Although unfairly pilloried for being out of touch with "reality" by a new generation of realist scholars after World War II, classical liberal internationalism was clear about how the world ought to be organized. Unfettered commerce and the right of all peoples to self-determination were broad organizing principles that were thought to be appropriate foundations on which a more just form of world order would exist.
Early liberal thinking did not, however, focus on the construction of grand international organizations, but instead sought to generat a more progressive world order organically nurtured through the extension of peaceful ties among peoples. It was only with the onset of a more interventionist form of liberal internationalism that top-down initiatives were proposed and advocated to assist in the creation of a more just world order.
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