Future Positive

Chapter 2

1945 And All That: A Brief Historyof International Co-operation

‘The Hindu, like the eunuch, exceeds in the qualities of the slave’

John Stuart Mill the Elder, 1817¹

‘Their food is inadequate, they are victims of disease, their economic life is primitive and stagnant’

Harry Truman, 1949²

‘What can someone living alongside a dirt road in Namibia or South Africa do except hope that someone will lift a helping hand to assist them?’

Joan Burton, Minister of State,Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, 1997³

Countries, like people, have always interfered in each other's affairs. For the first 2000 years of history, war and conquest were the driving force. Then came trade, commerce, and control over the raw materials and sea routes that were ...