Understanding globalization. The Inter-parliamentary Union from the Late Nineteenth century to Early Twentieth Century

The Inter-Parliamentary Union was formed in 1889, gathering, initially, 38 British and French parliamentarians. The IPU (guided, from 1901 up to 1908, by Frédréric Passy and William Randall Cremer), was to support and reinforce the objective of extending arbitration as a ‘peaceful tool’ for resolving the dispute between states. The aftermath of the First World War marked a decisive step forward in the development of a strong liberal internationalist milieux which promoted a peaceful order based on the international rule of law. This paper summarizes some issues of ongoing research and it focuses on two key topics: the rise of parliamentary control of foreign policy and the making of ‘parliamentary diplomacy’. Besides, it tried to elucidate, from another point of view, the political building of ‘transnational and peaceful politics’ aimed at the growth of peaceful and ‘progressive’ social relations among States and how the ‘peaceful politics’ are subjects that engage the complexity and the deep-rooted issues of State facing to the ‘first globalization’ and the ‘end of century crisis’.