Paul Poast Profile picture
Nov 28, 2021 25 tweets 7 min read Read on X
What problem most troubled Albert Einstein?

- The mystery of space-time?
- The properties of energy?
- Quantum uncertainty?

Nope. It was "international organization".

[THREAD] Image
Most people today are not familiar with Einstein's lifelong pacifism
ias.edu/ideas/2015/gho…
But that wasn't the case during his lifetime.

His pacifism was so well known that a political cartoon was made when he issued statements calling for a united front against growing Nazi militarism. Image
Perhaps the clearest example of him calling for military prepardness was his letter (actually written by Leo Szilard) to President Roosevelt encouraging him to start a US nuclear program...before the Nazis could acquire a nuclear bomb. Image
In a latter interview for Newsweek Magazine, Einstein expressed regret over the letter: "had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing." Image
This regret fed into his calls for a new way of organizing world politics.

He thought the newly established United Nations was a promising step...but it wasn't enough. Image
This is most clearly and forcefully expressed in his 1947 "Open letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations" ImageImage
He opens by lamenting that the progress of technology has not made the world more secure. It's actually made the world less secure. He is, of course, referring to the development and use of the Atom bomb Image
For Einstein, the solution is not more "tech". There must be a political solution:

"Because of our inability to solve the problem of international organization, it has actually contributed to the dangers which threaten peace and the very existence of mankind."
In a phrase, Einstein perfectly captured a core focus, maybe THE focus, of international relations scholarship: the problem of international organization.
But as Einstein's above quote indicates, this is a difficult problem to solve. He saw no progress being made towards lasting peace (with the emerging Cold War)... Image
...no progress towards nuclear energy control (indeed, it seemed the world was poised for the opposite)... Image
...and a lack of post-war economic reconstruction (the "Marshall Plan" wouldn't be passed until the next year). Image
He didn't blame the United Nations for this lack of progress. After all, "no international organization can be stronger than the constitutional powers given it."

In the case of the UN, the UN Security Council was explicitly designed to NOT limit the control of the major powers Image
Instead, he saw the UN as a "transitional system" towards the final goal, "the establishment of a supranational authority vested with sufficient legislative and executive powers to keep the peace."

In other words, a true world government.
He recognized that this would require a complete rethinking of the "traditional concept of sovereignty".
press.princeton.edu/books/paperbac…
Specifically, something had to change to make it so that armaments were no longer viewed as vital to an individual nation's security: until ALL could be secure, none could be secure.

He wrote, "Security is indivisible."
Side note: I always wondered if he chose that phrase to directly contrast with the source of nuclear power -- dividing atoms 🤔 Image
Einstein was so serious about this solution, that he advocated, in the pages of @TheAtlantic, that the US give up its nuclear weapons...and give them to the United Nations.
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
He wrote, "I believe that the United Nations should have the atomic bomb when it is supplied with its own armed forces and weapons. But it too should have the bomb for the sole purpose of deterring an aggressor or rebellious nations from making an atomic attack."
I'm not saying that Einstein was advocating using the threaten nuclear annihilation to keep the peace, but he also was not NOT calling for that.

Hence, you can see how this was a difficult problem for Einstein.
As I've shared before (especially in the #KeepRealismReal threads) many others during that time thought about (and were stumped by) the problem of world government.
At the end of his 1947 letter, the only answer that Einstein could give for the problem of reorganizing international organization (via world government) was a tautology:

"The only real step toward world government is world
Government itself."
Einstein's struggle to solve "the problem of international organization" underscores the title of a favorite @EuroJournIR paper:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13…
Don't get me wrong: quantum physics is "spooky" and thinking about space-time is 🤯.

But neither presents nearly as difficult/frustrating/impossible of a problem as international organization.

[END]

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More from @ProfPaulPoast

Sep 7
Which of these two men is most responsible for World War II?

Short answer: not Churchill

Long answer: [THREAD]
Image
Image
To be clear, in this thread I am dealing with the onset of the war in Europe. The War in Asia was just as important and obviously connected to Europe. But that is for another thread. For now, I do highly recommend Paine's book "The Wars for Asia"

amazon.com/Wars-Asia-1911…
The historiography on WWII is massive. But in terms of responsibility for the war's origins, there are essentially two extreme views.

Call them the Mueller Thesis and the Taylor Thesis
Read 19 tweets
Aug 17
Solving the "Europe Problem" has vexed US foreign policy since the beginning.

[THREAD] Image
As I wrote last week, a key trait of US "grand strategy" since the founding of the Republic was "Go West" either by expanding US territory west or seeking to maintain trade with China.

But the other key trait of US grand strategy has been to keep the European powers from standing in the way.
Read 14 tweets
Aug 10
Since the founding of the republic, US foreign policy has been about one thing:

Go west (and don't let Europe get in the way).

[THREAD] Image
I'll write more about "don't let Europe get in the way" in another 🧵. This one will focus on the "Go west" part (which will also touch on the Europe part).
One could go so far as to argue that the Republic itself was founded because of a desire to go west. Specifically, the colonials were forbidden to go west of the 1763 Proclamation line. Image
Read 20 tweets
Jun 15
When you hear "Liberal International Order", just think "the G-7, for better and for worse"

[THREAD] Image
While some scholars and policy makers like to speak of the "Liberal International Order" as the collection of post-World War II international institutions....
cambridge.org/core/journals/…
...the phrase itself is much more recent in origins, largely a product of the mid-1990s. Image
Read 19 tweets
Jun 8
Are the "opportunity costs" of arming Ukraine too high?

Short answer: no

Long answer: compared to what?

[THREAD]
For those not aware, I am asking this question because of a new International Affairs piece that makes the argument "yes, they are too high"

academic.oup.com/ia/advance-art…
Overall, their argument is that the resources going towards Ukraine would be better allocated to address other pressing global challenges.
Read 24 tweets
Jun 1
In international politics, population is destiny.

[THREAD] Image
As I wrote in my latest for @WPReview, shifting patterns in population growth will inevitably influence international politics.
worldpoliticsreview.com/global-demogra…
This isn't a new idea. It's one found in classic works on change in world politics.

amazon.com/War-Change-Wor…
Read 14 tweets

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