Wilson, Page Louise
(2007)
International politics of aggression: An historical analysis.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis examines the role played by the concept of aggression in international relations, in order to reveal fresh insight into the nature of international society. In the first chapter, the concept of aggression is located within its theoretical context, with particular reference to the writings of certain realists, liberals, and international society theorists. The following chapters then assess the significance of the concept of aggression in the practice of international relations from the early twentieth century period onwards. Thus, chapter two looks at the concept of aggression in the post-World War One Treaty of Versailles peace agreement, including its importance in the US Senate's decision not to ratify that agreement. Subsequently, chapter three examines aggression in the context of the policy-making and procedures of the League of Nations prior to World War Two. In the aftermath of this conflict, chapter four considers how the crime of aggression came to be the key charge laid against Nazi leaders at the International Military Tribunal held at Nuremberg from 1945-946, and chapter five goes on to look at the crime of aggression's role at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo from 1946-1948. The re-emergence of the concept of aggression in the Charter of the United Nations, and this organisation's long struggle to 'define' aggression for the purposes of international peace and security are the focus of chapter six. The work of various UN organs towards achieving these purposes, and the part played by the concept of aggression in this work, feature in chapter seven. In chapters eight and nine, attention is turned to efforts since Nuremberg and Tokyo to entrench aggression as an offence against international criminal law, most recently at the 1998 Rome Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. The final part of the thesis makes some concluding comments concerning the value and significance of the concept of aggression in international politics today.
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