| Summary/Abstract |
Professor Sir Alfred Zimmern, a highly prominent British commentator on international politics, was a notable visitor to Australia in 1938. Due to the critiques of EH Carr, Martin Wight and Hedley Bull, Zimmern became associated with the ‘utopian’ school of analysis of the inter-war period. In a stay lasting five weeks which coincided with the Munich crisis, his (now neglected) lectures and broadcasts were widely reported. Zimmern did not fully endorse the Munich agreement, which had been negotiated by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and was supported by Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. He was privately critical of Australian policy-makers. Despite Bull’s claim that Zimmern was a believer in progress and thus bound to discern the growth of order in international affairs, Zimmern’s analysis of the Munich agreement emphasized the return of power politics and the dangers of war. Further examination of his 1930s writings shows that such possibilities were not inconsistent with his broader analysis of international relations.
|