A political international is a transnational organization of political parties having similar ideology or political orientation (e.g. communism, socialism, or Islamism).[1] The international works together on points of agreement to co-ordinate activity.
Political internationals have increased in popularity and influence since their beginnings in the political left of 19th-century Europe, as political activists have paid more attention to developments for or against their ideological favor in other countries and continents. After World War II, other ideological movements formed their political internationals to communicate among aligned parliamentarians and legislative candidates as well as to communicate with intergovernmental and supranational organizations such as the United Nations and later the European Union. Internationals also form supranational and regional branches (e.g. a European branch or an African branch) and maintain fraternal or governing relationships with sector-specific wings (e.g. youth or women's wings).
Internationals usually do not have a significant role.[2] Internationals provide the parties an opportunity for sharing of experience.[2] The parties belonging to internationals have various organizational obligations and can be expelled for not meeting those obligations.[1] For example, during the 2011 Arab Spring the Socialist International expelled the governing parties of Tunisia and Egypt for performing actions incompatible with the values of this international.[1]
List of internationals
Current
- Marxism-Leninism, Maoism and Hoxhaism
- European Communist Action (Marxism–Leninism), founded in 2023
- International Communist League (Marxism-Leninism-Maoism), founded in 2022
- International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (Maoism), founded in 2010
- International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle) (Hoxhaism), founded in 1994
- International League of Peoples' Struggle (anti-imperialism), founded in 2001
- International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (Marxism–Leninism), founded in 1998
- World Socialist Movement (Marxism), founded in 1904
- Trotskyism
- Committee for a Workers' International (Trotskyism), founded in 2019 in its current form, originally founded in 1974
- Fourth International (Trotskyism), founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and later split into several competing internationals and subsequently reunified in 1963
- International Committee of the Fourth International (Orthodox Trotskyism), founded in 1953
- International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) (Trotskyism), founded in 1979
- International Marxist Tendency (Trotskyism), founded in 1992
- International Revolutionary Left (Trotskyism), founded in 2019
- International Socialist Alternative (Trotskyism), founded in 2020
- International Socialist League (Trotskyism), founded in 2019
- International Socialist Tendency (Third Camp Trotskyism), founded in 1958
- International Workers League – Fourth International (Trotskyism), founded in 1982
- International Workers' Unity – Fourth International (Trotskyism), founded in 1995
- League for the Fifth International (Trotskyism), founded in 1989
- League for the Fourth International (Trotskyism), founded in 1996
- Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International (Trotskyism), founded in 2004
- Islamism
- Muslim Brotherhood (Islamism), founded in 1928
- Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamism), founded in 1958
- Progressivism, democratic socialism and social democracy
- Foro de São Paulo (socialism of the 21st century), founded in 1990
- Progressive Alliance (social democracy and progressivism), a network of centre-left parties formed as a rival to the Socialist International in 2013
- Progressive International (democratic socialism and progressivism), an organization uniting progressive left-wing activists and organizations, formed in 2020
- Socialist International (socialism), founded in 1951
- Anarchism
- Informal Anarchist Federation (insurrectionary anarchism), founded in 2003
- International of Anarchist Federations (synthesis anarchism), founded in 1968
- International Workers' Association (anarcho-syndicalism), founded in 1922
- Conservatism
- International Democracy Union (conservatism), founded in 1983
- Centrist Democrat International (Christian democracy), founded in 1961
- Liberalism
- Liberal International (liberalism), founded in 1947 and constituted by the Oxford Manifesto
- Libertarianism
- International Alliance of Libertarian Parties (libertarianism), founded in 2015
- Liberty International (libertarianism), founded in 1969
- Other
- African Socialist International (Pan-Africanism), founded in 1981
- Global Greens (green politics), founded in 2001
- Humanist International (humanism), founded in 1989 by the Humanist Movement
- International Monarchist League (monarchism, constitutional monarchy), founded in 1943
- Paneuropean Union (Pan-Europeanism), founded in 1923
- Pirate Parties International (pirate politics), founded in 2010
