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| 4. Multinational Cultural Institutions |
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| Nongovernmental organizations for cultural, religious, and humanitarian purposes have long been internationally active. Religious communities like the Roman Catholic Church have been significantly transnational institutions since the classical period of world history. However, in the 19th century, modern associations began to emerge as important international agents. During the first half of the 20th century, these organizations joined the more traditional structures in becoming a major element in the globalization of modern societies. | 1 |
| Religious organizations. During the 19th century, the intensification of global relationships also involved religious groups. In the era of Western domination, this frequently involved Christian missionary activities in non-European areas. In the first half of the 20th century, the interactions became more cosmopolitan. In the Roman Catholic Church, especially under Pope Pius XI (1922–39) and Pope Pius XII (1939–58), there was a significant effort to create local clergies and indigenous hierarchies in the mission lands. The ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT was especially strong among Protestant Christians. Competition among Christian missionary bodies led to a world conference of missionary societies in Edinburgh in 1910 which laid foundations for the modern ecumenical movement. In 1921 the International Missionary Council was created for global coordination of missions, and it held five major international conferences that redefined the ecumenical Protestant understanding of mission in multinational terms. The Commission on Life and Work and the Faith and Order Commission were established in the 1920s. In a conference at Utrecht in 1938 they voted to merge in order to create a World Council of Churches, a process that was completed following World War II at a meeting at Amsterdam in 1948. Individual church organizations also became more explicitly global in the first half of the 20th century with the creation of organizations like the Lutheran World Federation in 1947. | 2 |
| HINDU organizations of a modern multinational style also emerged. During the late 19th century, the Ramakrishna Mission gained international prominence through the travels and lectures in the West of Vivekananda (1863–1902) and the establishment of Vedanta Societies. The teachings of Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), presented as Integral Yoga, gained followers throughout the world organized in special meditative communities or ashrams. BUDDHISM was also a source of new movements in many different areas. A number of Buddhist missionary organizations were active in the West, and Buddhism became a fully global religion during the first half of the 20th century. | 3 |
| ZIONISM emerged in Judaism during the late 19th century in a distinctively modern organizational format. The first Zionist Congress was held in 1897, and it created the World Zionist Movement, whose goal was to create an independent Jewish state. During World War I, the Zionist movement secured international recognition. The interwar period saw the development of a formal Jewish community in British-controlled Palestine and the development of Zionism as a significant global movement. Following World War II, Zionism achieved its goal with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. | 4 |
| Humanitarian organizations. Nongovernmental organizations were established to deal with humanitarian issues in many different fields. The more prominent of these associations often worked closely with interstate and national governments. During the first half of the 20th century, the Red Cross continued to grow as an international force. In 1919 the various national societies joined together in what came to be called the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which provided relief in disaster situations. The Society of Friends (Quakers) also formed a number of humanitarian agencies in the first half of the 20th century. Although they were nationally organized, like the American Friends Service Committee, established in 1917, they worked internationally. The American committee and the Service Council of the British Society of Friends shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 in recognition of this worldwide activity. | 5 |
| Women's associations grew in international importance during the first half of the 20th century. Ten of the first 32 organizations admitted to “category B” consultative status at the UN in 1946–47 were explicitly international women's organizations, including the International Federation of Business and Professional Women. | 6 |
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