Hoorcollege History of International

Relations
8 December
2009

⋆International cooperation

Vienna 1815: Concert of Europe/Congress System

 Balance of power and some sort of understanding among Great Powers
Bob Reinalda, Routledge History of International Organizations (2009) p25.

League of Nations
Principles: Self-determination
Open diplomacy
New machinery: Permanent body
Mandates

United States, Soviet Union and Germany did not join in 1919
US: isolationism
SU: communism
Germany: lost WWI

Minor conflicts solved:

Island dispute between Sweden and Finland
Territorial dispute between Germany and Poland
 League of Nations was only capable of solving minor conflicts
between minor nations

International “invention”:
Manchuria conflict – Japanese invasion of China (1931)
Italy invasion of Ethiopia (1935)
 League of Nations condemned the invasions, but took no
effective action

Resignation of members:
Japan left the organization in 1933, Italy in 1937
Germany (who became a member in 1926) withdrawed in 1933
Soviet Union (member since 1934) was expelled in 1939

United Nations
1945: Atlantic Charter signed in San Francisco by 51 member states
New machinery: Security Council with veto power for the 5
General Assembly
Issues in AC: Access to raw materials for all members
Abandonment of use of force
 Disarmament of powerful nations
International cooperation

United Nations during the Cold War

China – Taiwan issue
Expansion from 51 to 192 member states
General Assembly became forum for debate
Declaration on human rights (1948)
Focus on political and civil rights (protection from arbitrary arrests,
imprisonment…)

International intervention:
Mediation by Secretary-General
Peacekeeping missions (began with Suez Crisis)
✔ Korean War (1950-1953) (condemded attack by North Korea, but only
because the SU was temporarily expelled)
✔ Gulf War (1990-1991)
 Encouraged by US to take measures
 Show the world how the UN could
function, how it was successfully
structured

Dissolution of Yugoslavia:
1989: Yugoslavia
1991: Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia separated
1992: Bosnia-Herzegovina separated
1995: War in Bosnia ends
1999: Kosovo crisis
2006: Montenegro separated
2008: Kosovo declared independence

War in Bosnia
• Mediation and sanctions
• Peacekeeping missions in Croatia and Bosnia
➢ Lightly armed, not allowed to intervene on
their own, unless they were shot at
• American pressure ( Dayton agreement in
1996, supervision by UN, NATO and EU missions)

Kosovo crisis
• Separatism of Albanians
• ‘Ethnic cleansing’ by Serbia ( NATO
intervention in 1999, causing the resignation of
Milosovic)
• Kosovo became a UN protectorate, with NATO
and EU peacekeeping missions
• Proclaimed itself independent in 2008
A new role for the EU?
Pressure to develop a common foreign and defense policy in the 1990s

Widening and deepening

✔ Internal market and common currency as final pieces of
European economic integration
✔ Apart from foreign policy more cooperation in other fields (border
control e.g.)
✔ Enlargement process started with 10 new members in 2004
✔ Limited internal reform
✔ EU president Herman van Rompuy (2009)

European integration
Earlier attempts: Benelux customs union (only 3 members)
Office for European Economic Cooperation
✔ planning Marshall aid
Council of Europe
✔ Humanitarian issues
✔ Cultural issues
✔ Social issues

1952: European Coal and Steel Community

1957: Treaty of Rome (European Economic Community/Euratom)
1967: merger of the 3 into European Community)
1992: European Union
…

History of international relations

✔ Overview of major developments from 1648 to the 21st century; focus on
development of modern state system and great power rivalries
✔ Understanding of long-term historical processes and moments of change
 Nationalism
 Imperialism
 Globalization
 International organizations
✔ Impact of historical context in general
✔ The danger of finalism