The Role of Peace Movements in the 1899 Creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Abstract

The nature of the movement that led to the commencement of the 1899 Hague Peace Conference that created the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has been described as obscure. This paper clarifies the nature of that movement, not only to fill a gap in the literature but also to better understand whether this event that started reliance on law in resolving international disputes has its roots in elitism or majoritarianism, which arguably would add to the legitimacy of international dispute settlement. The answer to this question may help us better understand why the PCA was not relied on for much of its early existence. Some commentators see the commencement of the conference and the PCA's creation as arising out of an aristocratic movement to unify European states, not out of the more universal, grassroots peace movement that tried to replace war with law and the application of law through international arbitration. Peace activist James Tryon eloquently explained the distinction between these two peace movements: While European states were busy concluding the Holy Alliance and other alliances among themselves to try to bring peace to Europe, “the desire for peace was [being] cultivated by another kind of Holy Alliance far more consistent in its methods than the first,” which was a global Holy Alliance of “the goodly company of thoughtful men and women who saw the folly of war and educated public opinion against it.” Some commentators have assumed the influence of the grassroots movement on the conference and the PCA’s creation without recognizing the possibility that there was a competing elitist movement that equally could have been the influence. From the perspective of that time, one would have expected for these two events to mark the apex of the aristocratic movement, given how Tsar Nicholas of Russia called the conference, aristocratic states had relied on arbitration to a large degree prior to this point, and aristocrats and those under the aristocratic order were among the plurality at the conference. This paper explores the impact of these two movements on the creation of the PCA.