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Time of

tion.

settlement of the conflict in a certain way; for instance by arbitration, or by the acceptance of certain terms. One State may intervene alone or several States may intervene collectively. If the parties comply with the request, the intervention is terminated. If, however, one or both parties fail to comply, the intervention will be abandoned, or action more stringent than a mere request, such as pacific blockade, military occupation, and the like, will be taken. Even war can be declared for the purpose of an intervention. Of special importance are the collective interventions exercised by several great Powers in the interest of the balance of power, and of humanity.1

§ 52. An intervention in a difference between two Interven- States can take place at any time from the moment a conflict arises till the moment it is settled, and even immediately after the settlement. In many cases interventions have taken place before the outbreak of war between two States for the purpose of preventing war; in other cases third States have intervened during a war which had broken out in consequence of a conflict. Interventions have, further, taken place immediately after the peaceable settlement of a difference, or after the termination of war by a treaty of peace or by conquest, on the grounds that the conditions of the settlement, or the treaty of peace, were against the interests of the intervening State, or because the latter would not consent to the annexation of the conquered State by the victor.2

1 See above, vol. i. §§ 136, 137.
2 With regard to the question of
the right of intervention, the ad-
missibility of intervention in default

of a right, and to all other details concerning intervention, the reader must be referred to vol. i. §§ 135138.

VI

ECONOMIC BOYCOTT

Economic

§ 52a. Such were the measures of compulsion avail- The soable for the settlement of disputes before the World called War. But the experiences of that struggle revealed Boycott. the potentialities of a new form of pressure, the socalled economic boycott or blockade. To be cut off from the resources of neighbouring States and driven into isolation was found to be a terrible plight for a highly developed modern State; and this discovery gave prominence to the idea that by prohibiting all trade and financial relations and all personal association with the subjects of a recalcitrant State, other States would be able to compel compliance with their demands. It is too early as yet to estimate the value of the new method, which naturally has a place in the constitution of a League of Nations inspired by the lessons of the war, and is the first punishment to be imposed by Article 16 on a member which breaks its covenants. In each particular instance its effectiveness must depend, not only upon the number of States combining to use it, but also upon the extent to which the offending State normally relies upon those States, the strength of its own internal resources, and its power to retaliate upon those who seek to constrain it.

PART II

WAR

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