THE GODFATHER OF “OCCIDENTALITY”: AUGUSTE COMTE AND THE IDEA OF “THE WEST”

Recent theories concerning the origins of the idea of “the West” have missed the most important link in the story, the writings and tireless propagandizing efforts of Auguste Comte. It was Comte who first developed an explicit and elaborate idea of “the West” as a sociopolitical concept, basing it on a historical analysis of the development of the “vanguard” of humanity and proposing a detailed plan for the reorganization of that portion of the world, before it could serve the rest of humanity to achieve the same “positive” state of development. Previous authors who had used “the West” did not go beyond employing it casually and interchangeably with “Europe.” Thus the modern political idea of “the West” was anything but an imperialistic project in its inception, despite widespread arguments in the literature that attribute its emergence to the needs of high imperialism. Comte's West was meant to abolish empires of conquest and establish world peace.</jats:p

Geopolitics and empire: visions of regional world order in the 1940s

This essay examines the influence of geopolitical and imperial thought on theories of international relations in the United States. The paper assesses the thought of Owen Lattimore, a leading American sinologist and political adviser to F. D. Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek, and Nicholas John Spykman, an influential international-relations scholar at Yale. In the framework of the Second World War and the "air age", they envisaged a tripolar world order that entailed a new conception of political space and international relations. Lattimore's global geopolitical order sought to replace imperialism with democracy, while Spykman employed geopolitical concepts to envisage a tripolar order of "balanced powers" which built upon - rather than rejected - existing imperial structures. This paper examines their international theories and the policy implications of their thought to claim that 1940s theoretical interdisciplinarity made an important contribution to the development of the discipline of international relations in the United States

John Stuart Mill on French thought, politics, and national character

The thesis deals with the impact J.S. Mill's almost life-long involvement with France and the French had on his political thought. In the first place a re-assessment of Mill's intellectual indebtedness to a number of French thinkers is attempted. Particular attention is paid to Guizot's hitherto overlooked influence on Mill, and Tocqueville's imputed influence on the British thinker is put into context by being studied jointly with that of Guizot. Mill's views on antagonism, diversity, and civilization are examined closer, thanks to the identification of some of the main French sources which had an impact on his thinking on these issues. Some of the major components of Mill's theory of international relations are found to owe a great deal to French thinkers and debates, and are illuminated through an account of their origin and development in his thought. In the second place Mill's views on French politics as well as foreign policies --from 1830 to 1871-- are examined. His attitude towards French political parties and personalities and the policies they advocated are studied with a view to illuminating some broader issues related to his overall thinking on politics. His views on French foreign-policy objectives and attitudes as well as, more specifically, on the vicissitudes of Franco-British relations are studied next to his views on French internal politics, as the two are found to be closely connected. In the third place the meaning and importance of the concept of "national character" in Mill's thought is examined through a study of his comments on French national character and his frequent comparisons between the French and English characters. The thesis concludes with a chapter on Mill's views on the significance of studying a foreign country and his own performance in this respect with regard to France

Cosmopolitan Patriotism in J. S. Mill’s Political Thought and Activism

No one disapproves more, or is in the habit of expressing his disapprobation more strongly than I do of the narrow, exclusive patriotism of former ages which made the good of the whole human race a subordinate consideration to the good, or worse still, to the mere power & external importance, of the country of one’s birth. I believe that the good of no country can be obtained by any means but such as tend to that of all countries, nor ought to be sought otherwise, even if obtainable. Mill’s r..