Latin America and the peripheral origins of nineteenth-century international order
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Politics and International Studies
Abstract
Debates about the state of the international order have leapt from academic journals to the front pages of newspapers and into the discourses of policymakers concerned about sustaining cooperation to address global challenges. International order-a complex of international norms, institutions, and practices that helps structure world politics-is understood to be challenged from without by the rise of new powers and weakened from within by a hollowing out of support from key states. This attention has driven scholarly attempts to better understand international order's foundation and evolution-and to criticize assumptions of that order's beneficence.
Many of the norms, institutions, and practices that underpin today's order emerged in the nineteenth century; the great power bargains that shaped the order were intertwined with the expansion of empires and imposition of racial hierarchies. Scholarship in both global history and international relations increasingly understands the nineteenth century as a pivotal moment in the development international order. This project seeks to better understand the role of Latin America in this process-how did Latin American states shape and how were they shaped by their interactions with these foundational international projects? Given its status during this period-mostly independent but bereft of great powers and marginal to European international society-Latin America has been largely absent from discussions of international order or seen through the lens of their relations with the United States. This absence matters if we want to better understand how projects of international order relate to countries outside their cores. Our research will further de-center understandings of international order's creation and examine the constraints and possibilities for peripheral influence.
The period was also pivotal for Latin American state consolidation and international insertion. Latin America was long presumed to be an illiberal backwater during the nineteenth century; however, recent scholarship of the history of political ideas has shown the vibrancy of liberalism and republican projects and practices. Legal history, in turn, has emphasized the relevance of legal traditions and the way in which they informed state formation and international relations. However, we still know little about how domestic and international practices were connected; as such we propose the examination of "Latin America republican internationalism" as a lens through which to examine how domestic politics were manifested in diplomatic practice. The research will benefit global historians, international relations scholars, and historians of republicanism and liberalism in Latin America's nineteenth century.
The project will examine these developments from 1864-1919 through original archival research in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the USA. We will focus on key moments, such as international and regional summits and the creation of international organizations, and re-engage the region's international intellectual currents. We seek a better understanding of how republicanism and liberalism shaped Latin American diplomatic practices, how Latin America's peripheral position affected its engagement with projects of order-building, and how its proposals may have influenced practices of multilateralism. The initial period starts with the First Geneva Conference and is marked by the growing domestic consolidation and international economic insertion of Latin America. At a global level, it was characterized by early creation of international public unions and larger projects of inter-imperial international order-building. From about 1889, we enter a second period in which disparate diplomatic initiatives begin to coalesce into forms that resemble today's international organizations. Many of these bodies exist today or have been reborn in the post-Second World War institutional architecture.
Many of the norms, institutions, and practices that underpin today's order emerged in the nineteenth century; the great power bargains that shaped the order were intertwined with the expansion of empires and imposition of racial hierarchies. Scholarship in both global history and international relations increasingly understands the nineteenth century as a pivotal moment in the development international order. This project seeks to better understand the role of Latin America in this process-how did Latin American states shape and how were they shaped by their interactions with these foundational international projects? Given its status during this period-mostly independent but bereft of great powers and marginal to European international society-Latin America has been largely absent from discussions of international order or seen through the lens of their relations with the United States. This absence matters if we want to better understand how projects of international order relate to countries outside their cores. Our research will further de-center understandings of international order's creation and examine the constraints and possibilities for peripheral influence.
The period was also pivotal for Latin American state consolidation and international insertion. Latin America was long presumed to be an illiberal backwater during the nineteenth century; however, recent scholarship of the history of political ideas has shown the vibrancy of liberalism and republican projects and practices. Legal history, in turn, has emphasized the relevance of legal traditions and the way in which they informed state formation and international relations. However, we still know little about how domestic and international practices were connected; as such we propose the examination of "Latin America republican internationalism" as a lens through which to examine how domestic politics were manifested in diplomatic practice. The research will benefit global historians, international relations scholars, and historians of republicanism and liberalism in Latin America's nineteenth century.
The project will examine these developments from 1864-1919 through original archival research in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the USA. We will focus on key moments, such as international and regional summits and the creation of international organizations, and re-engage the region's international intellectual currents. We seek a better understanding of how republicanism and liberalism shaped Latin American diplomatic practices, how Latin America's peripheral position affected its engagement with projects of order-building, and how its proposals may have influenced practices of multilateralism. The initial period starts with the First Geneva Conference and is marked by the growing domestic consolidation and international economic insertion of Latin America. At a global level, it was characterized by early creation of international public unions and larger projects of inter-imperial international order-building. From about 1889, we enter a second period in which disparate diplomatic initiatives begin to coalesce into forms that resemble today's international organizations. Many of these bodies exist today or have been reborn in the post-Second World War institutional architecture.
Publications
Long T
(2021)
Republican internationalism: the nineteenth-century roots of Latin American contributions to international order
in Cambridge Review of International Affairs
Long, T
(2023)
Compensatory Layering and the Birth of the Multipurpose Multilateral IGO in the Americas
in International Organization
Description | Contracting of research assistants |
Organisation | College of Mexico |
Country | Mexico |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have worked with Colegio de Mexico, including presenting research there and collaborating with academic staff; we have also provided £4000 for the salary of the research assistant |
Collaborator Contribution | We have signed an agreement and hired a research assistant through El Colegio de Mexico; they have agreed to provide in-kind contributions of the administrative and contracting costs or handling payments without overhead; they have also agreed to assist in supervision of the RA, a recent doctoral graduate of El Colegio de Mexico. |
Impact | We have met with the RA, and he is beginning archival research for the project. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Global International Society and the Liberal Script Through the Lens of Latin America |
Organisation | Einstein Foundation, Berlin |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We presented an overview of our project and planned research in a workshop on December 15-16, and we continue to form part of this network going forward. |
Collaborator Contribution | The SCRIPTS research group, sponsored by the Einstein Foundation, is supporting this research network. (It would have been in person, with support for travel and lodging, but was moved online due to omicron.) The project will continue in Berlin and Oxford in 2022. |
Impact | At the moment, workshop and network, though it is planned to lead to publications. The project involves IR, political science, history, and international law. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Rethinking the Past and Present of Liberal Internationalism |
Organisation | City, University of London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Participation in a workshop and project with an international group of scholars |
Collaborator Contribution | They are sponsoring and hosting the conference |
Impact | One conference paper and presentation, plus extensive network-building |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Rethinking the Past and Present of Liberal Internationalism |
Organisation | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Participation in a workshop and project with an international group of scholars |
Collaborator Contribution | They are sponsoring and hosting the conference |
Impact | One conference paper and presentation, plus extensive network-building |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Essay for international media |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We published an essay on Global Americans about how the historic principles of Latin American diplomacy informed the region's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://theglobalamericans.org/2022/03/latin-america-ukraine-and-the-legacies-of-republican-internat... |