Alfred Eckhard Zimmern

Alfred Eckhard Zimmern
Born26 January 1879
Surbiton, Surrey, U.K.
Died24 November 1957
Avon, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationWinchester College
Alma materNew College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Classical scholar, historian

Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (26 January 1879 – 24 November 1957) was an English classical scholar, historian, and political scientist writing on international relations.[1] A British policymaker during World War I and a prominent liberal thinker, Zimmern played an important role in drafting the blueprint for what would become the League of Nations.[2][3]

He was the inaugural Woodrow Wilson Chair of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.[2][3] His book The Third British Empire was among the first to apply the expression "British Commonwealth" to the British Empire.[4] He was a prominent liberal internationalist.[5] He was also credited with coining the phrase "welfare state",[6][7][8] which was made popular a few years later by William Temple.[9]

  1. ^ Markwell, D. J. (1986). "Sir Alfred Zimmern revisited: fifty years on". Review of International Studies. 12 (4): 279–292. doi:10.1017/S0260210500113841. ISSN 1469-9044. S2CID 143413433.
  2. ^ a b Mazower, Mark M. (2013). No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations. Princeton University Press. pp. 68–71, 79–88. ISBN 978-1-4008-3166-1.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Discussed in J. D. B. Miller, "The Commonwealth and World Order: The Zimmern Vision and After" (1979), Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 8: p. 162.
  5. ^ Baji, Tomohito (2021). The International Thought of Alfred Zimmern: Classicism, Zionism and the Shadow of Commonwealth. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-66213-4.
  6. ^ welfare state
  7. ^ Book extract
  8. ^ Kathleen Woodroofe, "The Making of the Welfare State in England: A Summary of Its Origin and Development", Journal of Social History, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Summer, 1968), pp. 303–324.
  9. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, from 1941.