We understand ‘internationalism’ as a term that describes attempts to foster collaboration at the international level, involving an array of actors. Although scholarship on the history of internationalism is thriving, and although popular interest in this work has been rapidly increasing, we argue that a major stocktaking exercise is urgently needed, both to map out existing assumptions and methodological tools and to identify persistent blindspots. In particular, we do not think that the multifaceted and heterogeneous nature of past and present internationalisms has received sufficient attention, as a result of which a series of geographies, political settings, agents and connections have persistently fallen out of view.
We have several ongoing activities related to this project: a series of in-person and online conferences, a mentorship programme, multiple special issues (including one with History), a Bloomsbury Handbook on Histories of Internationalism, as well as a London-based reading group and many other conference presentations!
Future Events
In-person Conference hosted by Birkbeck, 18-20th March 2026
More information TBC!!
Past Events
Blind Spots and Buzzwords in Internationalism, 5-6th November 2025
We will explore how the transitory, often cyclical, nature of popular research topics and methods has both informed and obstructed our understandings of international movements, ideologies, agents and sources. Grouped into five thematic clusters (Migration; Far Right or Right-Wing Politics; the UN; Intellectual Histories, Economics), we will bring together scholars who are trying to make space for topics or approaches that have been conspicuously absent from key parts of the recent historiography on internationalism. Perhaps they were once on trend but have been eclipsed by other priorities, or perhaps they are deemed unconventional or passé within some of our academic disciplines or fields.
By being attentive to the pressures and rewards of the academic status, publication, and funding ecosystems, we will use this workshop to explore how the phenomenon of scholarly trends has shaped the study of internationalism and, more broadly, modern history at large. Has this short attention span kept the field ‘fresh’, or has it deterred (often materially) scholars from establishing deep knowledge on a subject? These meta-questions allow us to revisit some trends and bandwagons in recent historiography and explore the dynamics of a subfield with waxing or waning academic interest. We will discuss how these topics have regenerated once out of the spotlight and to what extent – if at all – the framework of internationalism can enrich them as they open up new directions and innovative approaches. Can scholars continue to turn to internationalism as a generative concept for researching these post-buzz topics?
New Methods for New Histories, 9-10 July 2025
The conference shifts the focus from two forms of internationalism that have attracted particular scholarly attention in recent years: on the one hand, Anglo-American visions of liberal internationalism that are often associated with bodies such as the League of Nations and United Nations; on the other hand, state-led internationalist ventures in which the Soviet Union and its allies played a prominent role. Instead, this conference will feature papers on grassroots visions and practices of internationalism, examining efforts that operated from the margins and/or within contexts of oppression.
Counter-Hegemonic Internationalisms: Perspectives from the Past (Northumbria University, 20-21 March 2025
This conference explores ways in which particular internationalist visions have spawned and sustained movements that have subverted predominant discourses, challenged existing power asymmetries or sought to overcome socio-economic inequalities. It thus shifts the focus from two forms of internationalism that have attracted particular scholarly attention in recent years: on the one hand, Anglo-American visions of liberal internationalism that are often associated with bodies such as the League of Nations and United Nations; on the other hand, state-led internationalist ventures in which the Soviet Union and its allies played a prominent role. Instead, this conference will feature papers on grassroots visions and practices of internationalism, examining efforts that operated from the margins and/or within contexts of oppression.
