Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that how international organizations in interwar Algeria did reach audiences outside those spaces, but this was unintended and produced unexpected interpretations of internationalism. It comprises case studies from all world regions—from Africa and Asia to Europe, North America, and Latin America—though more work remains to be done on non-Western approaches to communications. The book covers a wide range of issues from public health, humanitarianism, and environmentalism to Hollywood and debates about international information orders. It explores the communications strategy of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR), the world's first intergovernmental organization. The book examines how people excluded from international organizations communicated and thought about them by exploring the Muslim Algerian majority under French rule in the interwar period.