Casper Sylvest

British liberal internationalism, 1880-1930 : making progress?

List of figures Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1. Introduction Part I - Beginnings 2. Victorian liberalism and the roots of liberal internationalism Part II - Languages 3. Legal evolution and the redemption of international law 4. Philosophy and internationalist ethics 5. Liberal internationalism and the uses of history Part III - Traces 6. Into the twentieth century 7. A postscript Bibliography Index

International society in Victorian political thought: T. H. green, Herbert Spencer, and Henry Sidgwick

In the second half of the nineteenth century, British liberal ideology contained an open-ended vision of international order. The vision usually included a notion of an incipient or immanent international society composed of civilized nations. The fundamental distinction between civilized and barbarian nations meant that while this perceived society was international, in no sense was it global. In this essay we outline some of the broader characteristics of the internationalist outlook that many liberals shared and specifically discuss the claims about international society that they articulated. Liberal internationalism was a broad church and many (but not all) of its fundamental assumptions about the nature and direction of international progress and the importance of civilization were shared by large swathes of the intellectual elite. These assumptions are analysed by exploring the conceptions of international society found in three of the most influential thinkers of the time, T. H. Green, Herbert Spencer and Henry Sidgwick. Finally, the essay turns to the limitations of this vision of international society, especially in the context of the role of empire.

Continuity and Change in British Liberal Internationalism, c. 1900-1930

This article is concerned with the historical trajectory and legacy of British liberal internationalist ideas in the opening three decades of the twentieth century. Despite this body of ideas being a major force behind the establishment of International Relations (IR) in Britain following the Great War, only scant attention is paid to its pre-war configuration. The article attempts to remedy this gap by focusing on internationalist thought prior to and during the war. It is argued that internationalist ideas during the Great War accelerated a drift towards institutional arguments, which are herein distinguished from moral arguments, and that the concept of anarchy played a major role in this shift in internationalist ideas. While the transformation of liberal internationalist ideas during the war constitutes a central backdrop to the early practices of British IR, it should not overshadow the powerful, underlying continuity in ethico-political convictions entertained by internationalists before and after the Great War.

Reclaiming nuclear politics? Nuclear realism, the H-bomb and globality

As nuclear weapons are again becoming the subject of critical scholarship and progressive activism, this article seeks to widen the perspective of critical security studies in relation to nuclear weapons and to provide a better understanding of the historical precursors of current ambitions. We do so by focusing on the central decade of the thermonuclear revolution (ca 1952–1963) and on a body of thought we term ‘nuclear realism’. Nuclear realists were united by the central conviction that liberal modernity could survive collective suicide only by radically rethinking and transforming its foundations. Günther Anders, John Herz, Lewis Mumford and Bertrand Russell take centre stage, and we highlight that the central pillars in their project of nuclear critique was a dissection of the legacy of the Enlightenment and an incisive examination of its implications for (international) politics in the nuclear age. These dimensions came together in their critique of the prevailing concept of deterrence. In an attempt to reclaim nuclear politics for a wider public, nuclear realists stressed the absolute centrality of imagination as a strategy for unmasking the power and rationality of a growing national security establishment, on the one hand, and bringing a distinct, alternative vision of global politics and security into view, on the other. This comprehensive yet multifaceted project, while afflicted by its own challenges, is deeply relevant for today’s nuclear politics.

Nuclear Realism : Global political thought during the thermonuclear revolution

What is a realist response to nuclear weapons? This book is animated by the idea that contemporary attempts to confront the challenge of nuclear weapons and other global security problems would benefit from richer historical foundations. Returning to the decade of deep, thermonuclear anxiety inaugurated in the early 1950s, the authors focus on four creative intellectuals – Gunther Anders, John H. Herz, Lewis Mumford and Bertrand Russell – whose work they reclaim under the label of ‘nuclear realism’. This book brings out an important, oppositional and resolutely global strand of political thought that combines realist insights about nuclear weapons with radical proposals for social and political transformation as the only escape from a profoundly endangered planet. Nuclear Realism is a highly original and provocative study that will be of great use to advanced undergraduates, graduates and scholars of political theory, International Relations and Cold War history.

