| ID | 103508 |
| Title Proper | Dutch neutrality in the Pacific |
| Other Title Information | a dead letter a perspective from the international disarmament debate, 1921-31 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Braat, Eleni |
| Publication | 2011. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | The international disarmament debate of the 1920s provided an important opportunity for the Netherlands to raise the international profile of its colonial interests. This paper examines how Dutch participants in the disarmament debate combined the long-lived Dutch principle of neutrality with the different geopolitical situation of the Dutch East Indies. It shows that (1) Dutch delegates did not strictly interpret and apply the principle of neutrality to their colony in the Pacific. This seems contrary to (2) the Dutch perception that the position in Europe was almost identical to the situation in the Pacific. The little attention paid to these different interests in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies arguably developed from (3) a surprising naivety and provincialism concerning the geopolitical position of the Dutch East Indies. These three related conclusions illustrate the unfortunate composition of the delegations to the disarmament negotiations and the ignorance with which the Foreign Ministry intervened in colonial issues, arguably also indicating that Dutch colonial external relations and defence policy were ill-defined and not effectively adapted to the Pacific context. |
| `In' analytical Note | South East Asia Research Vol. 19, No. 1; Mar 2011: p107-124 |
| Journal Source | South East Asia Research Vol. 19, No. 1; Mar 2011: p107-124 |
| Key Words | Colonialism ; Disarmament ; Neutrality ; Foreign Policy ; Pacifism ; Dutch East Indies |