H. G. Wells and the World State: A Liberal Cosmopolitan in a Totalitarian Age

H. G. Wells advocated some form of world government from 1901 (with the publication of Anticipations) to his death in 1946, though his contribution to cosmopolitan thought is often overshadowed by the various totalitarian internationalisms of the 1920s to the 1940s. Far from advocating a simple, inf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International relations (London) 2003-06, Vol.17 (2), p.233-246
Main Author: Partington, John S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cosmopolitanism
Federalism
Imperialism
Intellectual History
Internationalism
Liberalism
Literature
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:H. G. Wells advocated some form of world government from 1901 (with the publication of Anticipations) to his death in 1946, though his contribution to cosmopolitan thought is often overshadowed by the various totalitarian internationalisms of the 1920s to the 1940s. Far from advocating a simple, inflexible formula for the whole world, & far from demanding immediate revolutionary political change, Wells outlined several cosmopolitan models aimed at accommodating different cultures at different stages of economic & social development. Thus, while decrying imperialism, he supported empire pooling & education & investment to raise the colonial peoples to the economic level of their erstwhile exploiters. In Europe, he gave support to European federalism as a first stage to global governance. Ultimately, however, he saw global governance by function as the model towards which to strive. Functionalism, for Wells, permitted the exercise of local & regional culture without inhibiting the provision of goods & services across the world. Through a series of writings spanning the period 1901 to 1944, Wells sharpened his cosmopolitan thinking, revising it often though never veering far from his original intention of unifying humankind in a sovereign world state of peace & prosperity. [Copyright 2003 Sage Publications Ltd.]
ISSN:0047-1178