Against the World

Online Description

A brilliant, eye-opening work of history that speaks volumes about today’s battles over international trade, immigration, public health and global inequality. Before the First World War, enthusiasm for a borderless world reached its height. International travel, migration, trade, and progressive projects on matters ranging from women’s rights to world peace reached a crescendo. Yet in the same breath, an undercurrent of reaction was growing, one that would surge ahead with the outbreak of war and its aftermath. In Against the World, a sweeping and ambitious work of history, acclaimed scholar Tara Zahra examines how nationalism, rather than internationalism, came to ensnare world politics in the early twentieth century. The air went out of the globalist balloon with the First World War as quotas were put on immigration and tariffs on trade, not only in the United States but across Europe, where war and disease led to mass societal upheaval. The “Spanish flu” heightened anxieties about porous national boundaries. The global impact of the 1929 economic crash and the Great Depression amplified a quest for food security in Europe and economic autonomy worldwide. Demands for relief from the instability and inequality linked to globalization forged democracies and dictatorships alike, from Gandhi’s India to America’s New Deal and Hitler’s Third Reich. Immigration restrictions, racially constituted notions of citizenship, anti-Semitism, and violent outbursts of hatred of the “other” became the norm—coming to genocidal fruition in the Second World War. Millions across the political spectrum sought refuge from the imagined and real threats of the global economy in ways strikingly reminiscent of our contemporary political moment: new movements emerged focused on homegrown and local foods, domestically produced clothing and other goods, and back-to-the-land communities. Rich with astonishing detail gleaned from Zahra’s unparalleled archival research in five languages, Against the World is a poignant and thorough exhumation of the popular sources of resistance to globalization. With anti-globalism a major tenet of today’s extremist agendas, Zahra’s arrestingly clearsighted and wide-angled account is essential reading to grapple with our divided present.

🧭 60‑Second Brief

• Core claim (1–2 sentences): Between 1913 and 1939, war, disease, hunger, and depression fused with mass politics to delegitimize liberal internationalism and propel movements for national self‑sufficiency—from visas and tariffs to settlement schemes and fascist “autarky”—even as some actors (anti‑colonialists, firms like Baťa) pursued alternative globalisms. (Introduction, p. 15–16; Conclusion/Epilogue, p. 265, 282–319.)     

• Causal mechanism in a phrase: Crisis → fear & identity politics → “quarantine” policies (borders, food/autarky) → feedback into conflict. (Ch. 4–5, p. 79–86; Ch. 15–17, p. 222–264.)     

• Paradigm & level(s) of analysis: Multi‑paradigmatic (realist constraints, liberal failures, constructivist identities/emotions), spanning individual–societal–state–system.

• Why it matters for policy/strategy (1–2 bullets):

  • Economic “appeasement” absent political alignment backfires; technocratic fixes cannot substitute for domestic legitimacy. (Ch. 16, p. 222–225, 230–238.)   

  • Watch mass politics around scarcity (food, jobs, disease): they are leading indicators of closure, coercion, and, in extreme cases, expansionist violence framed as “self‑sufficiency.” (Ch. 4–5, 17, p. 79–86, 246–264.)   

🧪 Theory Map (IR)

• Paradigm(s):

  • Realism: Security under anarchy → autarky, resource grabs, “Lebensraum” (security via territory). (Ch. 17, p. 246–264.) 

  • Liberalism (and its limits): Interdependence hopes (League, World Economic Conference) vs. failure under mass pressure. (Ch. 16, p. 222–236; Conclusion, p. 265–268.)   

  • Constructivism: National identities, moral economies (“buy British,” swadeshi) and emotions (fear, humiliation) drive preferences. (Ch. 13, p. 173–181; Ch. 14, p. 188–199.)   

• Level(s) of analysis: Individual (Schwimmer, Gandhi, Ford); Societal (women’s protests, settlers); State (visas, tariffs, quotas); Systemic (war, depression, blockades).

• Unit(s) of analysis: States; social movements; firms (Baťa); international organizations (League, ILO).

• Dependent variable(s): Degree/type of global integration; policy choice (openness vs. closure/autarky); escalation/war.

• Key independent variable(s): War, blockades, disease, hunger, depression; domestic mass mobilization; ideology; corporate strategies; colonial structures.

• Causal mechanism(s): Scarcity & fear → moralized economic nationalism (“quarantine,” “local foods”) → institutionalized closure (visas, quotas, tariffs) → coercion/expansion to secure resources. (Ch. 5, 9–10, 15–17.)         

