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Transgovernmental processes in the League of Nations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 May 2009
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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References
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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83. LoN, , “The Development of International Co-operation in Economic and Social Affairs, Report of the Special Committee,” Document A.23. 1939Google Scholar.
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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.
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