The Racial Equality Clause and League Covenant: An APD Perspective on Race in IR

• In Event: Race and U.S. Foreign Policy (Virtual Session)

Abstract

This article examines how racism has been preserved within the so-called liberal international order. Recent scholarship on both racialized norms and hegemonic orders emphasize how international governance arrangements are a product of contestation among various international actors. From this perspective, transnational racial coalitions struggle against each other to realize their preferred international ordering principles. We contribute to this literature by examining how the norm of racial discrimination was preserved during diplomatic negotiations at the Versailles Peace Conference regarding the League of Nations. Our analysis demonstrates how the institutional context of white supremacist discourses facilitated the formation of a transnational coalition that, anchored to a white identity narrative, enabled Anglo-American policymakers to resist Japan’s proposed racial equality clause. In turn, the proponents of racial egalitarianism lacked a dense network of organizational and political ties as well as a coherent narrative about international order, which ultimately prevented them from mounting a viable challenge to the pro-discrimination order project. Overall, we show how the institutional context of coalitional struggles sets the stage for conflicts about international norms and can enable actors to override communicative or procedural rules for norm contestation.

Authors

• Stephen Pampinella, SUNY New Paltz

• Tobias Lemke, University of Delaware