| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The phrase was first widely used by Woodrow Wilson in the period just after World War I, during the formation of the League of Nations. The " war to end all wars" had been a powerful catalyst in international politics, and many felt the world could simply no longer operate as it once had. The term fell from use when it became clear the League was creating nothing of the sort, and was used very little during the formation of the United Nations (though some have claimed the phrase was not used at all, Virginia Gildersleeve , the sole female delegate to the San Francisco Conference in April of 1945, did use it in an interview with the New York Times).
More recently it was used for a while after the end of the Cold War by many people, notably former U.S. President George H. W. Bush. Many felt the end of the Cold War would have dramatic effects on the international balance of power, including the hope that the end of the Cold War would usher in a new era of international co-operation through the United Nations.
The term has developed pejorative meanings. Certain American right-wing groups such as the John Birch Society have long used the phrase to warn about alleged conspiracies to elevate the United Nations to the status of a world government. Others use it to promote an image of the United States as a bully which no longer has to answer to anyone, and which uses the situation to extend its influence. Thus, extension of the NATO pact to regions in eastern Europe, the Kosovo War, the war in Iraq, and isolation of small "unbending" nations are all seen as examples of this bullying attitude. Bush's use of the term "New World Order" was picked up as a convenient catch-phrase to symbolize this attitude.
Closely related terms, the "New International Economic Order" and the "New International Information Order" were popular in the United Nations and its specialized agencies (especially UNESCO) in the 1970s and 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends. They were used mainly by developing country groups (e.g. the G-77, the Non-Aligned MovementThe Non-Aligned Movement or NAM is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. They represent 55 per cent of the planet's people and nearly two-thirds of the UN's me) to refer to the redistribution of wealth on a global scale, and the international control of the media to stop the "defamation" of third world countries. Western countries attacked these plans as an attempt to destroy capitalism and freedom of speech; and they were quietly dropped in the 1980s after Western countries threatened to withdraw from United Nations bodies. (The US and UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly made good on this threat by withdrawing from UNESCO; both have since rejoined.)