Networking the International System

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction: Towards a Global History of International Organization

   • Madeleine Herren

   Pages 1-12

3. Constructing the Memory of International Organizations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. From the League of Nations to the United Nations: The Continuing Preservation and Development of the Geneva Archives

      • Sigrun Habermann-Box

      Pages 15-30

   3. Matsuoka Yosuke’s Miscalculation at Geneva: A Possible Reconsideration Using JACAR Data

      • Kenichiro Hirano

      Pages 31-40

4. Eurocentrism and Science Policy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41

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   2. On the Concept of International Organization: Centralization, Hegemonism, and Constitutionalism

      • Toshiki Mogami

      Pages 43-52

   3. Activities and Discourses on International Cultural Relations in Modern Japan: The Making of KBS (Kokusai Bunka Shinko Kai), 1934–1953

      • Atsushi Shibasaki

      Pages 53-72

   4. International Control of Epidemic Diseases from a Historical and Cultural Perspective

      • Naomi Nagata

      Pages 73-88

5. International Organization as a Forum: Turning Local Concerns Into Global Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 89-89

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   2. Sino-Japanese Controversies Over the Textbook Problem and the League of Nations

      • Shin Kawashima

      Pages 91-106

   3. Beyond Empires’ Science: Inter-Imperial Pacific Science Networks in the 1920s

      • Tomoko Akami

      Pages 107-132

   4. Networking Through the Y: The Role of YMCA in China’s Search for New National Identity and Internationalization

      • Guoqi Xu

      Pages 133-147

6. Culture and Standardization: The Multifunctional and Contradictory Use of International Organizations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-149

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   2. Global Governance: From Organizations to Networks or Not?

      • Craig N. Murphy

      Pages 151-162

   3. New Capitalism, UNESCO, and the Re-enchantment of Culture

      • Timothy D. Taylor

      Pages 163-173

   4. Popular Culture and International Cooperation in the 1930s

      • Bjarne Rogan

      Pages 175-185

   5. Avenues and Confines of Globalizing the Past: UNESCO’s International Commission for a “Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind” (1952–1969)

      • Katja Naumann

      Pages 187-200

7. Back Matter

   Pages 201-205

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The book critically investigates the local impact of international organizations beyond a Western rationale and aims to overcome Eurocentric patterns of analysis. Considering Asian and Western examples, the contributions originate from different disciplines and study areas and discuss a global approach, which has been a blind spot in scholarly research on international organizations until now. Using the 1930s as a historical reference, the contributions question role of international organizations during conflicts, war and crises, gaining insights into their function as peacekeeping forces in the 21st century. While chapter one discusses the historicity of international organizations and the availability of sources, the second chapter deliberates on Eurocentrism and science policy, considering the converging of newly created epistemic communities and old diplomatic elites. Chapter 3 sheds light on international organizations as platforms, expanding the field of research from the diversity of organizations to the patterns of global governance. The final chapter turns to the question of how international organizations invented and introduced new fields of action, pointing to the antithetic role of standardization, the preservation of cultural heritage and the difficulties in reaching a non-Western approach.

• Asian International Organizations
• Eurocentrism
• Global Governance
• History of Transboundary Networks and Global Standards
• International Organizations

• Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

  Madeleine Herren

Policies and ethics