Mandates and Empire: The League of Nations and Africa, 1914-1931

This book compares the impact of the League of Nations mandates system on British and French rule in the African mandated territories. It examines the mandates system with particular attention to international relations as well as to national politics, the activities of pressure groups, and the bureaucracies of the two largest overseas empires. The book studies developments in international law, international organization, and the powers of the Permanent Mandates Commission. The mandates system not only reflected the changing face of European colonialism, but also played a transforming role in its operation by influencing the economic, political, and cultural lives of Africans and Europeans within the mandated territories. The system led to the development of policies that transformed the relations between Europeans and Africans, and changed the way in which the colonial state exercised power within the mandated territories.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements ; List of Abbreviations; Map of Africa, 1931; Introduction ; The Great War and Imperial Expansion; The New Scramble for Africa; Lloyd George, Wilson, and Self-Determination'; Annexation vs. Internationalisation; Preparing for the Paris Peace Conference; Reforming European Imperialism, 1919; Wilson and the Fight for Mandates; Milner and Simon; Nomansland,' the Duala, and French Resistance; The Lone B' Mandate?; Accommodating the League of Nations, 1920; The Tanganyika Territory'; French Capitulation; There is no more Annexation'; The United States, Germany, and the Permanent Mandates Commission, 1921--1925; America's Departure and Demands; Germany's Protests; Geneva and the PMC; Lugard and the League; The British Mandates between Theory and Practice, 1921--1925; Slavery and Land Legislation; Rwanda and Religious Freedom; Military Recruitment and Africans; Cameron, Indians, and White Settlers; Mandated Territory and League of Nations Stupidities'; The French Mandates between Theory and Practice, 1921--1925; Separate and Autonomous'; Military Recruitment and Africans; African Protest and the League; International Criticism and Imperial Legitimacy; Germany Joins the League: The British Mandates, 1926--1929; Chamberlain Confronts the PMC; Dr Kastl and Kenya; Cameron's Mandated Territory; The British Empire as Article 22; Germany Joins the League: The French Mandates, 1926--1929; French Fears and Colonial Control; The Return of the Bund; Taxation and Labour Laws; Mandate and Empire in British East Africa, 1929--1931; The Closer Union' Debate, 1919--1929; Labour's White Papers; Lugard's Questions; The Law Officers' Answers; The Failure of Closer Union'; Conclusions; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Michael D Callahan is Associate Professor of History at Kettering University, Michigan.

Review :
"A fascinating study of the advent of the League of Nations mandate system in Africa." -- Choice "Provides us with the best account we are likely to get of the French and British .official mind' about mandates." -- Susan Pedersen, Professor of History & James P Shenton Professor of the Core Curriculum at Columbia University, in a review essay in American Historical Review (October 2007) "In this definitive book the meticulous research and critical analysis of Michael Callahan has brought clarity in the evolution of these murky mandates from the old imperial order to the acceptance of neo-imperial trusteeship at the beginning of the new. His scholarship will be rewarded as the source for students, their teachers, and those scholars of every nationality who seek to understand Africa in the lost but formative years between the two great wars of the twentieth century." -- Robert O Collins, Professor of History Emeritus, University of California Santa Barbara "The best study of the colonial mandates in Africa and raises important questions about the evolution of colonial empires." -- The International History Review "An extensively researched and detailed study." -- Journal of African History "A book of profound historical research which deserves to become a work of incalculable value to scholars of African history as well as international relations." -- Anthony Kirk-Greene, St Antony's College, Oxford