‘Chaos, War, or a New World Order?’

The Global Studies Seminar welcomes Megan Threlkeld, associate professor of history at Denison, presenting “Chaos, War, or a New World Order? The Campaign for World Government in the 1930s.”

In the summer of 1937, two middle-aged women in a Chicago suburb crafted a plan to federate the world. Rosika Schwimmer and Lola Maverick Lloyd saw themselves as citizens of the world, conscious of but not constricted by national boundaries as they worked to secure global peace and to advance human rights. By the mid-1930s, they were convinced that a world government was the only way to achieve their goals. Their plan, entitled “Chaos, War, or a New World Order?” laid the groundwork for an “all-inclusive, non-military, democratic Federation of Nations.” In the face of scorn, ridicule, and apathy, they worked tirelessly to realize their vision. Threlkeld’s talk will explore Schwimmer and Lloyd’s motivations, their conceptions of world citizenship, and their faith in the ability of ordinary women and men to create lasting peace.

Denison University’s Global Studies Seminars are interdisciplinary intellectual forums to discuss and debate academic and policy issues of global importance.