U3L1 Nations, Nation-States and Internationalism

Introduction

Key Issue
To what extent does involvement in international affairs benefit nations and states?

Internationalism is a political movement that advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all.  Partisans of this movement claim that nations should cooperate because their long term mutual interests are of greater value than their individual short term needs.

Internationalism is, by nature, opposed to ultra-nationalism.  It teaches that the people of all nations have more in common than they do differences, and that nations should treat each other as equals. 

TERMS needs wants isolationism unilateralism bilateralism multilateralism supranationalism internationalism

Lesson

RESOURCES

Read and refer to Chapter Nine as your resource for completing this lesson's assignment.

Chapter Nine Summary Notes
United Nations Security Council Resolution
Introduction to United Nations
About the United Nations

LESSON

Nations and nation states have many common and conflicting motives.  Some nations prefer to concentrate on their domestic policies and virtually ignore the international community, while others are more concerned with global issues.  These countries attempt to not only further their own interests through trade, collective security and other methods but they also attempt to assist in alleviating problems globally. 

Common motives of nations and states include:

Economic Stability Peace and Security Self-Determination Humanitarianism

• All humans share the same needs and wants. Everyone needs food, water, shelter to stay alive and healthy. Wants are the things that people desire to have even if they do not require it to survive. Needs and wants create a motive for people to go out and find jobs so they can make money, to fulfill these needs and wants.
• Nations work the same way. Governments are motivated to fulfill the needs of their citizens by trying to provide economic stability. Peace and security, self-determination, and humanitarian activities.
• Abraham Maslow believed that people followed a unique pattern or hierarchy. He believed that once people have satisfied their basic needs, they can focus on their wants.

Economic stability

• Positive effects of high employment. If there are more jobs there are more people with money to spend. If companies have more people buying their products there is more demand, which means that there is a higher demand for the companies to produce more products. In order for a company to make more products, they need to hire more people to work, and so the cycle continues.

Peace and security

• Abraham Maslow believed that safety and security was the second most important need, because it’s hard to be happy if there is a war going on in your backyard. Many counties have charters or rights so that people know that they have the right to live safely. This also helps settle legal disputes. Countries also have armies or military forces that protect the country.

Self determination

• Most people like to control their own lives so when governments do not allow this to happen, the sovereign nations begin to emerge and start their own country. This is common when some nations only allow one religion to be followed in the country.

Humanitarianism

• Many people in the world feel sympathy for those who are less fortunate. These people start organizations like food banks so they can help out the less fortunate.
• Natural disasters, disease, wars and conflict can all cause suffering for people. Disasters such as tsunamis can destroy towns in a matter of seconds, killing many people and leaving others injured or stranded.

How do the motives of nations and states shape their responses to the world?

• Countries' withdrawal from contact was one of the reasons Adolf Hitler expanded Germany’s territory, and continued to persecute the Jews.
• A country's complete isolation from the rest of the world is known as isolationism. Japan was a good example of that until 1854, when the United States started trading with them.
• Unilateralism was an issue after WWII, because a nuclear arms race started, and countries just decided to disarm their nuclear weapons to avoid nuclear war.
• Bilateralism is an agreement, or a goal that two persons, or countries can work together, to accomplish, a goal such as Canada and the United States trying to fight against global warming.
• Multilateralism is when countries gather together because of an interest or common goal that they can work together to accomplish.
• Supranationalism is when countries change something so they are more uniform. Ex. The majority of European countries adapted to using the Euro.  (previously, they all used separate currencies)

How does internationalism benefit nations and states?

• Internationalism benefits nations and states because every one in the world is informed about what is happening and can make contributions to help.
• WWI and WWII both brought awareness to world peace. Internationalism helped promote global awareness and helped prevent other wars.
• The UN consists of 126 countries that are allied and since then there has not been another world war.
• There are companies such as the world bank and the international monetary fund that help keep the economy stable.
• The United States allegedly isolates smaller and underdeveloped countries from the benefits of the World Bank, and the IMF.
• The universal declaration of human rights after WWII accelerated the process of colonized territories achieving independence.
• International support groups such as the red cross help out with natural disasters.

United Nations: History and Functions

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Assignment

Open the following Benefits of Internationalism document.  Label it SS20U3L1.surname 
Enter your responses directly into this document.

Submit this assignment using the Assignment Folder for U1L3 Internationalism.

Evaluation and Conclusion

Evaluation:

Part A - 10
Part B - 20
Total = 30

Conclusion

The two world wars of the 20th Century did a great deal to promote internationalism.  Many countries decided that the only hope of preventing another disastrous large-scale war was to join together as a world community.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of UN, once said, "Today's real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated. Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another.