• Scope conditions: Industrializing polities under severe shocks (1913–39); mass enfranchisement; imperial entanglements.

• Observable implications / predictions: Post‑shock politics produce higher barriers (passports/visas, quotas), “buy local” campaigns, settlement/autarky projects, and sometimes coercive empire justified as “self‑sufficiency.” (Ch. 9–10, 11–12, 15–17.)         

• Potential falsifiers / disconfirming evidence: Severe shocks without closure; durable liberalization under mass duress; autarky reducing conflict rather than fueling coercion/war. (Contrasts within text: Baťa’s transnationalism; Gandhi’s “voluntary interdependence.”) (Ch. 14; Ch. 13, p. 213–214.)   

🎓 Course Questions (from syllabus)

1. Did you observe continuity in the ideas, goals, and behaviors of states from then till now?

2. How useful are Waltz’ musings for understanding the goals and outcomes of this time?

3. In what way does considering the domestic, emotional, and societal factors change or shift your view of how the world works?

4. How should we consider the various factors presented in this book if we are developing military strategy?

5. In what way does this reading alter your current understanding of the context leading up to WWII?

6. How could this change the way that you observe a current context in an effort to anticipate outcomes?

7. What signs of and effects of global integration (globalization) are prominent today?

8. In what ways are some states fighting this integration and taking action to isolate and become more self-sufficient?

9. How is this impacting ordinary people and businesses?

10. How do these observations impact how you understand power?

✅ Direct Responses to Course Questions

Q1. Continuity then–now?

Answer: Zahra depicts recurring cycles: crises catalyze anti‑globalism and closure; after WWII, internationalists rebuild globalism, yet discontent regularly resurfaces (buy‑local movements, immigration restrictions, mass protests, and state‑level quests for autonomy). The pattern—shock → closure → partial liberal revival → renewed backlash—constitutes continuity in ideas (self‑sufficiency), goals (security, dignity), and behaviors (visas, tariffs, autarky, expansion for resources). (Introduction, p. 15–16; Conclusion/Epilogue, p. 282–319.)    ✓

Q2. Usefulness of Waltz’ musings?

Answer: Partly illuminating, partly incomplete. A Waltzian lens (anarchy, survival) helps explain autarky and coercive expansion—e.g., Nazi “space to breathe” and food‑security geopolitics in Ch. 17—yet Zahra shows outcomes were not determined by structure alone: domestic emotions, moral economies, and mass politics (hunger protests; “buy British”; swadeshi) shape preferences and constrain elites, often overwhelming liberal institutional fixes. (Ch. 17, p. 246–264; Ch. 4–5, p. 79–86; Ch. 13–14, p. 173–199; Ch. 16, p. 222–236.)          ✓

Q3. How do domestic, emotional, societal factors shift your view?

Answer: They recenter agency: women’s mobilization amid hunger, moralized consumption (“local foods,” swadeshi), and fears of disease (“quarantine era”) translate social emotions into state policy (visas/quotas, tariffs, settlement, autarky). This complicates system‑first explanations by showing how identity, dignity, and humiliation reframe material scarcity into political closure. (Ch. 4–5, p. 61–86; Ch. 9–10, p. 133–167; Ch. 11, p. 144–149; Ch. 15, p. 222–225.)          ✓

Q4. Implications for military strategy?

Answer: Plan for scarcity politics. Monitor food/energy chokepoints and public sentiment; economic “appeasement” without political settlement fails (World Economic Conference, League debates). Anticipate closure logics (export controls, border hardening) and the risk that regimes frame expansion as survival. Strategy should integrate domestic legitimacy, economic resilience (esp. food), and coalition management, not only force posture. (Ch. 16, p. 222–238; Ch. 17, p. 246–264.)    ✓

Q5. How does this alter your view of the road to WWII?

Answer: It foregrounds anti‑globalism—not just revisionist power politics—as a driver: blockades and hunger (WWI) bred fear; disease legitimated border controls; depression empowered closure and resource‑security ideologies culminating in fascist expansion justified as autarky. (Ch. 4–5, p. 79–86; Ch. 16–17, p. 222–264.)      ✓

Q6. How could this change how you observe a current context to anticipate outcomes?

