Internationalism is a political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among states and nations."Internationalism is... described as the theory and practice of transnational or global cooperation. As a political ideal, it is based on the belief that nationalism should be transcended because the ties that bind people of different nations are stronger than those that separate them." N. D. Arora, Political Science, McGraw-Hill Education. , (p.2). It is associated with other political movements and ideologies, but can also reflect a doctrine, belief system, or movement in itself.Warren F. Kuehl, Concepts of Internationalism in History, July 1986.
Supporters of internationalism are known as internationalists and generally believe that humans should unite across national, political, cultural, racial, or class boundaries to advance their common interests, or that governments should cooperate because their mutual long-term interests are of greater importance than their short-term disputes.Fred Halliday, Three concepts of internationalism, International Affairs, Volume 64, Issue 2, Spring 1988, Pages 187–198.
Internationalism has several interpretations and meanings, but is usually characterized by opposition to ultranationalism and isolationism; support for international institutions such as the United Nations; and a cosmopolitan outlook that promotes and respects other cultures and customs. Internationalism, specifically liberal internationalism and multilateralism, has been a central and popular feature of the foreign policy of middle powers like Canada. This approach is often referred to as "middle power diplomacy".
The term is similar to, but distinct from, globalism and cosmopolitanism.
Origins
In 19th-century Great Britain, there was a liberal internationalist strand of political thought epitomized by Richard Cobden and John Bright. Cobden and Bright were against the protectionist Corn Laws and in a speech at Covent Garden on September 28, 1843, Cobden outlined his utopian brand of internationalism: Free Trade! What is it? Why, breaking down the barriers that separate nations; those barriers behind which nestle the feelings of pride, revenge, hatred and jealously, which every now and then burst their bounds and deluge whole countries with blood."Peace and Free Trade".
Cobden believed that Free Trade would pacify the world by interdependence, an idea also expressed by Adam Smith in his The Wealth of Nations and common to many liberals of the time. A belief in the idea of the moral law and an inherent goodness in human nature also inspired their faith in internationalism.
Those liberal conceptions of internationalism were harshly criticized by socialists and radicals at the time, who pointed out the links between global economic competition and imperialism, and would identify this competition as being a root cause of world conflict. One of the first international organisations in the world was the International Workingmen's Association, formed in London in 1864 by working class socialist and communist political activists (including Karl Marx). Referred to as the First International, the organization was dedicated to the advancement of working class political interests across national boundaries, and was in direct ideological opposition to strains of liberal internationalism which advocated free trade and capitalism as means of achieving world peace and interdependence.
Other international organizations included the Inter-Parliamentary Union, established in 1889 by Frédéric Passy from France and William Randal Cremer from the United Kingdom, and the League of Nations, which was formed after World War I. The former was envisioned as a permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations, while the latter was an attempt to solve the world's security problems through international arbitration and dialogue.
J. A. Hobson, a Gladstonian liberal who became a socialist after the Great War, anticipated in his book Imperialism (1902) the growth of international courts and congresses which would hopefully settle international disputes between nations in a peaceful way. Sir Norman Angell in his work The Great Illusion (1910) claimed that the world was united by trade, finance, industry and communications and that therefore nationalism was an anachronism and that war would not profit anyone involved but would only result in destruction.
Lord Lothian was an internationalist and an imperialist who in December 1914 looked forward to "the voluntary federation of the free civilised nations which will eventually exorcise the spectre of competitive armaments and give lasting peace to mankind."J.R.M. Butler, Lord Lothian 1882-1940 (Macmillan, 1960), p. 56.
In September 1915, he thought the British Empire was "the perfect example of the eventual world Commonwealth."J.R.M. Butler, Lord Lothian 1882-1940 (Macmillan, 1960), p. 57.
Internationalism expressed itself in Britain through the endorsement of the League of Nations by such people as Gilbert Murray. The Liberal Party and the Labour Party had prominent internationalist members, like the Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald who believed that 'our true nationality is mankind'Lord Vansittart, The Mist Procession, p. 373
Modern expression Internationalism is most commonly expressed as an appreciation for the diverse cultures in the world, and a desire for world peace. People who express this view believe in not only being a citizen of their respective countries, but of being a citizen of the world. Internationalists feel obliged to assist the world through leadership and charity.
