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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 21, 2020 at 10:05:27 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Diplo]: Almada e Santos on Ikonomou and > Gram-Skjoldager, 'The League of Nations: Perspectives from the Present' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Haakon Ikonomou, Karen Gram-Skjoldager, eds. The League of Nations: > Perspectives from the Present. Aarhus Aarhus University Press, > 2019. Illustrations. 283 pp. $40.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-87-7184-620-1. > > Reviewed by Aurora Almada e Santos (Instituto de História > Contemporânea da Universidade Nova de Lisboa) > Published on H-Diplo (March, 2020) > Commissioned by Seth Offenbach > > Undoubtedly, when studying the past we are influenced by existing > intellectual concerns, not least because our mental framework is > shaped by our time. Haakon A. Ikonomou and Karen Gram-Skjoldager > acknowledge such an assumption by adding the subtitle Perspectives > from the Present to their edited volume, The League of Nations. In > their words, the book intends to establish connections between > research on the league and current political and cultural debates and > concerns. In addition, the publication aims to present new research > topics and approaches on the League of Nations, to set an agenda for > future scholarship on the organization. > > Comprising an introduction, three parts (each with an introduction), > twenty-one chapters, and a concluding essay, the book provides great > insights into the League of Nations. It deserves careful attention > from readers since it builds on the ongoing trend to approach the > organization as a renewed field of study. As stated in the > introduction, increasingly the League of Nations has been revisited > as a laboratory of early global governance, tracing its legacies to > the present. The book adds another contribution to such scholarship, > surpassing the binary failure versus success that for a long time > prevailed in the studies referring to the organization. > > Furthermore, the publication assembles a range of scholars from > different geographies. The authors are professors, lecturers, > postdoctoral researchers, and PhD students, affiliated with > institutions in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, > Australia, and the United Kingdom. Working in the fields of history, > political science, transcultural studies, and Jewish studies, a > number of them have been focusing on international organizations and > the League of Nations for a while. By placing precedence on the value > of the League of Nations for the contemporary world, many of these > scholars are likely to continue in the future to shape the > scholarship on the complex history and legacies of the organization. > > Equally relevant, the book is remarkable for bringing together > subjects reflecting the extent to which scholarly writing on > international organizations has been evolving. Rather than focusing > on security issues or great power politics, the chapters place > precedence on the league's inner workings, its civil servants, and > such topics as gender, internationalism, empire, and neoliberalism. > The book broadens the debate on the league, with some chapters > looking at the interplay between international and national > dimensions in the interwar period. In a parallel manner, it restores > agency to individual players, highlighting the personal trajectories > of bureaucrats and activists like Eric Colban, Thanassis Aghnides, > and Israel Zangwill. > > Other than these aspects, the book deserves our attention for the use > of primary sources and visual materials. The League of Nations > Archives in Geneva provided the foundation for most of the chapters > as can be seen in the endnotes. In addition, several chapters draw > from other sources, gathered in the International Labour Organization > archives, in national archives of Belgium and Denmark, and in public > and private institutions in the United States. All chapters reproduce > visual materials, whether they are photos, charts, tables, > newspapers, posters, cartoons, etc. These materials, complemented > with detailed captions, are valuable sources to understand the League > of Nations. > > What do we stand to learn from this book? And what does this > publication offer in terms of the wide scope of the league's > activities? In explaining the League of Nations' history, the book > forwards many interlocking arguments. When taken together, all > chapters perceive the League of Nations as a diverse and complex > institution. This thesis comes into focus in particular in the > chapters of Marco Moraes and Myriam Piguet documenting tensions and > conflicting ideologies within the organization, as well as > contradictions between its principles and practices. Besides avoiding > a monolithic interpretation, the book tends to approach the league as > a norm-setting institution, engaged in the codification of > international norms. Insights on such a perspective can be found in > Florian Wagner's study on how the organization helped to legitimize > colonialism. Likewise, Tomoko Akami suggests a similar reading, > underlining the contributions of the league's experts for the > organization's role in shaping global governing norms. > > Drawing on personal experiences or the interplay between national and > international levels, in several chapters the characterization of the > League of Nations is linked to how significant the organization was > for connecting ideas across the globe and for promoting transnational > networks and forms of collaboration. In this sense, Laura Almagor > looks at the organization as a microcosm to understand the > intersection between nationalism, Jewish history, and > politico-religious thought. Søren Friis explores a different angle, > analyzing the participation of the Danish Institute of Economics and > History at the International Studies Conference, organized by the > International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation founded under the > League of Nations to promote collaboration among scholars and > experts. Hagen Schulz-Forberg, while stressing the league's networks > of expertise and knowledge making, reaches the conclusion that the > organization was the institutional setup within which concepts, like > liberalism, emerged. > > Similarly, the edited volume has a number of contributions portraying > the League of Nations as a source of knowledge production. Other than > Akami's abovementioned analysis on the league's experts, Quincy Cloet > addresses the degree to which the organization relied on inquiry > commissions as knowledge-producing bodies to curb international > problems. Although approaching