Mazzini’s Internationalism in Context: From the Cosmopolitan Patriotism of the Italian Carbonari to Mazzini’s Europe of the Nations
This chapter discusses the relationship between Mazzini's vision of international relations and that of the Carbonari, who represented the previous generation of Italian patriots. It argues that, in spite of Mazzini's contempt for the Carboneria's cosmopolitanism, his ideas were heavily indebted to their views. While rejecting 18th-century notions of cosmopolitanism, the Carbonari believed that the independence of nations represented a step towards the universal expansion of freedom. They advanced a universal idea of civilization, which they identified with constitutionalism and free circulation of ideas and goods. Finally, they advocated the establishment of a new international order, based on the recovery of the balance of power destroyed by the Napoleonic wars, and the introduction of a new international legal system and supranational institutions. Like the Carbonari, Mazzini supported the idea of an international system alternative to the Vienna settlement, their notion of universal civilization, and the right of intervention to defend another country's freedom. However, his internationalism ignored the Carbonari's Kantian concern for international law as it was based on the belief that the establishment of republics would ‘naturally’ result in a peaceful European order.