Intermediation between International Society and World Society: The Pope and the UN Secretary-General on “the Figure of the Refugee”

Abstract

English School accounts of international relations always stressed some degree of interaction between political international society and ideational world society. Yet, English School research, relying on agential and structural premises, often misses how and where international society and world society interact. If intermediation between the two societies is identified, it often remains abstract. I argue that identifying agents and the standards defining their practices helps to understand intermediation between international society and world society. I suggest that likely candidates that practice intermediation are rooted in both international society and world society. This is because practices rooted in both realms are also defined by the standards of both realms. I argue that the Pope and the United Nations Secretary-General are likely intermediation instances between international society and world society. Both are equally footed in international society and world society. Given their organizational embedding in international society, both rely on practices informed by international society standards such as diplomacy. Yet, both also rely on world society standards such as their concern for humanity. Focusing on the sanctity of the individual rather than only on state-based interests and agendas of international society marks their concern and caring for refugees. I illustrate this argument with advocacy, an intermediation practice. Deprived of membership in a community, solutions for refugees in international society require political and moral theory from world society, relying on concepts such as humanity. Advocating for refugees on the grounds of world society's common humanity, the Pope and the United Nations Secretary-General are intermediation instances between world society and international society.

Interpretivists in the English School: Aren’t we all?

“…But if one thinks instead of statespeople as the agents, affecting their own state, and the others, and sometimes international society as a whole, in their sometimes skilful manoeuvring to recreate and modify international practices, norms and rules, a different sort of structuration follows, with at least three levels. Double this up with more English School concepts, such as world society, and yet another type of structure-agent problematique in the interaction between these two domains might result (Troy, 2022). Then a fourth floor needs to be added to the integrated analytical warehouse.…”