Internationalism Reconfigured: Transnational Ideas and Movements Between the World Wars

by Daniel Laqua (Editor)

Overview

Many historians have downplayed the significance of interwar internationalism. They have presented the League of Nations and the campaigns of internationally-minded groups as idealistic failures in an age that was characterised by international tension and aggressive nationalisms. This book challenges such narratives by assessing transnational projects that were launched or transformed after World War One, particularly the interaction of the League of Nations with specific groups or associations. The authors reveal the different rationales and stimuli for international cooperation in this period. With fresh research from several European countries, this book makes an original contribution to the transnational history of the interwar years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350165502
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/25/2020
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Daniel Laqua is Lecturer in Modern European History at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations - vii
Acknowledgements - ix
Preface (Daniel Laqua) - xi
Introduction: Conceptualising Transnational Thought and Action between the Wars (Patricia Clavin) - 1
Part A: Infrastructures and Ideas of Internationalism - 15
1. Liberal Internationalist Approaches to Science and Technology in Interwar Britain and the US (Waqar Zaidi) - 17
2. Experts for Peace: Structures and Motivations of Philanthropic Internationalism in the Interwar Years (Katharina Rietzler) - 45
3. In between 'Vague Theory' and 'Sound Practical Lines': Transnational Municipalism in Interwar Europe (Stefan Couperus) - 67
Part B: The League of Nations and the Efforts of Non-State Actors - 91
4. 'The Breath of a New Life'? : British Anti-Slavery Activism and the League of Nations (Amalia Ribi) - 93
5. Internationalism in the Economic and Financial Organisation of the League of Nations (Yann Decorzant) - 115
1. 'Credit or Chaos?': The Austrian Stabilisation Programme of 1923 and the League of Nations (Frank Beyersdorf) - 134
Part C: The Transnational and National Contexts of Advocacy - 159
2. 'A Real Meeting of the Women of the East and West': Women and Internationalism in the Interwar Period (Marie Sandell) - 161
3. The Lifeblood of the League? Voluntary Associations and League of Nations Activism in Britain (Helen McCarthy ) - 187
4. Reconciliation and the Post-War Order: The Place of the Deutsche Liga für Menschenrechte in Interwar Pacifist (Daniel Laqua) - 209
Notes on the Contributors - 239
Index - 243

Editorial Reviews

"[This book] offers a very nuanced picture of the variety of internationalist actors and agencies of the early post-war period in a highly comparative framework. In presenting their individual case studies the well-chosen international contributors dare to acknowledge on the one hand the great idealistic potential and influence of the League of Nations and to point on the other hand to its sometimes rather limited practical efficiency. All in all, the book is a very good read and offers a nice introduction into the topic both for academics as well as for students." - Friederike Kind-Kovács, Archiv für Sozialgeschichte

 

From the Publisher