3 CONFERENCES AT PRAGUE AND BERGEN AND THE LOOMING WAR 285the conference was the political breakdown of the LON; the economic
breakdown in international relations; the non-political work of the
League; the different juridical and political doctrines of states; the psy-
chological obstacles to peace; the ethical basis of international coopera-
tion and population questions in relation to numbers, race, religion and
nationality.^152 However, the most important topic that Potter proposed
in his view, was that of the ends international organisation: the peace and
security of nations and the health and welfare and economic and cultural
development of the population of each nation.^153
In respect to the question of the nature of any future international
organisation, Potter was very keen to stress that the focus of research
should rest primarily on the ‘contractual’ dimension of involvement in
international organisation rather than on the ‘moral and voluntary’
dimension of it. Potter stated that recent history had shown that empha-
sis on the latter served as a means of obstructing or even sabotaging
effective international cooperation. In addition to this, and in contrast
with the more regionalist approach to international order that the New
Commonwealth (which in September 1939 had temporarily transferred
its headquarters from Thorney House to the ‘Windsor’ in Queen’s Road,
Aberystwyth), had adopted in relation to the work in which it was cur-
rently engaged, Potter wanted to insist on the universality of any future
international organisation. For this reason, he emphasised that views
should be sought not only from European states, but from countries
outside Europe, including those located in North and South America
and in Asia.^154
Potter’s views on international organisation ran parallel to those of his
compatriot Shotwell. Indeed, in November 1939, at the very time when
Potter was beginning to design the ISC’s new programme of study,
Shotwell and Clark Eichelberger set about organising the Commission
to Study the Organisation of Peace. This commission, the member-
ship of which included John Foster Dulles, Clyde Eagleton, Charles G.
Fenwick, Jessup, Staley and Wright, was organised under the auspices
(^152) Memorandum of the General Reporter For Program Committee Meeting, December
21–22, 1939. Conférence permanente des hautes études, AG 1-IICI-K-I-24, UA.
(^153) ‘Propositions de programme d’étude de la Conférence part le Prof. Pitman B. Potter,’
Informations sur la Coopération Intellectuelle, nos. 1–2 (1939): 14–15.
(^154) Potter to Bonnet, 14 December 1939, AG 1-IICI-K-I-24, UA. See also New
Commonwealth Institute to International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, September
1939, Rapprochement international: Généralités, 1927–1944, AG 1-IICI-B-V-4.