independence in the proposed Economic and Financial Organization: Hankey, M. P. A., “The Economic Organisation of the League of Nations, Note for Mr. Balfour,” 15 10 1920Google Scholar, C.P. 1968, and Hankey, , “The League of Nations. The League and International Trusts,” 11 10 1920Google Scholar, C.P. 1950; both appear in CAB 24/112, PRO. On the eventual composition of the League's Economic and Financial Organization see Hill, Martin, The Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment, 1946), pp. 21–23Google Scholar. For the special status acquired by the Communications and Transit Organization, see the works by Ranshofen-Wertheimer and Mance cited in note 34 above. The International Health Organization took form only in 1923: “Scheme for the Permanent Health Organisation of the League of Nations,” LoN, , Official Journal, 4th year, no. 8 (08 1923), pp. 1050–1051Google Scholar.

73. Ghébali, Victor-Yves, “The League of Nations and Functionalism,” in Groom, A. J. R. and Taylor, Paul, eds., Functionalism: Theory and Practice in International Relations (London: Frances Pinter [1975]), pp. 141–61Google Scholar; and Martin David Dubin, “Toward the Bruce Committee Report: The Economic and Social Programs of the League of Nations in the Avenol Era” (publication pending).

74. Bailey, S. H., “Devolution in the Conduct of International Relations,” Economica no. 30 (11 1930), pp. 259–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Butler, H. B., “Some Problems of an International Civil Service,” Public Administration 10 (10 1932), pp. 376–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. p. 387.

75. See, for example, the remarks of Sir Austen Chamberlain attacking the cost of health expenditures at the League of Nations Council on 8 June 1925:LoN, , Official Journal, 6th Year, no. 7 (07 1925), pp. 855–56Google Scholar.

76. That the cross-purposive behavior did not reflect a simple lack of coordination can be seen in Young, C. Hilton, “Memorandum on the Seventh Assembly of the L.N. and particularly the Work of the 2nd and 4th Committees,” copy in Cecil Papers, Add. Mss. 51079, British MuseumGoogle Scholar.

77. Sir George Buchanan, “International Cooperation in Public Health, Its Achievements and Prospects, The Milroy Lecture (Delivered before the Royal College of Physicians of London on 27 February and 1 March 1934),” a pamphlet reprinted from The Lancet, 28 April and 5 and 12 May 1934; Boudreau, Frank G., “Health, Nutrition and Housing,” World Organization: A Balance Sheet of the First Great Experiment (Washington, D.C.: American Council on World Affairs, 1942), pp. 83–98Google Scholar; and Boudreau, , “International Health Work,” in Davis, H. E., ed., Pioneers in World Order: An American Appraisal of the League of Nations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1944), pp. 193–97Google Scholar.

78. Hostie, J., “Communications and Transit,” in World Organization, pp. 158–88Google Scholar.

79. Hill, , Economic and Financial Organization, pp. 57ffGoogle Scholar.

80. Ibid., pp. 72ff; Loveday, Alexander, “The Economic and Financial Activities of the League,” International Affairs 17 (11–12 1938), pp. 788–808Google Scholar.

81. Dubin, “Toward the Bruce Committee Report.”

82. Indeed, in 1935 an expert committee headed by Attolico and Salter, both of whom were no longer in the League's employ, proposed a reform of League committees with a view to linking more closely national technical ministries. The reform was carried out piecemeal during the late 1930s. Dubin, “Toward the Bruce Committee Report.”

83. LoN, , “The Development of International Co-operation in Economic and Social Affairs, Report of the Special Committee,” Document A.23. 1939Google Scholar.

84. Engle, “A Critical Study,” passim; Martin, , “History and Theory,” pp. 125ffGoogle Scholar; and Dubin, “Toward the Bruce Committee Report.” Among those in the intenvar years observant of the development of transgovernmental relations were Bernardo Attolico, Joseph Avenol, S. H. Bailey, Stanley Bruce, Harold Butler, G. D. H. Cole, H. R. G. Greaves, Norman Hill, Manley O. Hudson, Harold Laski, Alexander Loveday, Pittman Potter, William E. Rappard, Arthur Salter, Arthur Sweetser, Quincy Wright, Alfred E. Zimmern, and Konni Zilliacus (who wrote pseudonymously as “Howard Ellis”).

85. Mitrany, David, “The Making of the Functional Theory, a Memoir”" in The Functional Theory of Politics (London: Martin Robertson, 1975), p. 45Google Scholar.

86. Ibid., p. 18;Mitrany, David, “Pan-Europa-A Hope or a Danger?” Political Quarterly 1 (09 1930), pp. 457–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar, reprinted in part in Functional Theory of Politics, pp. 151ff.

87. See note 5 above.