The League of Nations and the new uses of sovereignty

This chapter argues that the League of Nations, claiming to be the first universal world organisation, had a decisive and enduring impact on the conceptualisation and practices of the malleable yet timeless concept of state sovereignty. These concepts and practices, in turn, played an instrumental role in shaping the international order. While many historians have emphasised the supposedly globalised and shared sovereignty managed by the League, given the emergence of numerous transnational actors, nodes and networks around it, this chapter demonstrates the ongoing significance of the sovereign state concept and the recognition or dispute of sovereignty within the intergovernmental organisation’s operations. It does so through an analysis of recent research findings from various disciplines. The chapter shows that rather than limiting the model of the sovereign nation-state, the League standardised, strengthened, expanded and globalised it. The League became a tool through which certain claims for sovereignty were deemed legitimate while others were not, leading to the recognition of some entities as sovereign and the denial of sovereignty to others. Moreover, League interventions compelled states to defend their domestic sovereignty, thereby expanding, strengthening or refining their own roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, in some cases, national governments sought to utilise the League and its internationalist instruments to bolster their sovereignty.