Organizing The 20th Century World

International Organizations play a pivotal role on the modern global stage and have done, this book argues, since the beginning of the 20th century. This volume offers the first historical exploration into the formative years of international public administrations, covering the birth of the League of Nations and the emergence of the second generation that still shape international politics today such as the UN, NATO and OECD. Centring on Europe, where the multilaterization of international relations played out more intensely in the mid-20th century than in other parts of the world, it demonstrates a broad range of historiographical and methodological approaches to institutions in international history. The book argues that after several 'turns' (cultural, linguistic, material, transnational), international history is now better equipped to restate its core questions of policy and power with a view to their institutional dimensions. Making use of new approaches in the field, this book develops an understanding of the specific powers and roles of IO-administrations by delving into their institutional make-up.

Since 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched numerous programs aimed at improving health conditions around the globe, ranging from efforts to eradicate smallpox to education programs about the health risks of smoking. In setting global health priorities and carrying out initiatives, the WHO bureaucracy has faced the challenge of reconciling the preferences of a small minority of wealthy nations, who fund the organization, with the demands of poorer member countries, who hold the majority of votes. In The World Health Organization between North and South, Nitsan Chorev shows how the WHO bureaucracy has succeeded not only in avoiding having its agenda co-opted by either coalition of member states but also in reaching a consensus that fit the bureaucracy's own principles and interests. Chorev assesses the response of the WHO bureaucracy to member-state pressure in two particularly contentious moments: when during the 1970s and early 1980s developing countries forcefully called for a more equal international economic order, and when in the 1990s the United States and other wealthy countries demanded international organizations adopt neoliberal economic reforms. In analyzing these two periods, Chorev demonstrates how strategic maneuvering made it possible for a vulnerable bureaucracy to preserve a relatively autonomous agenda, promote a consistent set of values, and protect its interests in the face of challenges from developing and developed countries alike.

This book is the first comprehensive account of the International Labour Organization’s 100-year history. At its heart is the concept of global social policy, which encompasses not only social policy in its national and international dimensions, but also development policy, world trade, international migration and human rights. The book focuses on the ILO’s roles as a key player in debates on poverty, social justice, wealth distribution and social mobility subjects and as a global forum for addressing these issues. The study puts in perspective the manifold ways in which the ILO has helped structure these debates and has made – through its standard-setting, technical cooperation and myriad other activities – practical contributions to the world of work and to global social policy.

This book offers a narrative, chronological, and regionally organized approach to twentieth century world history. Throughout the presentation, three themes emphasize the importance of ideology, conflict, and technology to the century's events. Its broad and inclusive focus also pays attention to necessary detail and specifics, and incorporates relevant material into the book, to give readers an uninterrupted historical narrative. A three-part organization covers: The Decline of European Hegemony, 1900--1945; The Age of the Superpowers, 1945--1989; and The World Order in Transition, 1989--Present. Balanced coverage of major world regions includes Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the non-western world in general. A focus on both the First and Second World Wars enables readers to examine twentieth century history's theme of the primacy of conflict. For armchair historians with particular interest in the twentieth century world.

The origins of organizing are conventionally seen as emerging from the historiographical works of Western social scientists in the early 20th century. Here, the authors address a gap in current literature by exploring previously unrecognized or marginalized global origins in both modern and ancient history.

This book explores the new types of political organization that emerged in Western Europe and the United States during the nineteenth century, from popular meetings to single-issue organizations and political parties. The development of these has often been used to demonstrate a movement towards democratic representation or political institutionalization. This volume challenges the idea that the development of ‘democracy’ is a story of rise and progress at all. It is rather a story of continuous but never completely satisfying attempts of interpreting the rule of the people. Taking the perspective of nineteenth-century organizers as its point of departure, this study shows that contemporaries hardly distinguished between petitioning, meeting and association. The attraction of organizing was that it promised representation, accountability and popular participation. Only in the twentieth century did parties reliable partners for the state in averting revolution, managing the unpredictable effects of universal suffrage, and reforming society. This collection analyzes them in their earliest stage, as just one of several types of civil society organizations, that did not differ that much from each other. The promise of organization, and the experiments that resulted from it, deeply impacted modern politics.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... "THE RELIGION OF DEMOCRACY" Foe over a thousand years the history of the world has been made by two great forces--the church and the state--the church basing its power on idealism and moral forces, the state . depending almost entirely upon military power. At times these two forces have seemed for a while to co-operate, and then to become antagonistic. Today they are absolutely distinct, working in different fields, with but little ground in common, and a rival claims the middle of the stage, for during the last century there has come into the world another force, which has concerned itself but little with our religious activities, and interested itself in our political activities only in so far as it could make the political forces serve its ends. I speak of the modern business system, based on the tremendously increased productive capacity of the race due to the advance of the arts and sciences. The rapid expansion of this new power has thrown all our economic mechanism out of gear, and because it failed to maintain a social purpose, which is common to both of the other forces, produces cross-currents and antagonisms in the community which are extremely detrimental to society as a whole. One hundred years ago, each family--certainly each community--produced nearly everything needed for the simple life then led. The village blacksmith and the local mill served the community, which existed substantially as a self-contained unit. With the growth of the transportation system and grand scale production many of the functions of the local artizans were taken over by the factory, just as the flour mills of Minneapolis supplanted the local mills, which went out of existence. In the same manner other large centralized industries by superior...

"A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire."ÑFred Ross Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would Òstay with his own kind,Ó Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in American history. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants, where he managed the same labor camp that inspired John SteinbeckÕs The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war, he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Labor organizing in this country was forever changed when Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer. Until now there has been no biography of Fred Ross, a man who believed a good organizer was supposed to fade into the crowd as others stepped forward. In AmericaÕs Social Arsonist, Gabriel Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man, recovering a forgotten chapter of American history and providing vital lessons for organizers today.