Goldstein Keynote Explores League of Nations and Global Peacekeeping
On November 3, 2022, Erik Goldstein, Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, delivered the keynote lecture at an international conference held in Prague, Czech Republic titled “The League of Nations: The First Global Peacekeeping Organization in the Changing World – Reflections and Interdependencies.”
Organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Charles University, and the University of Vienna, this conference brought together academics and practitioners from over 15 countries to consider in historical depth the challenges and lessons of peacekeeping efforts in a changing world.
In his keynote address, titled “Britain’s Dual Diplomacy: advantages and disadvantages of the League of Nations,” Goldstein discussed how throughout the two decades of the League of Nations’ active existence, Britain – one of the chief architects of the League and provider of its first Secretary-General – followed a dual-track diplomacy. On the one hand, it actively engaged with the League and its many sub-organs, while on the other hand it frequently made use of Great Power conferences (e.g. Washington 1921–1922 to Munich 1938). As the one truly global power during these years, he explained the nature of Britain’s use or non-use of the League of Nations and the impact this had on international relations.
The full program for the conference can be viewed online.
Erik Goldstein’s research interests include diplomacy, formulation of national diplomatic strategies, the origins and resolution of armed conflict, and negotiation. He is the author of Winning the Peace: British Diplomatic Strategy, Peace Planning, and the Paris Peace Conference, 1916-1920 (1991); Wars and Peace Treaties (1992); and The First World War’s Peace Settlements: International Relations, 1918 – 1925 (2002, Italian translation, 2004). To learn more about Erik, read his faculty profile.