TY - CHAP
T1 - Liberal Internationalism Reconsidered
T2 - Inter-Imperialism, Liberalism, and the League of Nations in Asia and the Pacific
AU - Akami, Tomoko
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The League of Nations has long been uncritically characterised as a ‘liberal internationalist’ institution. This chapter argues that a more rigorous reassessment of the nature of internationalism and liberalism is needed in order to properly evaluate the nature of the League’s works in Asia and the Pacific. First, it suggests that the notion of internationalism, based on national sovereign units, does not apply beyond Euro-America in the age of empires. Rather, this chapter introduces the concepts of inter-imperialism and inter-colonialism as significant layers of the League’s internationalism and argues that this conceptualisation allows us to acknowledge and examine the complex interactions among experts across imperial polities in the region, whom the League mobilised for its projects for shaping the norms of global governance. Second, it reassesses the nature of the League’s liberalism in Asia and the Pacific and beyond. Focusing on the League’s ‘humanitarian’ works in the region, it suggests these works manifested the problematics inherent in ‘imperial metropolitan liberalism’. Finally, it examines the nature of the League’s liberalism globally, revealing its problematic view of the relationship between public opinion and experts, and suggests that this issue continues to linger in ‘liberal’ international institutions in the 2020s.
AB - The League of Nations has long been uncritically characterised as a ‘liberal internationalist’ institution. This chapter argues that a more rigorous reassessment of the nature of internationalism and liberalism is needed in order to properly evaluate the nature of the League’s works in Asia and the Pacific. First, it suggests that the notion of internationalism, based on national sovereign units, does not apply beyond Euro-America in the age of empires. Rather, this chapter introduces the concepts of inter-imperialism and inter-colonialism as significant layers of the League’s internationalism and argues that this conceptualisation allows us to acknowledge and examine the complex interactions among experts across imperial polities in the region, whom the League mobilised for its projects for shaping the norms of global governance. Second, it reassesses the nature of the League’s liberalism in Asia and the Pacific and beyond. Focusing on the League’s ‘humanitarian’ works in the region, it suggests these works manifested the problematics inherent in ‘imperial metropolitan liberalism’. Finally, it examines the nature of the League’s liberalism globally, revealing its problematic view of the relationship between public opinion and experts, and suggests that this issue continues to linger in ‘liberal’ international institutions in the 2020s.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146588253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-981-19-7067-2_2
DO - 10.1007/978-981-19-7067-2_2
M3 - Chapter
T3 - New Directions in East Asian History
SP - 11
EP - 36
BT - New Directions in East Asian History
PB - Springer
ER -