the subject from the perspective of > the narratives fueled by the League of Nations on its own activities, > other chapters also shed light on the specificities of the > organization's knowledge production. On the one hand, Emil Eiby > Seidenfaden delves into how the organization used the discussions on > false news to spread knowledge about its work and promote public > legitimization. On the other hand, Helle Strandgaard Jensen, Nikolai > Schulz, and Seidenfaden offer a review of the use of the infomercial > _The League at Work_, produced in 1937, for self-promotion and > interaction with public opinion. > > Many texts in the volume recognize the League of Nations as an object > of cultural production, which is, as pointed out by one of the > authors, relatively uncharted territory. In line with such an > assumption, Benjamin Auberer gives the readers an overview of the > novels written about the organization and their shift from a positive > to a negative image of the League of Nations. Paul Reef uncovers the > perceptions and feelings regarding the league based on political > cartoons depicting criticisms of the organization. Finally, Marco > Ninno turns our attention to how the League of Nations inspired a > modernist architect, Le Corbusier, to take part in the competition > for the construction of the headquarters of the organization in > Geneva. > > Directly or in more general terms, the authors establish connections > among the League of Nations and the United Nations, insisting that, > notwithstanding the differences, one organization endured through the > other. Niels Brimnes goes as far as to compare and draw similarities > on decisions of both organizations on health issues, while Cloet > frames the League of Nations as the place where a set of > institutional practices inherited by the United Nations was born. > Ninno touches the subject slightly when addressing Le Corbusier's > participation in the competition for the construction of the Palais > des Nations and its presence among the team of architects charged > with the completion of the UN building in New York. Ultimately, > Torsten Kahlert's assessment of the liquidation and transfer of the > league's material assets and properties to the United Nations is the > one that best captures this dimension, concluding that no neat > distinction between the two organizations existed throughout the > process. > > In the end, the book offers a multitude of overlapping readings, > pointing out, as the concluding essay of Patrick Finney highlights, > the avenues through which the League of Nations will continue to > inspire further research. The overall tone of the book makes clear > that the historiography on the organization has a plurality of > approaches and is being shaped by the emergence of new intellectual > concerns. The book builds on the current historiography on the League > of Nations, establishing productive conversations with previous > publications and in some cases presenting alternative > interpretations. Two examples can illustrate the book's widening of > the historiography on the organization. The first example applies to > the league's mandate system studied in detail by Susan Pederson (_The > Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire_ [2015]), > whose conclusion that the Permanent Mandates Commission helped to > cast a negative light on colonialism is challenged. From the edited > volume, readers can learn another version of the facts, according to > which the commission did not intend to subvert but only to reform > colonialism. The second example refers to the transition of the > League of Nations to the United Nations. Although the book does not > diverge from Mark Mazower's conclusions on the origins of the United > Nations in _No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the > Ideological Origins of the United Nations_ [2009]), it introduces a > different perspective to understand the continuities among the > organizations. > > Even if the merits of the volume are undeniable, other topics could > have been explored in greater depth to strengthen the main arguments. > The wide range of non-state actors, which have been incorporated into > the study of international organizations, is almost entirely missing > from the book.[1] Through other publications we know, for instance, a > great deal of information about interactions between the Anti-Slavery > Society and the organization, but the picture is far from being > complete in the face of the number of non-state actors that > interacted with the League of Nations.[2] For many of them, there are > still no studies to elucidate to what extent they shared the league's > ideals and tried to take advantage of the organization to promote > change and help solve common international problems. The book also > ignores the actual impact of the League of Nations, especially of its > norms, on the daily lives of peoples. The parameters of inquiry could > have been expanded to assess whether the league's initiatives had > local effects and how local actors became involved in the > implementation of decisions originated from the organization.[3] > > On another level, the structure of the book could have been conceived > differently. The distribution of the chapters in the three parts is > not always clear. In two or three situations, the chapters could have > been placed in a different section of the book. Moreover, the > publication could also have been enriched with biographical notes of > the authors to help situate their contributions to the volume in the > context of their research interests.____ > > Notes > > [1]. For the interactions between international organizations and > non-state actors, see, for example, Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws, > eds., _The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations _(New York: Oxford > University Press, 2007). > > [2]. See, for example, Amalia Ribi Forclaz, _Humanitarian > Imperialism: __The Politics of Anti-Slavery Activism, 1880-1940 > _(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). > > [3]. On this issue, see Caroline Authaler, "Negotiating 'Social > Progress': German Planters, African Workers and Mandate > Administrators in the British Cameroons (1925-1939)," in _The League > of Nations' Work on Social Issues: Visions, Endeavours and > Experiments_, ed. Magaly Rodríguez García, Davide Rodogno, and Liat > Kozma (Geneva: United Nations, 2016), 47-56. > > Citation: Aurora Almada e Santos. Review of Ikonomou, Haakon; > Gram-Skjoldager, Karen, eds., _The League of Nations: Perspectives > from the Present_. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. March, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54781 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
