The Architects of International Relations: Building a Discipline, Designing the World, 1914-1940

Description

Based on extensive archival research, this book provides a new and stimulating history of International Relations (IR) as an academic discipline. Contrary to traditional accounts, it argues that IR was not invented by Anglo-American men after the First World War. Nor was it divided into neat theoretical camps. To appreciate the twists and turns of early IR scholarship, the book follows a diverse group of men and women from across Europe and beyond who pioneered the field since 1914. Like architects, they built a set of institutions (university departments, journals, libraries, etc.) but they also designed plans for a new world order (draft treaties, petitions, political commentary, etc.). To achieve these goals, they interacted closely with the League of Nations and its bodies for intellectual cooperation, until the Second World War put an end to their endeavour. Their story raises broader questions about the status of IR well beyond the inter-war period. Cover Half-title Title Page Copyright Information Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Archival Sources Personal Papers Institutional Archives State and Official Archives List of Abbreviations Introduction Writing the History of a Discipline A New History of International Relations 1 Wartime Origins Introduction The World in July 1914 Understanding the Causes of War Towards a New International Order At the Peace Conference Conclusion 2 Genesis of a Discipline Introduction The Cradle of International Relations From Berlin to Geneva Across the Pond A Global Discipline? Conclusion 3 Peace in the Minds of Men and Women Introduction From the Republic of Letters to the League of Nations Beginnings in Geneva: The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) Revival in Paris: The International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) International Relations and the Politics of Intellectual Cooperation The Demise of an Experiment Conclusion 4 Professors as Diplomats Introduction The Spirit of Geneva From Lectures to Treaties The Search for a Security Treaty Building the International Studies Conference Academic Spokespeople Conclusion 5 Testing Collective Security Introduction The Idea of Collective Security Sanctions and the League of Nations Reactions to Manchuria and Abyssinia A Discipline in Flux Conclusion 6 The End of World Affairs Introduction Attacks on Academia Making Sense of Hitler The Idea of Peaceful Change From Chatham House to the Reichskanzlei The Demise of International Relations Conclusion Conclusion Ambitious Aims Disheartening Results A Doomed Discipline? Index