“The world may need another Grotius”: The break-up of law and politics during the circulation of draft constitutions for a League of Nations

Authors

  • Héctor Domínguez Benito Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.176.07

Keywords:

League of Nations, drafts, legalism, institutional evolution, collective security.

Abstract

The article questions some of the common assumptions found in political historiography regarding the establishment of the League of Nations, such as distinctions made between idealists and realists, and the exaggerated emphasis placed on the concept of collective security. The most relevant draft constitutions for such an international entity, circulated among the Anglo-American elites during World War I, are analyzed with a particular focus on how these memoranda were framed within what were considered to be two opposing perspectives. While the legal approach asserted that the rule of law is crucial for guaranteeing peace, the political approach sought to set up a system of mutual commitments that would evolve further in due course.

Issue

Section

ARTICLES