The World Economic Conference was an international economic conference held in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in May 1927.

Overview

Belgian statesman Georges Theunis (1873–1966) chaired the Geneva Conference. The conference was held at the Calvinium, from May 4 to 23, 1927, and attended by representatives of 46 member countries of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

as well as the United States, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and a few other non-members. Initially suggested in 1925 by France's

Louis Loucheur Louis Loucheur (12 August 1872 in Roubaix, Nord – 22 November 1931 in Paris) was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the I ...

, it was the first international economic conference formally sponsored by the League, in the wake of the success of the stabilization loans led by its Economic and Financial Organization, particularly in Austria and Hungary, and of the

Dawes Plan The Dawes Plan temporarily resolved the issue of the reparations that Germany owed to the Allies of World War I. Enacted in 1924, it ended the crisis in European diplomacy that occurred after French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr in re ...

which had temporarily mitigated the challenge of German war reparations. Under the chairmanship of former Belgian Prime Minister

Georges Theunis Georges (George) Emile Léonard Theunis (28 February 1873 – 4 January 1966) was the prime minister of Belgium from 1921 to 1925 and again from 1934 to 1935. He was governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) in exile in London, from 1941 u ...

, the participants, altogether 194 national delegates and 157 expert advisers, were not formally representing the respective governments; this feature was similar to that adopted at the Brussels Conference (1920), and unlike at the Genoa Conference (1922). The scope was broad both geographically and thematically, as conveyed by the official name "World Economic Conference" mirroring Arthur Salter's preference for an international reach in line with the League's own, against Loucheur's preference for a European focus. Financial considerations were central to the conference. The delegates unanimously stated that "Financial reconstruction is the basis of economic reconstruction". Efforts to restrain

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

s were debated but without success, given the extent of differences between countries.

Notes

Global economic conferences 20th-century diplomatic conferences 1927 in international relations 1927 conferences

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

1922 in Switzerland Diplomatic conferences in Switzerland Aftermath of World War I {{Econ-hist-stub

Overview

See also

Notes