'International Mind'? Jens Wegener
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Creating an ‘International Mind’? The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Europe, 1911–1940 Jens Wegener Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 12 June, 2015 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Creating an ‘International Mind’? The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Europe, 1911–1940 Jens Wegener Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor Kiran Klaus Patel, Maastricht University (external supervisor) Professor Federico Romero, European University Institute (second reader) Professor Sven Beckert, Harvard University Professor Gary Gerstle, University of Cambridge © Jens Wegener, 2015 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Abstract How do non-governmental actors exert power beyond the confines of nation-states? Examining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) and its network of European foreign policy elites, I argue that non-governmental actors developed transnational political agendas in part to counter the democratizing and social shifts of the early twentieth century. Throughout the interwar period the CEIP emerged as a key participant in cultural internationalism by providing financial and logistical aid for transnational outreach. Well connected to social elites in several countries, the CEIP’s emergence illustrates how internationalism was inexorably structured by economic, social and cultural capital. As formerly marginalized social groups—e.g. women, organized labor and ethnic minorities—became more integrated into national decision-making processes, traditional elites began to erect new barriers around transnational spaces to preserve existing power structures. Rather than constituting the formation of an emancipatory “transnational civil society,” the transnationalization of politics emerged as a technique for curtailing social movements. The project investigates how the CEIP fostered the construction, transformation and circulation of expertise among the technical experts who in the wake of the First World War were becoming increasingly central to the making of foreign policy. Starting in the mid-1920s, the foundation promoted networking between economists, international lawyers and other specialists who staffed foreign ministries and international organizations such as the League of Nations or the Permanent Court of International Justice. The CEIP used these connections and the power of the purse to stimulate the development of professional communities with the ultimate goal of reaching policy consensus on the divisive issues of the time. These agreements—styled as “scientific” or “objective”—then formed the basis of a CEIP-funded educational campaign for a liberal, yet hierarchical, global order in the United States, Europe and Latin America, particularly among highly educated elites. This attempt to construct an “international mind” faltered with the beginning of the Second World War. Yet, tracing the careers of CEIP-connected experts into the post-war planning projects, the thesis ultimately challenges “creationist” narratives of international financial, human rights and security regimes after 1945. Many of the international policies implemented in the second half of the 1940s had largely been developed in an environment that bore little resemblance to the de facto power constellation of the early Cold War. Instead of representing a clean break with a failed past, they were legacies of an attempt to make the world safe for a return to the liberal capitalist order that had marked the long nineteenth century. Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 1. An ordered civilization: The crisis of liberalism in America and Europe ...................................... 31 2. Promoting an “international mind”: Transnationalism as discourse and practice ......................... 69 3. Weltbürgertum: Cultural internationalism and the search for social order .................................. 101 4. A lawyers’ international: The juridification of international relations and its discontents .......... 135 5. Merchants of Peace: Internationalists, multinationals and the cultural foundations of international economic regimes ............................................................................................................................ 173 6. Reconfiguring the nation: Interwar networks and the belated triumph of regionalism ............... 221 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 261 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... 267 Archival collections ......................................................................................................................... 269 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................... 273 1 2 Acknowledgments Writing this thesis has been a thrilling, sometimes daunting, but always stimulating journey. Naturally, I have incurred many debts of gratitude. First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Professor Kiran Patel, whose professional guidance and untiring support made this thesis possible, during even the most difficult legs of this journey. Professor Patel challenged me to look beyond my initial assumptions, and through his patience and knowledge, inspired me to progress. For their helpful support and criticism, I am grateful to my second readers and panel members, Professors Heinz- Gerhard Haupt, Federico Romero, Sven Beckert and Gary Gerstle. A heartfelt “Dankeschön” to Professor Michael Wala of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, who was not only present at the creation of this project, but encouraged me to venture far beyond where I thought I would go. At Bochum, I also benefited tremendously from the support of an exceptional team of colleagues at the North American History section: Lucie-Patrizia Arndt, Carina Steller, Daniela Städter and Jan Hildenhagen. Many thanks for helping me get this project off the ground. I would like to extend my gratitude to New York University, particularly to Prof. Thomas Bender, as well as to the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., for inviting me to participate in two stimulating scholarly communities. Thanks are also due to the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, whose funding made this dissertation possible. The staffs of the Rare Books and Manuscript Library at Columbia University and of the Milstein Division at the New York Public Library deserve much appreciation from an all-too-frequent patron. To the professors and staff of the European University Institute I would like to express my thanks for the years of professional and dedicated support. I am grateful to my fellow researchers in Florence— Chris Bannister, Jasper Jans, Ciaran Burke and many others—for camaraderie and friendship that has spanned two continents. Special thanks are due to Bart Luttikhuis for his helpful comments in the final stages of this project as well as to Julien Topal for many a coffee break. Of course, a long project such as this would not be possible without the backing of family and friends. I would like to thank my parents Jürgen and Hedwig Wegener and my brother Thorsten for encouraging me to follow my dreams and ambitions, wherever they may take me. For giving me the necessary breathers, many thanks to the Bonner family and to my friends in Dortmund—Michael, Björn, Daniel and Alex. Finally, to my wife Kelly, who was there from the earliest drafts to the final version. This journey would have been immeasurably less fulfilling without her as my travelling companion; without her patience and good humor during late nights and take-out dinners. Thank you for your strength and your love. 3 4 Introduction “In each country there are one or a few dozen men who feel closer to certain inhabitants of other states than to the rest of their fellow countrymen,” José Ortega y Gasset wrote in 1926 to describe the internationalist movement of his time.1 While the years between the two world wars were an era of widespread nationalism and international instability, they also witnessed one of the great movements toward international cooperation. Terms such as “intellectual cooperation” and “moral disarmament” proliferated in public speeches and in the pages of learned publications. The Spanish philosopher ascribed this movement to a spontaneous surge of intellectual convergence, “without any action or even purposeful propaganda.” It was a romantic notion of detached intellectualism that bore, however, little resemblance to the tangible logistical challenges of a field that thrived on cross-border travel, communication and organization. At its heart was a transnational support structure that provided organizational and financial resources and fostered “something akin to an international cartel, cultivated by visits