Abstract
MR. W. WATKIN DAVIES, in an article on “Justice in International Affairs” published in the Hibbert Journal, 31, No. 4, argues that justice in the international sphere, based on treaties and conventions, is not adequate, and the machinery which enforces it is likely to develop into the most abominable tyranny, if it is not supplemented by something else. In a world where changes occur in different countries at different times, it is folly on the part of statesmen to make peace settlements which they declare to be final, without at the same time providing for future prevention of political and economic grievances. Changed circumstances give rise to legitimate national aspirations. Mr. Davies gives examples from past and from contemporary history to show how changes in population render geographical boundaries unsatisfactory. Remedies other than acquisition of new territory, such as increased efficiency in production or colonisation, are of little avail at present because of the prevailing economic nationalism. There remains one way out: for nations sooner or later to take their fate in their own hands and break the law, by resorting to war. If economic and political hostility is to be avoided, flexibility must be introduced into our international system. An institution must be set up-it already exists in a very crude form in the League of Nations -the task of which will be to revise treaties from time to time, and to readjust national boundaries, redistribute economic resources, regulate migration in the interest of the world as a whole, and generally to reconsider every reasonable national aspiration. The way is indicated by Article XIX of the Covenant.
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Need for Flexibility in International Agreements. Nature 132, 816 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132816c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132816c0