The League of Nations Decentred: Law, Crises and Legacies
Conveners: Luís Bogliolo, Kathryn Greenman, Anne Orford, and Ntina Tzouvala.
Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal (Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Almost a hundred years after the creation of the League of Nations, it is still commonly remembered as a failure in a period of chaos and disorder. Recently, however, a growing literature has begun a reappraisal of this historiography, looking at the role of the League of Nations beyond its frustrations and disillusionments in collective security. This new surge of critical studies has led to a more complex and multifaceted understanding of the League, exploring its legacies and impacts at a time of renewed economic crises and of deepening conflicting visions of international order. In the centenary of its foundation, we are taking this further by looking at the League of Nations with a view from the South. Our aim is to decentre the League and to explore competing visions of international order, law and institutions that resonate in our contemporary world.
This conference will bring together scholars working in law, history, international relations, and political theory to think critically about the League of Nations, law, institutions, practices, ideologies and technologies in relation to or with a view from the South. Paper proposals related to the conference theme are now invited. Possible topics for papers include:
The League of Nations and the regulation of international violence
Sovereignty, empires, and the shifting boundaries of international authority
Intervention (military, economic, political) in the context of the League
Anti-colonialism, the rise of transnational social movements (socialism, feminism, national liberation)
Competing internationalisms and visions of international order
The rise of fascism and Nazism
Petitioning, oversight, publicity and new arenas of international politics
Humanitarianism, humanitarian assistance and governance
Adjudication, arbitration, and the Permanent Court of International Justice
The relationship between the League of Nations and contemporary or succeeding international institutions
The Mandates system
Indigenous peoples and the League of Nations
Codification and the role of international law
Major crises of the League of Nations (eg Ethiopia, Manchuria)
Economic and social regulation and authority
Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be submitted to Dr Ntina Tzouvala (konstantina.tzouvala@unimelb.edu.au) by the 30th of November 2018.
