page_title: Collective security
section_title: League of Nations
hierarchical_section_title: Collective security / Theory / League of Nations
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs Zentralbild Das Münchner Abkommen vom 29.9.1938. Das am 29.9.1938 in München zwischen dem britischen Ministerpräsidenten Neville Chamberlain, dem französischen Ministerpräsidenten Edouard Daladier, dem italienischen Staatschef Benito Mussolini und Adolf Hitler geschlossene Abkommen ermächtigte das faschistische Deutschland zur Annexion tschechoslowakischen Gebietes. UBz: von links: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, und der italienische Außenminister Graf Galeazzo Ciano. Im Hintergrund v.l.n.r. Unbekannter (wahrscheinlich ein brite Diplomat), Fromageot, Ribbentrop, Weizsäcker, Leger alias Saint-John Perse. 12 766-38 [Scherl Bilderdienst] Abgebildete Personen: Neville Chamberlain, Premierminister, Großbritannien Graf Galeazzo Ciano, Außenminister, Italien (GND 119178362) Édouard Daladier, Ministerpräsident, Vorsitzender Sozialistische Partei, Frankreich Henri Fromageot, Diplomat, Frankreich Adolf Hitler, Reichskanzler, Deutschland Alexis Leger alias Saint-John Perse, Generalsekretär des Aussenministeriums, auch Dichter, Schriftsteller und Nobelpreisträger für Literatur, Frankreich Benito Mussolini, Ministerpräsident, Regierungschef, Chef des Faschistischen Großrates, Italien Joachim von Ribbentrop, deutscher Außenminister Freiherr Ernst von Weizsäcker, Diplomat, Staatssekretär im Auswärtigen Amt, SS-Führer, Deutschland Information added by Wikimedia users.Русский: После подписаний Мюнхенских соглашений 1938 года. Слева направо: Чемберлен, Даладье, Гитлер, Муссолини, Чиано.
context_page_description: Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, political, regional, or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and therefore commits to a collective response to threats to, and breaches to peace. Collective security is more ambitious than systems of alliance security or collective defense in that it seeks to encompass the totality of states within a region or indeed globally, and to address a wide range of possible threats. While collective security is an idea with a long history, its implementation in practice has proved problematic. Several prerequisites have to be met for it to have a chance of working. It is the theory or practice of states pledging to defend one another in order to deter aggression or to exterminate transgressor if international order has been breached.
context_section_description: After World War I, the first large-scale attempt to provide collective security in modern times was the establishment of the League of Nations in 1919 and 1920. The provisions of the League of Nations Covenant represented a weak system for decisionmaking and collective action. According to Palmer and Perking, they pointed failure of the United States to join the League of Nations and the rise of the Soviet Union outside the League as one of major reasons for its failure to enforce collective security. Moreover, an example of the failure of the League of Nations' collective security was the Manchurian Crisis, when Japan occupied part of China, both of which were League members. After the invasion, members of the League passed a resolution that called for Japan to withdraw or face severe penalties. Since every nation had a veto power, Japan promptly vetoed the resolution, severely limiting the League's ability to respond. After one year of deliberation, the League passed a resolution condemning the invasion without committing its members to any action against it. The Japanese replied by quitting the League.
  The Abyssinia Crisis occurred in 1935, when Fascist Italy invaded the Abyssinian Empire, now Ethiopia. In a similar process, sanctions were passed, but Italy would have vetoed any stronger resolution. Additionally, Britain and France sought to court Italy's government as a potential deterrent to Hitler since Mussolini had not yet joined the Axis powers of World War II. Thus, neither Britain nor France put any serious sanctions against the Italian government.
  In both cases, the absence of the United States deprived it of another major power that could have used economic leverage against either of the aggressor states. Inaction by the League subjected it to criticisms that it was weak and concerned more with European issues since most leading of its members were European, and it did not deter Hitler from his plans to dominate Europe. Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie continued to support collective security, as he assessed that impotence lay not in the principle but its covenantors' commitment to honor its tenets.
  One active and articulate exponent of collective security during the immediate prewar years was Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov. However, there are grounds for doubt about the depth of commitment to the principle for the Soviets to the Western powers.
  After the Munich Agreement in September 1938 and the passivity of outside powers in the face of German occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Western powers were shown not to be prepared to engage in collective security with the Soviet Union against aggression by Germany.
  Soviet foreign policy was revised, and Litvinov was replaced as foreign minister in early May 1939 to facilitate the negotiations that led to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, which was signed by Litvinov's successor, Vyacheslav Molotov, on August 23. The war in Europe broke out a week later with the invasion of Poland, which started on September 1. Thus, collective security may not always work because of the lack of commitment and the unwillingness of states or the international community to act in concert (Mingst 1999).
caption: In 1938, France betrayed Czechoslovakia and signed Munich Agreement, with Nazi Germany effectively dishonoring the French-Czechoslovak alliance.
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