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Though a period of intense colonial rivalries, the end of the nineteenth century was also a time for cooperation and consultations between the various imperial powers. The internationalization of the debate on colonial issues, be it present in expressed views or in social practices, constituted a strategy that served the interests of the colonialists who were determined to take a stance in the national and European arenas at once. Such a strategy screened the personal ambitions of King Leopold II. It lent legitimacy and gave vent to the reflections of the lawyers of the Institute of International Law and the liberal experts of the International Colonial Institute. Belgium and the Congo thus came to represent the privileged locus and object of these transnational debates.