<P> Representation at the League was often a problem . Though it was intended to encompass all nations, many never joined, or their period of membership was short . The most conspicuous absentee was the United States . President Woodrow Wilson had been a driving force behind the League's formation and strongly influenced the form it took, but the US Senate voted not to join on 19 November 1919 . Ruth Henig has suggested that, had the United States become a member, it would have also provided support to France and Britain, possibly making France feel more secure, and so encouraging France and Britain to co-operate more fully regarding Germany, thus making the rise to power of the Nazi Party less likely . Conversely, Henig acknowledges that if the US had been a member, its reluctance to engage in war with European states or to enact economic sanctions might have hampered the ability of the League to deal with international incidents . The structure of the US federal government might also have made its membership problematic, as its representatives at the League could not have made decisions on behalf of the executive branch without having the prior approval of the legislative branch . </P> <P> In January 1920, when the League was born, Germany was not permitted to join because it was seen as having been the aggressor in the First World War . Soviet Russia was also initially excluded, as Communist regimes were not welcomed . The League was further weakened when major powers left in the 1930s . Japan began as a permanent member of the Council, but withdrew in 1933 after the League voiced opposition to its occupation of Manchuria . Italy began as a permanent member of the Council, but withdrew in 1937 . Spain also began as a permanent member of the Council, but withdrew in 1939 . The League had accepted Germany, also as a permanent member of the Council, in 1926, deeming it a "peace - loving country", but Adolf Hitler pulled Germany out when he came to power in 1933 . </P> <P> Another important weakness grew from the contradiction between the idea of collective security that formed the basis of the League and international relations between individual states . The League's collective security system required nations to act, if necessary, against states they considered friendly, and in a way that might endanger their national interests, to support states for which they had no normal affinity . This weakness was exposed during the Abyssinia Crisis, when Britain and France had to balance maintaining the security they had attempted to create for themselves in Europe "to defend against the enemies of internal order", in which Italy's support played a pivotal role, with their obligations to Abyssinia as a member of the League . </P> <P> On 23 June 1936, in the wake of the collapse of League efforts to restrain Italy's war against Abyssinia, the British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, told the House of Commons that collective security had </P>

Role of league of nations in human rights