- World Union of National Socialists (Nazism), founded in 1962
Defunct
- Alliance of Democrats (liberalism), gathering groups similar in outlook to the European Democratic Party and the United States Democratic Party founded in 2005, but inactive since 2012
- Anarchist St. Imier International (anarchism), formed after the expulsion of the anarchists from the First International by the Marxist faction at the Hague Congress, founded in 1872 and defunct by 1877
- International Agrarian Bureau (agrarianism), operating from 1921 to 1972
- International Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties (radicalism and liberalism), operating from 1923 to 1938
- Committee for a Workers' International (Trotskyism), founded in 1974
- Communist International (revolutionary socialism), also known as Comintern and the Third International, a federation of communist parties founded in 1919 by Vladimir Lenin and dissolved in 1943 by Joseph Stalin
- E2D International (E-democracy, direct democracy), founded on 1 January 2011, but inactive since 29 August 2013
- Fascist International (fascism), also known as the 1934 Montreux Fascist conference, a conference of European fascist parties held on 16–17 December 1934 in Montreux, Switzerland
- International Libertarian Solidarity (anarchism), founded in 2001
- International Communist Seminar (Marxism–Leninism), founded in 1996 and defunct by 2014
- International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter), founded in 1998, defunct by 2017
- International Revolutionary Marxist Centre (Centrist Marxism), founded in 1932 and dissolved in 1940
- International Workingmen's Association (communism, anarchism and revolutionary socialism), commonly known as the First International, founded in 1864 and defunct by 1876
- International Working People's Association (anarchism), also known as the Black International, founded in 1881 and defunct by 1886
- Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, (Maoism) 1984–unknown
- Second International (socialism), founded in 1889 and dissolved in 1916
- Situationist International (libertarian socialism), revolutionary grouping operating from 1957 to 1972
Not internationals, but similar in functioning
- All-African People's Revolutionary Party, Pan Africanist transnational political party with chapters both in Africa and in the United States
- Anarkismo.net, grouping of platformist/especifista anarchist political organisations launched in 2005 to facilitate greater international cooperation, but far from being an international at this point
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2001), transnational alliance of anti revisionist communist parties in the former Soviet Union
- Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia, transnational alliance of Maoist parties in South Asia
- Former Liberation Movements of Southern Africa, a conference of former anti colonial movements in Southern Africa
- Progressive Labor Party, transnational Marxist–Leninist political party with the stated goal of one world communist party
- International Conference of Asian Political Parties, founded in 2002, promotes cooperation and exchange between Asian parties of several ideologies
- International Communist Current, left communist international organization that does not believe in national parties but in one international organization
- International Communist Party, left communist international party that rejects the concept of a national party
- Transnational Radical Party, political association of libertarian, liberal and radical citizens, parliamentarians and government members of various national and political backgrounds founded in 1989 and associated with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
- Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union, transnational political alliance of communist parties in the former Soviet Union
- Volt Europa, European Federalist transnational political party with chapters in various European countries
- World Anti-Imperialist Platform[3] - International platform of left wing political parties that support Russia and China
- World Ecological Parties, association of centrist environmentalist parties founded in 2003
- Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, promotes cooperation and exchange between Latin American parties of several ideologies
- Axis of Resistance—ideologically diverse; includes Shia Islamist, Baathist, and other factions affiliated with Iran and the Assad government in Syria. Notable members include Hezbollah, the Houthi Movement in Yemen, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.
See also
Footnotes
- 1 2 3 Wood, Tim (2015). "Reinforcing Participatory Governance Through International Human Rights Obligations of Political Parties" (PDF). Harvard Human Rights Journal. 28: 147–203.
- 1 2 Day, Stephen (2006). "Transnational party political actors: the difficulties of seeking a role and significance". EU Studies in Japan. 2006 (26): 63–83. doi:10.5135/eusj1997.2006.63.
- ↑ "Platform". Platform. 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2023-07-09.