The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire

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"What happens to empires under international scrutiny? At the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919 Allied statesmen agreed to govern seized German and Ottoman territories under mandate from the newly-formed League of Nations. By professing their attachment to humanitarian norms and international law, they sought to undercut claims to self-determination and legitimize imperial rule. Yet, to their surprise, the very oversight mechanisms they created undermined their authority. As colonial nationalists, German revisionists, liberal humanitarians and African-American intellectuals sent petitions and representatives to Geneva, and as League inquiries and an international press exposed rebellions and scandals in territories under mandate, the imperial state lurched into crisis. [This book] offesr an entirely new interpretation of the role of internatuonal organizations in shaping the modern world order."--Back cover