Franklin D.Roosevelt And Collective Security

After World War I,on the initiative of Woodrow Wilson,the international community established the first collective security system in history-the League of Nations.Under the influence of Wilson,Franklin D.Roosevelt became a staunch supporter of the League of Nations.Unfortunately,however,Covenant of the League of Nations failed to pass in the Senate and America did not join the League of Nations in the end.As a result,after Wilson left the world with regret,Roosevelt carried on his unfinished lifework.This paper consists of three chapters.Chapter One mainly discusses the changing attitudes of Roosevelt towards the League of Nations.To involve America into the League of Nations,Roosevelt has not only played an active role in defending for the League of Nations and trying to dispel isolationists' misgivings,but also attempted to persuade internationalists to accept the revised covenant.After Roosevelt was elected as president of America,he made positive efforts to cooperate with the League of Nations and bring America into the League of Nations,but he failed finally.The disorder and weakness of League of Nations in handling disputes led to discontent of Roosevelt,and its failure made Roosevelt recognize that the principle of unanimity was not applicable for collective security system.In Chapter Two,the process of constructing collective security system by Roosevelt is elaborated.In view of the failure of League of Nations,Roosevelt had an idea of involving America,British,China and the Soviet Union as the world police.Different from the regionalism of Churchill,Roosevelt thought that the post-war international institution should be completely new.To win the support of British and the Soviet Union in this matter,Roosevelt made compromise in issues like trusting colonies,political power composition in Poland,membership qualification and veto right.Roosevelt has also actively involved China into the collective security system by successfully persuading the Soviet Union and British to regard China as the police of East Asia after the war.Chapter Three discussed the relationship between American support for China during the war and involving China into the collective security system after the war.To reopen the Burma Road,China and America jointly formulated Operation Anakim,which failed to be implemented due to Britain opposites.As a result,Joseph Stilwell did not accomplish the goal of training and re-equipping an army of 30 troops,causing landslide in China's battleground in 1944.To save American policy on China,Roosevelt accelerated his steps militarily to make Soviet Union send army;politically,he exerted pressure on the Communist Party of China by supporting Chiang Kai-shek government in all aspects.However,surprisingly,the Communist Party of China did not compromise.Although Roosevelt successfully involved China into the collective security system,the outbreak of Chinese Civil War caused failure of American policy on China.The Conclusion part reviews the process of Roosevelt constructing the collective security system,and makes a brief evaluation of his collective security system.