Fighting World Government: Revisiting the Grassroots Campaigns Against the UN and Liberal Internationalism in Postwar America

This talk recovers the history of a grassroots American “sovereigntist” movement that battled against US involvement in the UN and other liberal internationalist institutions and agreements during the postwar era. With its origins in the period after WWI and its ideological inspirations from Christian fundamentalism and constitutional nationalism, the sovereigntist movement developed a unique imaginary of foreign policy and launched political battles battle against “World Government.” The history of the sovereigntist movement offers a new vantage point on the politics of the US role in the world after WWII.