Governing the World: A History of International Relations, 1884-present

Catalog description

"Mankind's desire for peace can be realized only by the creation of a world government,” declared the New York Times in September 1945. This lecture course traces the origins of our contemporary ideas and institutions of global governance, by charting the history of international relations from the run-up to the First World War through to the fall-out of the Cold War. Together, we will uncover how various international orders have been built, challenged, and refashioned: from the pacifist dreams to banish war from the world and the emergence of international law and arbitration courts in the 1890s, to the shock of World War I, and the consequent rise of the League of Nations as the first embodiment of a truly international government after 1918, to the fascist revolt against this order, onto the emergence of international human rights following the cataclysm of the Nazi Holocaust, followed by the creation of the United Nations and the triumph of a free-trade liberal international order for over seventy years, followed by its gradual breakdown which is shacking our world today. This is a history that provides us with crucial resources to be thoughtful and engaged citizens of an ever-changing world, where so many problems span national borders.