The Possibilities of Transnational Activism and its Limits

History of International Relations, Diplomacy and Intelligence, 2 (History of International Relations Library, 2) International non-governmental organisations and transnational activism are a prominent feature of contemporary world politics. This book sheds uniquely valuable historical light on these phenomena by providing an in-depth study of one of the most substantial international non-governmental campaigns ever to have been undertaken: the campaign for disarmament that took place between the two World Wars, which mobilised organisations that claimed a combined membership as high as half of the population of the world at the time. Based on extensive research into more than eighty governmental and non-governmental archives in five countries, this book forces us to reconsider our assumptions about the possibilities and limits of transnational civil society. Table of Contents PART I: PURPOSE AND METHOD 1. Transnational Activism: Untested Assertions 2. The Interwar Disarmament Campaign: A Test Case PART II: BACKGROUND TO THE DISARMAMENT CAMPAIGN 3. Roots, Precursors and Precedents 4. Composition PART III: EVOLUTION OF THE DISARMAMENT CAMPAIGN 5. The Emergence of the Interwar Disarmament Movement, 1919 to 1925 6. The Preparatory Commission and the Development of Disarmament Activism, 1926 to 1930 PART IV: THE WORLD DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE 7. Preparations for the World Disarmament Conference, 1931 8. The World Disarmament Conference: The First Six Months, February to July 1932 9. The International Consultative Group and the Collapse of the World Disarmament Conference, July 1932 to October 1933 PART V: ASSESSMENT - THE POSSIBILITIES OF TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISM 10. Impact of the Disarmament Campaign 11. Testing the Factors Affecting Impact 12. Summary of Conclusions APPENDICES I.The Principal Associations II.The Principal Activists III.Organisations that Participated in the Trocadéro Conference IV.Organisations that Participated in the Interorganization Council on Disarmament V.The Women's Disarmament Petition VI.The 'Budapest' Resolution BIBLIOGRAPHY About the Author Thomas Richard Davies is Lecturer in International Politics at City University, London, where he conducts research into transnational politics and history. He has also been a Research Fellow at St Antony's College and a Lecturer at St Catherine's and New Colleges in the University of Oxford. Dr Davies was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and his doctoral thesis was awarded the British International History Group Thesis Prize.