Is the business of business business alone? The International Chamber of Commerce and the origins of global business diplomacy, 1920-1931

A growing literature emphasises the importance of non-state actors, both non-governmental organisations and corporations, in international relations since the late twentieth century. It is, however, often overlooked that business diplomacy and the influence of organised private actors on international economic relations has a much longer history. Relatedly, the workings of business associations that operated globally and represented more than one chamber of commerce have so far not been adequately analysed within the historical literature on business pressure groups. This dissertation will show that the businesspeople organised within the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), founded in 1920, possessed a high degree of influence on financial and economic diplomacy in the 1920s. Key members of the Chamber participated in reparations negotiations and collaborated closely with the Economic and Financial Organisation of the League of Nations. Through these channels of influence, the ICC could become one of the most important agents of economic globalisation in the interwar period. An analysis of ICC primary sources from the 1920s will provide readers with a new interpretation of the determinants of transatlantic capital movements after the conclusion of the Dawes Plan, evidence for the early contributions of business to global governance, an actor-centred view on globalisation processes, and a more nuanced perspective on interwar business and economic history in general.