Answer: Track Zahra’s signals: (a) rhetoric of “quarantine” and purity; (b) moralized consumption (buy‑local/against foreign goods); (c) administrative barriers (visas, quotas); (d) food/energy substitution drives; (e) mass movements targeting “globalist” firms. Rising salience of these predicts policy closure and, in extremes, coercive externalization of scarcity. (Ch. 9–10, 13–16.)        ✓

Q7. Signs/effects of global integration today?

Answer: Without adding external data, Zahra’s framework suggests looking for dense trade/finance ties, mobility regimes, corporate transnational footprints (Baťa‑style), and cultural interdependence, plus backlashes where distributional losses bite. Effects range from growth and diffusion to exposure to shocks that fuel politicized closure. (Ch. 14, p. 190–199, 202; Conclusion/Epilogue, p. 282–319.)    ✓

Q8. How are states fighting integration, becoming self‑sufficient?

Answer: Recurrent tools: tariffs/preferences, migration quotas/visas, settlement and back‑to‑the‑land schemes, local‑goods campaigns, and synthetics/substitution—all on display across 1919–36. (Ch. 9–12, 15–17.)            ✓

Q9. Impacts on ordinary people and businesses?

Answer: Ambivalent and unequal. Some gain dignity/security via settlement or protected markets; others face higher prices, time taxes (e.g., khadi), policing of borders, or expropriation (e.g., department‑store “deglobalization” under Nazis). Firms adapt via transnationalization (Baťa) or suffer from boycotts/closures. (Ch. 11–13, 17, p. 144–181, 241–245; p. 213–216.)        ✓

Q10. How do these observations change your view of power?

Answer: Power extends beyond material capabilities to agenda‑setting over moral economies (who may buy/sell/move), control of chokepoints (food, visas), and mobilization of social emotions that authorize coercion or cooperation. Strategic power therefore hinges on domestic‑international linkages as much as on raw force. (Ch. 4–5, 15–17; Conclusion.)        ✓

📚 Section-by-Section Notes

Covers all assigned chapters in order.

Introduction

• Purpose: Frame anti‑globalism’s surge and cycles.

• Key claims: 1916–31 contemporaries eulogized internationalism; visas, tariffs, and racialized nationalism supplanted liberal hopes. (p. 15–16.) 

• Implication: Anti‑globalism is not an aberration but a recurring mass politics of fear, scarcity, and dignity.

Part I — 

A World Together?

Ch. 1 — 

Victory Lies Just Ahead

 (Budapest, 1913)

• Purpose: Baseline of pre‑1914 optimism (suffrage, peace activism) before the break.

• Evidence/examples: International feminist networks and pacifists (e.g., Rosika Schwimmer) anticipating imminent victories. (TOC; ch. openers.) 

• Implication: Transnational civil society was strong—but fragile.

Ch. 2 — 

A Way Out

 (Derazhynia & New York, 1913)

• Key claims: Migration as private risk hedge against systemic shocks; migrants’ politics later shape restriction backlash. (p. 43–58.) 

• Implication: Mobility itself becomes contested political capital.

Ch. 3 — 

We Are Bringing Peace

 (Hoboken, 1915)

• Key claims: Ford’s “Peace Ship” shows elite voluntarism colliding with war realities; media spectacle vs. durable institutions. (p. 59–77.)   

• Implication: Idealism without power/coalitions has fleeting impact.

Ch. 4 — 

The Hunger Offensive

 (Vienna & Berlin, 1917)

• Key claims: Blockades and shortages fuel women’s protests, price controls, rationing; food becomes a weapon and a politics. (p. 79–86.) 

• Implication: Food security is strategic; scarcity radicalizes.

Part II — 

A World Apart

Ch. 5 — 

Disease Binds the Human Race

 (New York, 1918)

• Key claims: Influenza turns interdependence into vulnerability; a “quarantine era” legitimates border and mobility controls. (p. 61–67, 70–73.)   

• Implication: Health shocks reframe sovereignty and borders.

Ch. 6 — 

Reduced and Impoverished

 (Paris, 1919)

• Key claims: Post‑war relief and League labors coexist with punitive politics; food and finance are tools of order. (p. 93–106.) 

• Implication: Liberal institutions lacked mass legitimacy and teeth.

Ch. 7 — 

The Victors Have Kept None of Their Promises

 (Fiume, 1919)

• Key claims: Italian nationalist grievance (Fiume) shows promissory breakdown → radicalization. (p. 114–117.) 

• Implication: Broken settlements fuel anti‑globalist nationalism.

