COLLECTIVE SECURITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21879, 15 August 1934, Page 12

COLLECTIVE SECURITY

THE DESIRE FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE The theory of collective security as a means of establishing international peace was discussed recently at the International Studies Conference in Paris, and a report on the debate has Been forwarded to the New Zealand branch of the Institute of Pacific Relations by its research secretary, Professor W. N. Benson, who was its representative at the conference. The delegates, mainly experts in history and international law, represented 12 different countries, while memoranda wer<> forwarded from other sources. The British contribution was that "Although international society had shown itself to be willing, on paper, to adopt some policy of organising and using force collectively, it had no clear idea of what such a policy would mean in practico." The Italian memorandum, according to Professor Benson, was the most frank, breezy, original and valuable contribution to the discussion. It stated that all discussions of collective security that had as an object the maintenance by military international co-operation of the present international status were contrary to human nature. They involved military action for other ends than the natural ono of supporting the national existence. Nations were not static but were in process of evolution.

What was required -was the readjustment of international status by peaceable means, together with variation in the relative power and needs of the nations concerned. Sanctions involving a recourse to force in the case of any disputo really made universal a conflict which should be confined to limits as narrow as possible. Other nations suggested the compulsory arbitration of international disputes; treaty revision by an appropriate tribunal; the prohibition of international rights of belligerents; and declarations tinder international or treaty law. Professor Benson said the Italian thesis was an effort to find a way by which a growing nation's desiro for increased national resources could be met by peaceful agreement. It had impressed the Japanese delegates to a marked extent.