author
David Mitrany
1888–1975
A sharp early thinker about international cooperation, he argued that practical shared institutions could do more for peace than grand political schemes. His work became a lasting reference point for students of international relations and European integration.
1 Audiobook
The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey
by Nevill Forbes, D. G. (David George) Hogarth, David Mitrany, Arnold Toynbee
About the author
Born in Bucharest in 1888, David Mitrany became a Romanian-born British scholar known for work in political theory, history, and international relations. He studied in Germany and in London, where he was connected with the London School of Economics, and he later became especially associated with the idea that countries could build peace through cooperation in specific practical areas.
Mitrany is best remembered for developing functionalism in international politics: the view that states are more likely to work together successfully through shared services and institutions than through sweeping constitutional unions. During the Second World War he also worked for the British Foreign Office on postwar reconstruction, and his thinking went on to influence later debates about international organization and European integration.
He died in 1975, but his books and essays continued to matter long after his lifetime because they offered a clear, realistic way of thinking about how cooperation can grow step by step. For listeners interested in diplomacy, global governance, or the history of political ideas, his work opens a window onto one of the twentieth century's most influential approaches to peace.