Ch. 8 — 

Tinder for the Bolshevist Spark

 (Budapest & Munich, 1919)

• Key claims: Revolutions and counter‑revolutions weaponize hunger, borders, and anti‑Bolshevik fears. (p. 120–130.) 

• Implication: Security fears blend with socio‑economic panic → closure.

Ch. 9 — 

No Chestnut Without a Visa

 (Salzburg, 1922)

• Key claims: Passport/visa regime remakes everyday life; mobility becomes a privilege, not a right. (p. 133–141.) 

• Implication: Administrative control is a core instrument of power.

Ch. 10 — 

The Defense of Americanism

 (Ellis Island, 1924)

• Key claims: Quotas and policing institutionalize racialized national membership; spectacle and humanitarian crises at the gate. (p. 149–167.) 

• Implication: Domestic identity politics harden the international regime.

Part III — 

The Unsettled World

Ch. 11 — 

Colonies in the Homeland

 (Vienna, 1926)

• Key claims: Settlers with “hoes, hammers, saws” build autarkic micro‑economies; municipal and expert debates over self‑help vs. modern planning. (p. 144–149.) 

• Implication: Localist self‑sufficiency promises dignity amid crisis.

Ch. 12 — 

One Foot on the Land

 (Tron Mountain, 1931)

• Key claims: Ford/Borsodi/New Deal variants of back‑to‑the‑land; autonomy vs. state planning; later Cold War survivalism. (p. 166–175, 170–173.)   

• Implication: Self‑reliance ideologies travel across regimes and eras.

Ch. 13 — 

Freedom Through the Spinning Wheel

 (Lancashire, 1931)

• Key claims: Gandhi’s swadeshi marries deglobalization to universalist ethics; “voluntary interdependence,” not isolation. (p. 173–181, 212–214.)   

• Implication: Not all closures reject internationalism; ends differ.

Ch. 14 — 

The Air Is Our Ocean

 (Zlín, 1931)

• Key claims: Baťa pioneers corporate globalization (factory‑towns abroad); states close, firms internationalize. (p. 190–199, 202.) 

• Implication: Private globalism can bypass public closure—creating new frictions.

Ch. 15 — 

Local Foods

 (Littoria, 1932)

• Key claims: Mussolini’s “Battle for Grain” and founding of Littoria recast autarky as modern spectacle and social engineering. (p. 222–225.) 

• Implication: Diet and land are mobilized for national power.

Ch. 16 — 

Economic Appeasement

 (London & Geneva, 1933)

• Key claims: World Economic Conference warns of world‑wide self‑sufficiency drift; League technocrats push “economic appeasement”—insufficient without politics. (p. 222–236, 230–238.)   

• Implication: Technical coordination cannot overcome domestic vetoes.

Ch. 17 — 

Space to Breathe

 (Goslar, 1936)

• Key claims: Nazi Blut‑und‑Boden, attacks on department stores, and Lebensraum reframe empire as autarkic survival. (p. 241–245, 246–264.)   

• Implication: The most violent anti‑globalism fuses racial ideology + resource geopolitics.

Conclusion — 

A New Era of World Cooperation

 (New York, 1939)

• Key claims: Mass pro‑“Americanism” rallies alongside plans for new world organization; reformers link peace to fairer global economy. (p. 265–268.)   

• Implication: Post‑war designers seek globalization compatible with equity and stability.

Epilogue

• Key claims: Post‑1945, globalism returns yet discontent recurs (buy‑local, migration politics, labor protests); dreams of autarky persist at family and state levels. (p. 282–319.) 

• Implication: The cycle endures.

🧩 Key Concepts & Definitions (author’s usage)

• Autarky / self‑sufficiency: Policy horizon linking dignity, control, and security; in fascist form, justifies coercive expansion. (Ch. 15–17.)   

• “Quarantine” logic: Health metaphors to legitimate border controls and social closure. (Ch. 5.) 

• Economic appeasement: League strategy to relieve trade frictions to calm politics—insufficient without domestic buy‑in. (Ch. 16.) 

• Voluntary interdependence: Gandhi’s alternative to isolation—ethical, symmetric globalism. (Ch. 13, p. 213.) 

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Actors & Perspectives

• Pacifists/feminists (Schwimmer, Addams): Transnationalism vs. mass nationalist turn; limited leverage. (Ch. 1, 3, 5.) 

• Workers/settlers/homesteaders: Seek dignity/security in local production; ambivalent toward state control. (Ch. 11–12.)   

• Anti‑colonialists (Gandhi): Deglobalize to decolonize; end goal ethical globalism. (Ch. 13.) 

