Governing the World: The History of an Idea [Paperback]

'Somewhere between world government and no government', writes Mark Mazower, 'lies a vision of organised cooperation among nations'. He goes on to credit such a vision with the inspiration of the United Nations, the EU, and other multilateral organisations. They all have in common, he asserts, the vision of a better future for mankind, one that promises our collective emancipation.

The declared aim of his book is to explore the historical evolution of such institutions, to show how some of them have shaped realities, and to ask what is left of them today. Thus he embarks on a journey that begins with the Concert of Europe, set up following the 1815 defeat of Napoleon; continues to the League of Nations, established after the First World War; The United Nations, whose genesis began even whilst the Second World War was still being fought; the European Union, begun modestly in 1956 but even then with the definite aim of making war between its founder members unthinkable; and concludes with a discussion of some of the financial, global warming and other problems with which we wrestle today that seem not to be susceptible to effective solution by the international institutions as they are at present constituted.

Mark Mazower is a historian, but his book also has a lot of content relevant to readers whose primary interest is in politics, even economics. In fact, some prior knowledge in all those areas is almost a pre-requisite to reading the book. A huge range of historical figures and events is referred to, usually with half a line of biographical or other information about the more obscure attached, but, if the great majority are entirely new to you, you are likely to find the book hard going.

That being said, for me, an economist with a lifelong interest in European and American history and politics, the book is a major treat.

In essence, it's an extended essay; a romp that takes in two Russian Tsars, Metternich, Woodrow Wilson, Lenin, Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, Churchill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Kissinger, and a great many more. The United Nations and its agencies (WHO, ILO, IMF, World Bank, WTO, etc., etc.) take up around half the book. Mazower is not impressed by the showboating that passes for the annual September General Assembly, but has great respect for the work of many of the agencies other than the last three named above. Interestingly, he is cautious of philanthropic foundations such as that of Bill and Melinda Gates that target their own agendas, with little or no reference to established UN agencies already working in the same areas. Pleased as many of us are to see some of the money we pay for Microsoft products (or of which George Soros in 1992 relieved the British Government) go to good causes, Mazower's critique of the philanthropists' activities is worth reading.

By contrast, Mazower is very appreciative of the support that both John D and David Rockefeller have given the UN.

He ends on a note of sadness that the WTO's Doha Round is 'paralysed', the World Bank 'chastened', the IMF 'incapable of helping to rectify the global imbalances that threaten the world economy', and no single agency able to coordinate the response to global warming. No doubt disappointingly for many, he offers no quick fix for the various messes into which we have got ourselves. Instead, he soberly concludes that 'the institutions of governance stand in urgent need of renovation'. Having got that far with him, you are likely to agree, and to be uncomfortably aware of the importance of the word 'urgent' in that sentence.

The book has a detailed index and many notes.

Only half way through this fascinating insight into human history but I have this burning desire to articulate the story so far and urge you to seek out Mark Mazower's 'Governing the World. The History of an Idea.'

His narrative technique is to use the truth. What the reader may or may not perceive as 'development' can be discerned from events whether they are literary or physical. What is striking as I read through various signed agreements and declarations is just how dishonest the human race is. How present day concerns about dislocation and isolation are in fact nothing new. It is as though the individual human being has always been irrelevant.

The creation of the League of Nations plays a prominent role in his discourse. The existence of various peace movements and pacifism are much more important than mere wishy-washy resistance: often used to provide 'authority' to veiled imperialism/protectionism. Another new area for me was the invention of 'public opinion,' again absorbed and used by the very forces it sought to renounce.

Famous men also litter the fields of world governance. Richard Cobden is described as 'an English free-trade hero' but is clearly a leading player in Western ideologies. USA President Woodrow Wilson persists through the early twentieth century. Charles Darwin haunts them all.

In amongst all the factions and ideas the author skilfully puts us in a particular scene. For example when an American reporter manages to witness a meeting in Moscow, that same reporter describes the attire of Trotsky and how Lenin was so multilingual sat behind the red covered desk at the end of the room.

If I have one slight criticism it is the author's prose style often lacks the discipline of a seasoned writer. Sentences are often entangled in themselves but never so much as to be a hindrance to your continued reading. I am learning so much and am especially pleased that the writer is real and has the confidence to bring characters and ideas off the page with a pertinent adjective or remark. If you are a Manager who believes in control before the concerns of your staff then you may perhaps detect a bias in the book.

It is a book of empires and delusions. When the social instinct becomes insane. I could define an idea as a big idea if it becomes something to live for. Will the human being ever recover from the Second World War? It has not even begun to. Only an individual can promote clarity. Conformity Kills.

*****

14 JANUARY. Finished reading this startling overview of human governance. I believe I now have a better appreciation of why macro politics behaves the way it does. Competing plans. Plans never from the overwhelming mass of average whom I like to refer to as Everybody. For a European reader (a fact or a fantastical statement?) I came very close to learning why the Euro sceptics in the UK exist. Powerful people who know their power is being undermined. Undermined by laws or bodies crossing State lines. The State is at the behest of special interest groups/lobbyists. Euro sceptics. And the individual who was so important during and after the Second World war, has become the Internet. Or nothing.

The author's insight into the rejection of a Keynesian response to the current financial turbulence, by European leaders in favour of welfare cuts and austerity for the poor, hit home particularly well in his concluding chapters. It really is a vital read. For every body.

The author is using the period from 1815 to analyse the growth of Internationalism, commencing from the unification of several European countries from small princedoms and dukedoms into monarchies of which several had collapsed in the between-War years and much later the re-assembly into larger units and the current belief that changes are ahead.

The ideas, initially simple, became complex with the breakdown of several European empires, principally Austro-Hungary, Ottoman, and the French and British more recently, as well as the creation of two Eastern European states, Czechoslavakia and Jugoslavia, where differences in religion and language and where long-standing distrust of other groups was smoothed over in the hope that all would be well. That both worked for some time but eventually collapsed causing the recreation of older and smaller states was a surprise to few, despite one being relatively peaceful and the other involved in multi-level friction and states of undeclared war. The eventual collapse of the Soviet bloc and the recreation of long-forgotten national borders and identiies is another consequence.

In the most part post-WW2 associations, trading and semi-political blocs between many countries in the form of NATO, Benelux and the EEC, British Commonwealth etc and financial institutions such as the World Bank allowed their participants to enjoy the benefits of mutual support and inter-trading at preferential rates were/are typical benefits but some distrust and doubt remains. However, those organisations are also being slowly eroded from within and by external issues and new institutions may yet arise that attempt to rectify the errors of the past and present.

Taking many examples from history, the author's research has allowed him to create a complex analysis across time and against different economic and political attitudes of the different eras. The author has also written extensively in his previous books on several aspects of European history, principally post-WW2, and where those earlier books may in part contribute to this. His understanding of primarily European issues, at least those in the earlier years of the 200-year span, undoubtedly aided his ability to write this book.

A book which may form an important part of future curricula.