After the ravages of WWII, a nihilistic depression descended on Europe and much of the world. Philosophies of existentialism and the absurd proliferated, and everything seemed to be put into question. What exactly is human nature and humanity? If we are capable of such unspeakable atrocities, what is there left to believe in? How do we prevent ourselves from plunging into an abyss of meaninglessness and deep cynicism? The League of Nations was seen to have failed in its mission to bring about world peace; the landscape of international politics was bleak.
Behaviorist theories in psychology seemed to point to humans as being little more than automata responding to stimuli. Metaphysical doctrines of the soul were set aside as a more pragmatic, materialist approach to life became more compelling on either side of the Iron Curtain: life was either a consumerist expression of deregulated capitalism or obedience to an all-powerful secular state.
However, there was a glimmer of hope with the birth of the United Nations, aiming for a stronger mandate for world peace; UNESCO, with a focus on building world peace in the areas of education, culture, the arts, and sciences; the declaration of human rights, which put forth boldly a vision of decent life and inalienable rights for every living person; and the World Bank, which could give loans and grants to low- and middle-income countries.
These bodies were and continue to be funded by member states who, collectively, support these confederations and what they stand for. The idea is simply that a country’s government will contribute a percentage of its gross domestic product to the common good of multilateralism and, as a member state, be part of the deliberations, discussions, and policymaking that give it its identity.
The investment is in a normative vision for life on earth, not an empirical one (in other words, there is philosophy behind it, a dream, not just data and description of what is but more hope in what might be). It was out of these bodies that the Sustainable Development Goals were born, that fragile and particularly emblematic parts of the world are protected today as world heritage sites, that the determination to reduce inequality, illiteracy, sickness, and war remain central.
Needless to say, the whole construct of modern-day schooling and education has been heavily influenced by reform and policy from multilateral organisations, especially the tenets of international education, with an emphasis on world peace, sustainability, and inclusion.
If governments start pulling their funding from these bodies, they will collapse. What will be left? The law of the market? Each to his own? Isolationism, aggressive competition between nation states (instead of collaborative work), or worse? Where will the impetus to reduce global inequalities and to look after our planet collectively come from?
Today we know that the most salient problems facing humanity cannot be solved in silos through an independentist philosophy; there has to be international cooperation and agreement. Forward-looking educational systems teach transdisciplinary and systems thinking, learning to live together, the language of international diplomacy, and the complex philosophical concepts associated with trade, bilateral agreements, cooperation, and international mindedness.
As the risk to this vision for a better world, created from the remnants of World War II, is increased, it behooves us as educators to reinforce the importance of our collective humanity remaining wedded to that vision, for a brighter tomorrow and one where we live on this planet together and not apart from one another.
