TY - JOUR

T1 - Internationalism and Engineering in UNESCO during the End Game of Empire, 1943–68

AU - Andersen, Casper

PY - 2017/7/1

Y1 - 2017/7/1

N2 - When UNESCO was founded in 1945 the organization aimed to become a pivotal player in international collaboration in the field of engineering. UNESCO based its engineering initiatives on the World Engineering Conference, an organization espousing a politically motivated “technocratic internationalism” and on the World Power Conference, an organization promoting a business-friendly stance of “engineering internationalism.” These competing models for international collaboration curtailed UNESCO’s institutional ambitions. UNESCO’s position was further weakened by fierce opposition from British engineering institutions that pursued a Commonwealth institutional framework in direct opposition to UNESCO. This article unravels the intricate connections between empire and internationalism that shaped UNESCO’s engineering agenda during the first post-war decades. It demonstrates how competing forms of internationalism, mounting cold war tensions, and the continuous influence of a British empire-based opposition ultimately forced UNESCO to abandon its technocratic internationalist ambitions and settle for a modest coordinating role in international technical collaboration.

AB - When UNESCO was founded in 1945 the organization aimed to become a pivotal player in international collaboration in the field of engineering. UNESCO based its engineering initiatives on the World Engineering Conference, an organization espousing a politically motivated “technocratic internationalism” and on the World Power Conference, an organization promoting a business-friendly stance of “engineering internationalism.” These competing models for international collaboration curtailed UNESCO’s institutional ambitions. UNESCO’s position was further weakened by fierce opposition from British engineering institutions that pursued a Commonwealth institutional framework in direct opposition to UNESCO. This article unravels the intricate connections between empire and internationalism that shaped UNESCO’s engineering agenda during the first post-war decades. It demonstrates how competing forms of internationalism, mounting cold war tensions, and the continuous influence of a British empire-based opposition ultimately forced UNESCO to abandon its technocratic internationalist ambitions and settle for a modest coordinating role in international technical collaboration.

UR - https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36916

U2 - 10.1353/tech.2017.0077

DO - 10.1353/tech.2017.0077

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28890455

VL - 58

SP - 650

EP - 677

JO - Technology and Culture

JF - Technology and Culture

SN - 0040-165X

IS - 3

ER -