I dare you to find anyone who comments on international politics who hasn’t, at some stage, mentioned the “international community”. I know I’ve been guilty of it.
So I was quite pleased to see this article by Martin Jacques on CiF today, asking: What the hell is the international community?
Martin, quite rightly, criticises people who trot out the “international community” cliche for being lazy. It’s too bad that he then goes on to trot out the laziest, most hackneyed response I’ve ever seen:
We all know what is meant by the term “international community”, don’t we? It’s the west, of course, nothing more, nothing less. Using the term “international community” is a way of dignifying the west, of globalising it, of making it sound more respectable, more neutral and high-faluting.
Which begs the question - “What the hell is the west”?