John H. Herz and the Resurrection of Classical Realism

This article argues that the political theory of John H. Herz — best known in International Relations (IR) for the invention of the concept of the security dilemma — reveals a sophisticated body of thought deeply relevant to the ongoing attempt to resurrect classical realism. Like other forms of classical realism, the Herzian variant was strategic and rhetorical in character. Beneath its realist posture we find a liberal ideology focused on achieving order, progress and justice in international politics. Although this positive project began from a pessimistic rendering of the political, Herzs political theory was never fatalistic. In combining liberal ideals with a realist understanding of politics, Herz continuously stressed how international politics could be mitigated and changed. This vision was, in turn, based on a broadly constructivist rendering of the security dilemma. Through an identification and analysis of these three central characteristics of Herzs realism (its strategic character, its liberal internationalist purpose, and its underlying constructivism), the article stresses the coherence and continuity of Herzs political thought, and provides a nuanced and complex understanding of an innovative and overlooked scholar of international relations, as well as a normatively compelling position from which to re-articulate classical realism today.

Beyond the State?: Pluralism and Internationalism in Early Twentieth-century Britain

The relationship between pluralism and internationalism is an interesting historical theme on the borderline between international relations and political theory. Intuitively the two ideologies seem to enjoy a close relationship, and at an abstract level they were both concerned with achieving political order with a minimum of central authority. However, the historical and theoretical interconnections between pluralism and (liberal) internationalism in Britain remain largely unexplored. This article attempts to fi ll this lacuna in intellectual history. Although both took shape within the confines of the same progressive intellectual agenda, the article strikes a cautious note about establishing too close a link between pluralism and internationalism, especially in the years following the Great War. This sceptical conclusion reflects not only the different preoccupations and changing nature of both pluralism and internationalism in the opening decades of the twentieth century, but also their complex theoretical relationship.

'"Our Passion for Legality": International Law and Imperialism in Late Nineteenth-Century Britain'

This article deploys a historical analysis of the relationship between law and imperialism to highlight questions about the character and role of international law in global politics. The involvement of two British international lawyers in practices of imperialism in Africa during the late nineteenth century is critically examined: the role of Travers Twiss (1809–1897) in the creation of the Congo Free State and John Westlake’s (1828–1913) support for the South African War. The analysis demonstrates the inescapably political character of international law and the dangers that follow from fusing a particular form of liberal moralism with notions of legal hierarchy. The historical cases raise ethico-political questions, the importance of which is only heightened by the character of contemporary world politics and the attention accorded to international law in recent years.

Realism and international law: the challenge of John H. Herz

The proliferation, globalization, and fragmentation of law in world politics have fostered an attempt to re-integrate International Law (IL) and International Relations (IR) scholarship, but so far the contribution of realist theory to this interdisciplinary perspective has been meagre. Combining intellectual history, the jurisprudence of IL and IR theory, this article provides an analysis of John H. Herz’s classical realism and its perspective on international law. In retrieving this vision, the article emphasizes the political and intellectual context from which Herz’s realism developed: the study of public law in Germany during the interwar period and in particular the contribution of Hans Kelsen and the pure theory of law to the study of international law. Herz was deeply inspired by Kelsen but he criticized the pure theory for ignoring the sociological foundations of law. Following his emigration to the United States, Herz embraced realism but without disregarding international law. Indeed, his mature, globally oriented realism offers a balanced, fruitful perspective for thinking about the relationship between politics and law that is deeply relevant for contemporary theory: it challenges modern, law-blind variants of realism and holds considerable potential for contributing to the approaches that have most successfully studied the law–politics nexus.

Russell’s Realist Radicalism

Bertrand Russell has been described as Britain’s last great radical. The article develops this interpretation by focusing on Russell’s international thought. While Russell drew on and contributed to liberal internationalism, the radical tradition is central for understanding the distinctiveness, qualities, and flaws in his thinking on international politics. The author argues that Russell’s near-pacifism and his support for world government were extensions of a radical project that coalesced with a sceptical, realist analysis of politics and liberal modernity. While his ideas initially attracted few supporters it proved more resilient and attuned to the complexities of the post-war decades marked by the arrival of atomic and particularly thermonuclear weapons. Russell’s realist radicalism gained new prominence in this context, because it addressed the anxieties and absurdities that characterised human post-war existence - but in this process much of its complexity was lost from view. Despite some violent shifts at the level of policy, the interpretation advanced here - where Russell is placed in the British radical tradition and where some markedly realist dimensions of his thinking are emphasised - is one of continuity in the central themes and orientation of Russell’s international thought during the half-century following the outbreak of the First World War.