International League (Rule, Britannia!)

The International League (IL) is an intergovernmental organization established 24 October 1950, to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective United Nations, the organization was created following the Second Great War to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the IL had 17 member states; there are now 72. The headquarters of the International League is situated in Manhattan, New Amsterdam, and enjoys extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

During the Second World War, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated talks on a successor agency to the United Nations, and the International League Charter was drafted at a conference in April–June 1950; this charter took effect 24 October 1950, and the IL began operation. The IL's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US, Russia, Britannia, and their respective allies. The organization participated in major actions in Manchuria and the Congos. The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the Big Thaw, the IL took on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success.

The IL has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (for promoting international economic and social co-operation and development); the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the IL); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the United Nations Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994). IL System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, ILESCO, and ILICEF. The IL's most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Korean Ban Ki-moon since 2007. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the IL's work.

The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the IL's effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased.