Keefer, Scott Andrew
(2011)
Great Britain and naval arms control: international law and security 1898-1914.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis traces the British role in the evolution of international law prior to 1914,
utilizing naval arms control as a case study. In the thesis, I argue that the Foreign
Office adopted a pragmatic approach towards international law, emphasizing what
was possible within the existing system of law rather than attempting to create
radically new and powerful international institutions. The thesis challenges standard
perceptions of the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 which interpreted
these gatherings as unrealistic efforts at general disarmament through world
government, positing instead that legalized arms control provided a realistic means of
limiting armaments.
This thesis explores how a great power employed treaties to complement maritime
security strategies. A powerful world government was not advocated and was
unnecessary for the management of naval arms control. While law could not
guarantee state compliance, the framework of the international legal system provided
a buffer, increasing predictability in interstate relations. This thesis begins with an
account of how international law functioned in the nineteenth century, and how states
employed international law in limiting armaments. With this framework, a legal
analysis is provided for exploring the negotiations at the Hague Conferences of 1899
and 1907, and in the subsequent Anglo-German naval arms race.
What emerges is how international law functioned by setting expectations for future
behaviour, while raising the political cost of violations. Naval arms control provided
a unique opportunity for legal regulation, as the lengthy building time and easily
verifiable construction enabled inspections by naval attachés, a traditional diplomatic
practice. Existing practices of international law provided a workable method of
managing arms competition, without the necessity for unworkable projects of world
government. Thus failure to resolve the arms race before 1914 must be attributed to
other causes besides the lack of legal precedents.
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