Internationalism

1. The Westphalian and Concert systems divided the world into separate, sovereign entities. Since
the existence of the interstate system, there have been attempts to transcend it. In the case of
Bonaparte, he directly challenged the system by infringing on the other states’ sovereignty. Others
imagine a system of heightened interaction between various sovereign states, particularly the desire
for greater cooperation and unity among states and peoples. This is called internationalism.
2. Internationalism may be divided into two:
a) Liberal internationalism
i. Its first major thinker was Immanuel Kant.
ii. He likened states in a global system to people living in a given territory. If people
living together require a government to prevent lawlessness, shouldn’t that same
principle be applied to states?
iii. He argued that without a form of world government, he posited that international
system would be chaotic. Hence, states like citizens of countries must give up some
freedoms and establish a continuously growing state consisting of various nations
which will ultimately include the nations of the world. Kant imagined a form of global
government.
iv. Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century as well (he was the one who coined the word
international in 1780) advocated the creation of international law that would govern
the inter-state relations. He believed that the objective of global legislators should
aim to propose legislation that would create “the greatest happiness of all nations
taken together”.
v. These proposals for global government and international law seemed to represent
challenges to states. Issues: would not the world government in effect become
supreme? Would not its laws overwhelm the sovereignty of individual states?
vi. The first thinker to reconcile nationalism and liberal internationalism was the Italian
patriot Giuseppe Mazzini who was both an advocate of the unification of the various
Italian-speaking mini-states and a major critic of the Metternich system. He believed
in a republican government (no kings, queens, and hereditary succession) and
proposed a system of free nations that cooperated with each other to create an
international system.
vii. For Mazzini, free, independent states would be the basis of an equally free,
cooperative international system. He argued that if the various Italian mini-states
could unify one could scale up the system to create for example the United States of
Europe. He believed that free unified nation-states should be the basis of global
cooperation.
viii. Mazzini’s ideas influenced the thinking of US president Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).
Like Mazzini he believed that nationalism is a prerequisite for internationalism. He
forwarded the principle of self-determination- the belief that the world’s nations had
a right to a free sovereign government. He hoped for nations to become democracies
as by being such they would be able to build a free system of international relations
based on international law and cooperation. Wilson became a notable advocate for
the creation of the League of Nations. At the end of WW1 in 1918, Wilson proposed
to transform the League into a venue for conciliation and arbitration to prevent
another war. He was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1919.
ix. The US was not able to join the League though as it was opposed in the Senate. The
League was unable to hinder another war. It was practically helpless to prevent the
onset and intensification of WW2. On one side were the axis powers (Hitler,
Mussolini, Hirohito) who were ultra-nationalists that has an instinctive disdain for
internationalism and preferred violently impose their dominance over other nations.
Internationalism was eclipsed in the midst of this war between the Axis and Allied
powers (USA,UK, France, Holland, Belgium)
x. Despite its failure, the League gave birth to some of the more task-specific
international organizations that are still around until today, namely, the World Health
Organization (WHO;1948) and the International Labour Organization (ILO;1919). More

1
 importantly, it would serve as the blueprint for future forms of international
cooperation. Despite its dissolution, its principles survived WW2.
xi. The League was the concretization of the concepts of liberal internationalism. From
Kant, it emphasized the need to form common international principles. From Mazzini,
the principles of cooperation and respect among nation-states. From Wilson, it called
for democracy and self-determination. These ideas reassert themselves in the
creation of the United Nations (1946).
b) Socialist internationalism
i. Karl Marx (German Socialist) was Mazzini's biggest critic who was also an
internationalist but did not believe in nationalism.
ii. Marx believed that any true form of internationalism should deliberately reject
nationalism which rooted people in domestic concerns instead of the global ones.
iii. Marx placed premium on economic equality; he did not divide the world into
countries, but into classes.
1. The capitalist class referred to owners of factories, companies, and other means
of production.
2. The proletariat class included those who did not own means to production but
worked for capitalists.
iv. Marx and his co-author Friedrich Engels believed that in a socialist revolution seeking
to overthrow the state and alter the economy, the proletariat had no nation. Hence,
their now-famous battle cry, “Workers of the World, unite! You have nothing to lose
but your chains”. They oppose nationalism because they believed it prevented the
unification of the world’s workers. Instead of identifying with other workers,
nationalism could make workers in individual countries identify with the capitalists of
their countries.
v. Marx died in 1883, but his followers sought to make his vision concrete by establishing
their international organization. The Socialist International (SI) was a union of
European socialist and labor parties established in France in 1889. Although short
lived, the SI’s achievement included the declaration of May 1 as Labor Day and the
creation of International Women’s Day. Most importantly, it initiated the successful
campaign for an 8-hour workday.
vi. The SI collapsed during WW1 as the member parties refused or were unable to join
internationalist efforts to fight for the war. Many of these sister parties even ended
up fighting each other. A confirmation of Marx’s warning: when workers and their
organizations take side of their countries instead of each other, their long-term
interests are compromised.
vii. As SI collapsed, a more radical version emerged. In the Russian revolution of 1917,
Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and replaced by a revolutionary government led by
the Bolshevik party with Vladimir Lenin as its leader. This new state was the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Unlike the majority member parties of the SI, the
Bolsheviks did not believe in obtaining power for the working class through elections.
Rather, they exhorted the revolutionary vanguard parties to lead the revolutions
across the world, using methods of terror if necessary. Parties like this are now
referred to as Communist parties.
viii. To encourage the socialist revolutions across the world, Lenin established the
Communist International (Comintern) in 1919. It served as the central body for
directing communist parties all over the world. This was not only more radical than
the SI, it was also less democratic because it followed closely the top-down
governance of the Bolsheviks.
ix. Many of the world’s states feared the Comintern, believing that it was working in
secret to stir up revolutions in their countries (which was true). Joseph Stalin
(successor of Lenin) dissolved the Comintern in 1943 only to re-establish it after the
war as the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform). The USSR took over
countries in Eastern Europe when the US, USSR, and UK divided the war-torn Europe
into their respective spheres of influence (this was after WW2). The Cominform like
the Comintern helped direct the various communist parties that had taken power in
Eastern Europe.

2
 x. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, whatever existing thoughts about communist
internationalism also practically disappeared.
c) After WW2, liberal internationalism would once again be ascendant. The best evidence is
the rise of the United Nations as the center of global governance.