In this event hosted by the Centre for Grand Strategy in collaboration with the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War, Laura Robson and Joseph Maiolo introduce their latest book 'The League of Nations'

In their new Cambridge Element, Laura Robson and Joe Maiolo challenge histories of the League of Nations (1919-1946) that present it as a meaningful if flawed experiment in global governance. Such accounts fail to admit its overriding purpose: not to work towards international cooperation among equally sovereign states, but to claim control over the globe's resources, weapons, and populations for its main showrunners (including the United States) – and not through the gentle arts of persuasion and negotiation but through the direct and indirect use of force and the monopolisation of global military and economic power.

Between the two world wars, liberal internationalists framed the League’s innovations, from refugee aid to disarmament, as manifestations of its commitment to an obvious universal good and, often, as a series of technocratic, scientific solutions to the problems of global disorder. But its practices shored up the dominance of the western victors and preserved longstanding structures of international power and civilizational-racial hierarchy.

The launch of this re-evaluation of the League of Nations is an in-person only event and essential for anyone interested in international institutions, global order and the history of liberal internationalism and humanitarianism.

The book launch will begin with a presentation and discussion of the book by the authors and the moderator, and include Q&A from the audience. The discussion of the book will be followed by a drinks reception.

The book is Open Access and downloadable (after 20 February 2025) from this link. 

About the Speakers:

Laura Robson is Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University. She is a scholar of international and Middle Eastern history, with a special interest in questions of refugeedom, forced migration, and statelessness. She has published extensively on the topics of refugee and minority rights, forced migration, ethnic cleansing, and the emergence of international legal regimes around resettlement and asylum.

Joe Maiolo is Professor of International History, Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Historian of international politics specialising in the origins of great wars, arms races and intelligence in the twentieth century. He holds BA and MA degrees from the University of Toronto in history and philosophy. He completed his PhD in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1996. Before coming to King’s in September 2001, he held appointments at the universities of Leicester and Leeds.