Beyond a ‘More International’ International Relations

Abstract

This chapter examines that the problem of ‘internationalness’ has been central to disciplinary discourse ever since international relations (IR) early institutionalization in the inter-war period. It explores three distinct ways in which the International Studies Conference (ISC) aimed to make IR more international. The first was through institution building, both by establishing ‘international’ institutions like the ISC and by promoting IR institution building around the world. The second was by encouraging a more internationalist spirit in research and education with the goal of overcoming nationalism and fostering instead an ‘international mind’. In contrast to the second, a third approach did not aim to foster internationalism as much as to bring different national schools, approaches and traditions into conversation to cultivate reconciliation and mutual understanding. The chapter discusses how these inter-war precursors to contemporary debates on the not-so-international character of IR ultimately failed because they were founded on distinctly Eurocentric ground and were infused by imperial, colonial and racist assumptions.