Internationalists also advocate the presence of international organizations, such as the United Nations, and often support a stronger form of a world government.
Contributors to the current version of internationalism include Albert Einstein, who was a socialist and believed in a world government, and classified the follies of nationalism as "an infantile sickness".Albert Einstein, The World as I See It, 1934 Conversely, other internationalists such as Christian Lange"Internationalism . . . recognizes, by its very name, that nations do exist. It simply limits their scope more than one-sided nationalism does." Lange quoted in Jay Nordlinger, Peace They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World. Encounter Books, 2013. (p. 111). and Rebecca West"The European tradition...from the very beginning has recognised the nationalism and internationalism are not irreconcible opposities but counterbalances that can keep the nations in equilibrium". Rebecca West, "The Necessity and Grandeur of the International Ideal", 1935. Reprinted in Patrick Deane, History in Our Hands: a critical anthology of writings on literature, culture, and politics from the 1930s. London; Leicester University Press, 1998. , p. 76. saw little conflict between holding nationalist and internationalist positions.
International organizations and internationalism For both intergovernmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations to emerge, nations and peoples had to be strongly aware that they shared certain interests and objectives across national boundaries and they could best solve their many problems by pooling their resources and effecting transnational cooperation, rather than through individual countries' unilateral efforts. Such a view, such global consciousness, may be termed internationalism, the idea that nations and peoples should cooperate instead of preoccupying themselves with their respective national interests or pursuing uncoordinated approaches to promote them.
Sovereign states vs. supranational powers balance In the strict meaning of the word, internationalism is still based on the existence of sovereign state. Its aims are to encourage multilateralism (world leadership not held by any single country) and create some formal and informal interdependence between countries, with some limited supranational powers given to international organisations controlled by those nations via intergovernmental treaties and institutions.
The ideal of many internationalists, among them world citizens, is to go a step further towards democratic globalization by creating a world government. However, this idea is opposed and/or thwarted by other internationalists, who believe any world government body would be inherently too powerful to be trusted, or because they dislike the path taken by supranational entities such as the United Nations or a union of states such as the European Union and fear that a world government inclined towards fascism would emerge from the former. These internationalists are more likely to support a loose world federation in which most power resides with national governments or sub-national governments.
Socialist political theory
Internationalism is an important component of socialist political theory,"Internationalism is the bedrock of socialism, not simply or mainly for sentimental reasons but because capitalism has created a world economy that can be transformed only on a world scale." - Duncan Hallas. The Comintern: "Introduction to the 1985 Edition". Bookmarks. 1985."The international character of the socialist revolution [...] flows from the present state of the economy and the social structure of humanity. Internationalism is no abstract principle but a theoretical and political reflection of the character of world economy, of the world development of productive forces, and of the world scale of the class struggle." - Leon Trotsky.The Permanent Revolution. 1931. based on the principle that working-class people of all countries must unite across national boundaries and actively oppose nationalism and war in order to overthrow capitalism."The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality. The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got.... United [worker's] action, of the leading civilized countries at least, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation of the proletariat." - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Chapter 2: Proletarians and Communists In this sense, the socialist understanding of internationalism is closely related to the concept of international solidarity.
Socialist thinkers such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin argue that economic class, rather than (or interrelated with) nationality, race, or culture, is the main force which divides people in society, and that nationalist ideology is a propaganda tool of a society's dominant economic class. From this perspective, it is in the ruling class' interest to promote nationalism in order to hide the inherent class conflicts at play within a given society (such as the exploitation of workers by capitalists for profit). Therefore, socialists see nationalism as a form of ideological control arising from a society's given mode of economic production (see dominant ideology).
Since the 19th century, socialist political organizations and radical trade unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World have promoted internationalist ideologies and sought to organize workers across national boundaries to achieve improvements in the conditions of labor and advance various forms of industrial democracy. The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Internationals were socialist political groupings which sought to advance worker's revolution across the globe and achieve international socialism (see world revolution).