ABSTRACT
Beginning with the Great Depression, the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) deepened their commitment to technical activities, especially through their support of the Economic and Financial Organization (EFO) and the International Studies Conference (ISC). In doing so, the RF and the CEIP contributed to the expansion of the League of Nations’ technical activities, as well as to the legitimacy of its expertise work. As the League of Nations (LoN) was increasingly discredited from the political standpoint, the EFO established genuine legitimacy with economic experts across the western world, thereby strengthening its position at the intersection of multiple networks, a process partly due to philanthropic support. This explains why the EFO continued its activity when the system of collective security collapsed in the 1930s. This chapter subsequently explores a paradox: while the US increasingly distanced itself from the LoN with regard to politics by passing neutrality laws, it increased investment in technical activities. However, this investment had other major consequences for the LoN. By funding the technical sections, foundations helped autonomize them with regard to the League system, thereby eroding its coherence and the central organization’s authority over its technical sections.
