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Focusing on the international level, this chapter addresses the territorial work of the experts, diplomats, and politicians at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The in-depth analysis of the negotiations demonstrates that the more the experts were central to the territorial negotiations, the more their work became politicized. The experts had varying success in influencing decision-making: while the French experts were largely excluded from the negotiations, the British and notably the American experts often found themselves in charge of territorial commissions that decided on the course of borders for several Central and Eastern European states. It also becomes apparent that the experts’ conceptions of national self-determination varied considerably according to the case at hand. Over the course of the negotiations, however, ethnicity emerged as the most effective formula for applying national self-determination to intricate local settings.

Little is known about the formal crafting of the Paris Peace Treaties in 1919/20 and the set of international lawyers that was tasked to draft the hundreds and thousands of articles of one of the most contested peace settlements of all times. Taking a fresh look behind the scenes of the negotiations in Paris, this chapter unearths role and influence of the drafting committee, offers a characterization of the in-house lawyers involved, and examines how they transformed political bargaining into legally binding rules and treaty provisions. The broader aim is to explore what international legal advisors do in government service and how they operate along the blurred the boundary between law and politics.

This chapter offers a historical summary of the emergence of the territorial nation-state as a universal political standard. It highlights an unequal and heterogeneous international system that prevailed at the beginning of the twentieth century. It shows how Japan, India, and Ireland, in different ways, struggled to overcome the power of existing international norms. The chapter then explores how positive international law used external recognition as a structural condition to control entry into the international system. Through a discussion of the Asian Relations Conference (1947), the final section argues that newly independent Asian countries rapidly internalized prevailing norms of territorial sovereignty by identifying ethnic minorities as a major political problem.

The introduction lays out the central themes of the study: national self-determination, the role of expertise in peace planning and policymaking, ethnic violence, and borders. It briefly describes the methodology and presents the two case studies, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France in 1918–19 and the Greek–Turkish conflict between 1919 and 1923. The introduction then places the study in the wider context of the most recent literature, demonstrating the originality and novel character of the multi-level approach that interconnects international politics with the in situ processes within a comparative framework. The introduction also posits the central argument of the book: policymakers and local agitators alike were tempted to reduce the concept of national self-determination to ethnic identity, thereby undermining the credibility of Wilson’s principle and transforming it to a tool of aggressive revisionism.

Fleming left with President Wilson on December 4^th, 1918 to tour the Allied countries in Europe before attending the Paris Peace Conference. When they arrived in Paris, he documented the crowds that flooded the streets to greet the American president. While in Paris, Fleming met the aspiring director Walter Wanger and also became Wilson’s personal cameraman. The delegation proceeded to Great Britain, Italy, and the Vatican City before heading back to Paris for the peace conference. Despite his professional reputation, Fleming was not allowed in the room for the peace talks, and instead filmed the crowds and the dignitaries arriving and departing. Upon his return to the U.S., he sought and received his discharge from the miltary and rejoined Fairbanks and Griffith, who were now part of the newly formed United Artists.

When World War I broke out, Fleming, like most men of his age, was drafted. Though he would have preferred to stay with Fairbanks and further his career, Fleming took to his new role with dedication. As a known cinematographer, Fleming was put in the Signal Corps, the traditional group in charge of communications for the army. Fleming became a member of the new Photographic Section, charged with taking photos for a comprehensive pictorial history of the war. He helped to make military training films and eventually became a cameraman for military intelligence. He was sent to be a student at the U.S. School of Military Cinematography at Columbia University, filming everything from training videos to an abandon-ship drill. After the armistice, Fleming was called upon to join Woodrow Wilson’s delegation at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.