When the League Collapsed

The Failure of Collective Security

Sofia Nowak

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English

Vij Books
05 November 2025

20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Second World War; Warfare & defence; International law

Series: Echoes of War: The WWII

In the space where institutions vowed ""all for one,"" aggressors learned to move fast while committees talked. This book reveals how a system built on noble collective security promises collapsed under the weight of unanimity rules, imperial hierarchies, and economic fear. Through gripping case studies-from the Manchuria incident to the Abyssinia crisis and the Rhineland-it shows why rules without capability and will cannot keep the peace. If you care about international relations history and today's fragile order, this is the sharp, usable analysis you need.

- Understand why sanctions failed: what makes sanctions effectiveness real rather than performative

- See how credibility is built and broken, using a practical model of deterrence and credibility

- Learn the design flaws that turned legal commitments into paper shields-and how to fix them in modern institutions

- Trace the path from interwar missteps to the causes of World War II without clichés or hindsight bias

Written for policy readers, historians, journalists, and engaged citizens, it balances rigour with clarity. You'll come away with a mental toolkit for judging any proposed ""global solution"" who pays, who decides, and what happens when costs bite. From interwar diplomacy to present‐day crises, it offers field-tested principles for the design of global institutions that can act when it matters. If you want fewer surprises on tomorrow's map, start with the lessons Geneva couldn't learn.

By: Sofia Nowak
Imprint: Vij Books
Volume: 4
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 9mm
Weight: 218g
ISBN: 9789390349760
ISBN 10: 9390349761
Series: Echoes of War: The WWII
Pages: 156
Publication Date: 05 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sofia Nowak writes about the politics of peace-how institutions promise order and how power, money, and fear decide whether those promises hold. Raised between Warsaw and Brussels, she grew up with maps in the hallway and arguments about treaties at the dinner table, which seeded a lifelong preoccupation with what holds neighbours back from war. Her work moves between Geneva's paper trails and the lived choices of cabinets, drawing on international relations, economic history, and the psychology of decision-making. She favours clear language over slogans, design principles over nostalgia, and the belief that honest accounting of costs is a higher form of idealism. This book continues her project: to read the 1930s without melodrama and to recover hard lessons for the institutions we rely on today.