The PHRASE "world order" (or "International order") comes from the World War I era.
But what about the IDEA of "world order"?
Well, that has a MUCH longer lineage.
[THREAD]
But what about the IDEA of "world order"?
Well, that has a MUCH longer lineage.
[THREAD]
Arguably one of the most famous expressions of "world order" comes Lord Alfred Tennyson ... 
...in his poem Locksley Hall, published in 1842
Here, he used the phrase "Parliament of Man" and described the "peaceful word...wrapping in universal law"
But we can go back further, to Emmanuel Kant...
...and his 1795 treatise, "The Perpetual Peace"
In it, he speaks of a "federation of free states"...
... which he is careful to say is NOT the same as an international state or world government
Similarly, Montesquieu, in his 1748 Spirit of the Laws...
... speaks of a "assemblage of societies"
Admittedly, these are all "Western".
But the idea of a "world order", meaning states and/or different societies being governed by universal rules and laws, is not unique to the "West"
But the idea of a "world order", meaning states and/or different societies being governed by universal rules and laws, is not unique to the "West"
@daveckang, in his @ColumbiaUP book, describes how East Asia operated under an international order in which states made tribute payments to China
google.com/books/edition/…
google.com/books/edition/…
He describes the system here...
Moreover, the idea of a single order uniting various societies can be found in the Islam.
There is this useful paper from back in the 1990s on the topic
In it, Black argues that the need to provide an overarching political order, not just religious order, is a core idea of Islam
Indeed, he argues that the idea of ordering the relations among disparate people was much more developed in Islam than in Roman/Christendom societies.
One can see the effect of this concept in the nearly immediate political expansion of Islam, leading to...
...the Abbasid Caliphate that lasted a few hundred years (map shows extent in 850 C.E.)
Black's comparison with Christendom is interesting, since the idea of a single world government is actually quite pronounced in Christian writings
One notable example is the Book of Revelation, though not with a positive spin
Of course, the lack of "positive spin" is understandable, since Revelation was written in response to persecution by the Roman Empire (below is a bust of the Emperor Nero)
What what did the Roman Empire claim? Universal rule!
After all, the phrase "tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento" ("to rule mankind and make the world obey") was an imperial motto.
In sum, the phrases "international order" or "world order" are relatively recent (and came from a desire to prevent another Great War).
But the idea of international/world order is anything but new!
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But the idea of international/world order is anything but new!
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