ABSTRACT
Brussels in the Belle Époque counted several dynamic organisations in which innovative research was undertaken in the field of the social sciences: the Société d'études sociales et politiques, the Institut des Sciences Sociales later redeveloped as the Institut de Sociologie, and the Institut des Hautes Etudes. A study of the involvement of leading internationalists such as Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine in the Brussels sociological milieu is useful in analyzing the theoretical and practical exchanges between sociology and in Brussels in the period of the Belle Époque. This chapter argues that Otlet and La Fontaine's reflections about international organization were deeply influenced by sociological theories. The sociological ideas and organicist theories that Otlet and La Fontaine encountered in the Brussels intellectual milieu had an important influence on their thinking and practical efforts for international organization.
