Mandates and Empire

This book compares the impact of the League of Nations mandates system on British and French rule in the African mandated territories. It examines the mandates system with particular attention to international relations as well as to national politics, the activities of pressure groups, and the bureaucracies of the two largest overseas empires. The book studies developments in international law, international organization, and the powers of the Permanent Mandates Commission. The mandates system not only reflected the changing face of European colonialism, but also played a transforming role in its operation by influencing the economic, political, and cultural lives of Africans and Europeans within the mandated territories. The system led to the development of policies that transformed the relations between Europeans and Africans, and changed the way in which the colonial state exercised power within the mandated territories.