Placing Internationalism: International Conferences and the Making of the Modern World (Histories of Internationalism)

Exploring how modern internationalism emerged as a negotiated process through international conferences, this edited collection studies the spaces and networks through which states, civil society institutions and anti-colonial political networks used these events to realise their visions of the international. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, contributors explore the spatial paradox of two fundamental features of modern internationalism. First, internationalism demanded the overcoming of space, transcending the nation-state in search of the shared interests of humankind. Second, internationalism was geographically contingent on the places in which people came together to conceive and enact their internationalist ideas. From Paris 1919 to Bandung 1955 and beyond, this book explores international conferences as the sites in which different forms of internationalism assumed material and social form. While international ‘permanent institutions’ such as the League of Nations, UN and Institute of Pacific Relations constantly negotiated national and imperial politics, lesser-resourced political networks also used international conferences to forward their more radical demands. Taken together these conferences radically expand our conception of where and how modern internationalism emerged, and make the case for focusing on internationalism in a contemporary moment when its merits are being called into question. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction International conferencing as a political practice Structure Approaches Chapter 1: Towards an historical geography of international conferencing Introduction Pre-histories of the modern conference Modern international conferences Liberal international conferencing Colonial, imperial and Commonwealth conferencing Anti-colonial, non-aligned and activist conferencing Conclusion Part I: State internationalism Chapter 2: Ambassadors, activists and experts: Conferencing and the internationalization of international relations in the nineteenth century Chapter 3: Contesting representations of indigeneity at the First Inter-American Indigenista Congress, 1940 Introduction The physical and social spaces of the conference Leadership of and participation in the conference Indigenous agency, voice and resistance Conclusion Chapter 4: Awe and espionage at Lancaster House: The African decolonization conferences of the early 1960s Introduction Background to the conferences The London advantage: Control, influence, expertise, infrastructure and espionage ‘The Lancaster House treatment’ Travelling from Africa Conclusion Part II: Science, civil society and the state Chapter 5: Conferencing the aerial future The international atmosphere Aerial futures at the 1926 Imperial Conference Weather permitting: The 1929 Conference of Empire Meteorologists Rehearsing the aerial future: The 1930 Imperial Conference Conclusion Chapter 6: Scientific internationalism in a time of crisis: The Month of Intellectual Cooperation at the 1937 Paris World Fair Introduction: Paris 1937 – A huge ‘waste of time’? The Month of Intellectual Cooperation: A guardian angel for world peace? The World Congress of Universal Documentation 1937: Non-utopian internationalism? Conclusion: Internationalism, networking and the benefits of chitchat Chapter 7: Between camaraderie and rivalry: Geopolitics at the eighteenth International Geographical Congress, Rio de Janeiro, 1956 Introduction Media narratives on the eighteenth IGC Practical geopolitical reasoning at the conference Final words Part III: Permanent institutions Chapter 8: Spectacular peacebuilding: The League of Nations and internationalist visions at interwar World Expos War and peace at the Paris Exposition of 1937 A pavilion in partnership: The League and the RUP’s proletarian internationalism An appeal to American psychology? The League at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 A technical League: Accommodating multiple internationalisms Conclusion Chapter 9: Re-situating Bretton Woods: Site and venue in relation to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, June 1944 Timing/site/venue Social atmosphere Conclusion Chapter 10: Countenancing and conferencing Japan at the Institute of Pacific Relations, 1945–54 Introduction The IPR: A collaborative space? Countenancing and conferencing Japan, with Gourou Hot Springs 1945 Stratford-upon-Avon 1947 Lucknow 1950 Kyoto 1954 Conclusion Part IV: Political networks Chapter 11: Alternative internationalisms in East Asia: The Conferences of the Asian Peoples, Japanese–Chinese rivalry and Japanese imperialism, 1924–43 Introduction ‘Asia’ against the ‘West’? Transnational pan-Asianist activities and the first Conference of the Asian Peoples (1926) The second Pan-Asian Conference in Shanghai State-sponsored Pan-Asian Conferences in Dalian (1934) and Tokyo (1943) Conclusion Chapter 12: Partnership in/against empire: Pan-African and imperial conferencing after the Second World War Towards Pan-African Federation Imperialism divides – Socialism unites Conclusion Chapter 13: Skies that bind: Air travel in the Bandung era Journeys in the making of Third World diplomacy ‘Progress’ and ‘solidarity’ in the literati’s layover Conclusion Index "Exploring how modern internationalism emerged as a negotiated process through international conferences, this edited collection studies the spaces and networks through which states, civil society institutions and anti-colonial political networks used these events to realise their visions of the international. Using an interdisciplinary approach, contributors explore the spatial paradox of two fundamental features of modern internationalism. First, overcoming limitations of place to go beyond the nation-state in search of the shared interests of humankind, and second the role of the spaces in which people came together to conceive and enact their internationalist ideas. From Paris 1919 to Bandung 1955, this book shows how modern internationalism interacted with the ongoing influence of nation-states and imperial sovereignty through international conferences. While international 'permanent institutions' such as the League of Nations, UN and Institute of Pacific Relations constantly negotiated national and imperial politics, lesser-resourced and more radical political networks more frequently targeted states. Taken together these conferences radically expand our conception of where and how modern internationalism emerged, and make the case for focusing on internationalism in a contemporary moment when its merits are being called into question"-- Provided by publisher