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The Council of the League of Nations was one of the three constitutional organs of the League of Nations. Unlike the Assembly of the League, which had a seat for every member and met annually, the Council was smaller and met more frequently, consisting of the great powers as permanent members as well as a rotating set of middle powers. The Covenant of the League of Nations gave the Council the exclusive power to "recommend" military action (which was never used) as well as the exclusive power to expel a League member.
History
[edit]Only three permanent members (and no other nations) were required to join the League in order to formally bring the League into existence,[1] which occurred on 10 January 1920. As a result, the first handful of Council meetings took place when several founding members had not yet joined the League, and before the Assembly was able to meet for the first time on 15 November 1920. (Also as a result, the League was able to enter into existence even without the joining of one of the permanent members, the United States.)
Veto power
[edit]As the creators of the League were fearful of enroaching on sovereignty,[citation needed] almost all Council decisions were required to be unanimous (with a few exceptions listed in the Covenant). As a result, every member of the Council had its own veto, with a minimum of eight vetoes and a maximum of fifteen vetoes as the size of the Council expanded over time. The permanent members effectively had an absolute veto, while the non-permanent members had a veto that could only be overridden if the Assembly voted the members off the Council.
abstention/absent rule
Due to the presence of so many vetoes, the Council was paralyzed from taking preventive action in the event of a crisis involving any Council member.[2][3] Only after hostilities erupted could the Council publish non-binding recommendations[citation needed] todo
In particular, this has been credited with enabling the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy under Mussolini[citation needed]
Membership
[edit]Permament members
[edit]The permanent members were initially defined as the five drafters of the Treaty of Versailles, namely the United States, British Empire, France, Italy, and the Empire of Japan. However, the United States never joined the League, resulting in an initial body of four permanent members.
Non-permament members
[edit]Presidency
[edit]Initially, the role of President of the Council was elected by simple majority on a secret ballot.[4] In 1933, this was changed to rotate among all the Council members in French alphabetical order, once per session (four times a year).[5]
(A similar setup would eventually be used for the successor Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, which rotated among all the members in English alphabetical order every month.)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Yntema, Hessel E. “The Treaties with Germany and Compensation for War Damage.” Columbia Law Review, vol. 23, no. 6, 1923, pp. 511–27. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1111344. Accessed 14 July 2024.
- ^ "International Organization and World Peace--A Critique of the League of Nations Covenant". University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository.
- ^ Zimmern, Alfred. “The League’s Handling of the Italo-Abyssinian Dispute.” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931-1939), vol. 14, no. 6, 1935, pp. 751–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2601908. Accessed 28 July 2024.
- ^ "Revision of the Rules of Procedure of the Council of the League of Nations". UN Archives Geneva.
- ^ "Draft Rules of Procedure of the Council". UN Archives Geneva.