The “Forces Profondes” of Internationalism in the Late Nineteenth Century: Politics, Economy and Culture

Abstract

The decades before 1914 have often been described as the period of internationalism. This is the concept mainly used by historians to describe the internationalisation of economy and culture in the second half of the nineteenth century. This article will examine the driving forces behind internationalism by using the example of the Latin Monetary Union which was founded in 1865 through an international treaty between France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland and was the first international monetary union in history. The Latin Monetary Union is an important subject for the interrelatedness of the political sphere and the economic sector because it is an early example of governments trying to intervene into (monetary) markets and trying to shape them to their needs. This, however, met with serious obstacles. The Latin Monetary Union therefore illustrates the struggle between the political and economic sectors and their respective systems of governance. The driving forces behind international monetary internationalism will be analysed on three levels: they have a political, an economic, and a cultural dimension. On the political level the article will ask what are the intentions and motives of the principal actors in monetary internationalism. Who were the actors and what did they intend by promoting monetary union? How did they negotiate the balancing act between diplomacy and monetary policy? On the economic level I will enquire into the role of international markets for monetary integration. Was monetary integration—as economic theory argues—a result of dynamic transnational markets leading inevitably to a single international currency? And the third part will deal with cultural aspects of monetary internationalism. What were the cultural aspects of monetary internationalism?