• Corporate globalizers (Baťa): Private transnationalism amid public closure. (Ch. 14.) 

• Fascists/Nazis: Racial autarky; coercive empire as “self‑sufficiency.” (Ch. 17.) 

🕰 Timeline of Major Events

• 1913 — Pre‑war peak of internationalist activism (Budapest suffrage congress). Significance: fragile liberal high tide. 

• 1915 — Ford’s Peace Ship (Hoboken). Significance: elite idealism vs. war’s inertia. 

• 1917 — Hunger offensive in Central Europe. Significance: scarcity politicizes masses. 

• 1918 — Influenza pandemic. Significance: “quarantine” legitimation of borders. 

• 1919 — Paris settlements; Fiume grievance. Significance: promises → radicalization.   

• 1922 — Visa/passport normalization (Salzburg). Significance: mobility as privilege. 

• 1924 — U.S. quotas at Ellis Island. Significance: racialized national membership enforced. 

• 1926 — Vienna settlements. Significance: municipal autarky in microcosm. 

• 1931 — Gandhi in Lancashire; Baťa’s global turn. Significance: rival globalisms.   

• 1932 — Littoria founded; “local foods.” Significance: autarky as spectacle/state‑building. 

• 1933 — World Economic Conference / League debates. Significance: technocratic response to closure impulse. 

• 1936 — Goslar “space to breathe.” Significance: autarky → expansionist violence. 

• 1939 — New York rallies + world‑order plans. Significance: dual track of nativism and institutional redesign.   

🧠 Policy & Strategy Takeaways

• Implications for today’s policy choices:

  1. Integrate domestic distribution with external strategy—without perceived fairness, closure politics return. (Conclusion, p. 265–268.) 

  2. Treat food and mobility governance as security policy. (Ch. 4–5, 15–16.)     

• R/B/C:

  • Risks: Moralized autarky can escalate to coercive expansion. (Ch. 17.) 

  • Benefits: Strategic resilience (stocks, substitution) can cushion shocks. (Ch. 15–16.) 

  • Conditions: Requires legitimacy and reciprocity, not just prices. (Ch. 16; Conclusion.)   

• If this logic is right, a policymaker should…

  • Pair external commitments with visible domestic gains;

  • Monitor scarcity narratives and subsidy/visa regimes as leading indicators;

  • Avoid “economic appeasement” without settlement of core political disputes. (Ch. 16.) 

⚔️ Comparative Placement in the IR Canon

• Closest kin / contrasts:

  • With Waltz, shares attention to security & resources but adds thick societal mechanisms.

  • Liberalism appears as insufficient under mass duress; institutions need democratic foundations. (Ch. 16; Conclusion.)   

  • Constructivist emphasis on norms/emotions (quarantine, moral economies) is central.

🧐 Critical Reflections

• Strengths: Vivid multi‑level narrative; integrates political economy, emotion, everyday life; balances Europe/US with anti‑colonial perspectives (Gandhi). 

• Weaknesses / blind spots: Inevitably selective geographically; technocratic economics (prices, elasticities) are backgrounded relative to culture.

• What would change your mind? Evidence of sustained openness under severe shocks without strong welfare/legitimacy; or of autarky that durably reduces conflict.

❓ Open Questions for Seminar

• When does private globalism (Baťa) soften vs. sharpen political closure? 

• Are ethical globalisms (Gandhi’s “voluntary interdependence”) scalable under mass duress? 

✍️ Notable Quotes (with pages)

• “In a world of falling prices, no stock has dropped more catastrophically than International Cooperation.” (Introduction, p. 15.) 

• “Before 1914, the earth had belonged to all… without passport…” (Introduction, p. 15–16.) 

• “Our freedom will be won through the spinning‑wheel…” (Ch. 13, p. 176.) 

• “Isolated independence is not the goal… It is voluntary interdependence.” (Ch. 13, p. 213.) 

📝 Exam Drills

• Likely prompt: “Explain how Zahra’s account revises structural realist explanations of the interwar breakdown.”

  Skeleton answer (3‑part outline):

  1. Set up Waltz (anarchy/survival) and show where it fits (resource security, Ch. 17). 

  2. Add Zahra’s mechanisms: hunger/disease → moral economies → closure (visas/tariffs/settlement) (Ch. 4–5, 9–11).     

  3. Policy payoff: why “economic appeasement” fails absent legitimacy; what signals to watch. (Ch. 16.) 

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