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the face of anarchy in the international system (the institutional conception). 131Although the term was initially more frequently used to denote cooperationbetween individuals, groups and nations, and emphasized the development ofinternational law, it was not necessarily concerned with cosmopolitan ideas oftranscending the state. 132 The foremost example of internationalism in the closingdecades of the nineteenth century was the international labour movement, theInternational Workingmen’s Association (the First International), which Hallidaydirectly implicates in the coining of the term ‘internationalism’. After World War I,the nation-state returned to favour as the “most important building block” 133 in theinternationalist view of politics. This was accompanied by a centralisation ofdomestic politics following the war. 134This commitment to the state as the primary vehicle of internationalism foundresonance in the independence and nationalist struggles of many states of theformer Third World. This commitment to the state, combined with the notion of‘solidarity’, are, however, two features that have resulted in the de-emphasis ofhuman rights – a prominent feature of liberal internationalism - in ‘Southern’internationalism. Starting at Bandung, a dual, potentially conflicting, discourse waspeddled, of transnational solidarity on questions pertaining to the independence ofcolonised nations on the one hand, and the near-silence on colonised minorities on theother. Highly salient is the fact that third world internationalism was conceived inthe context of struggles for decolonisation; hence, there were significantimpediments to it being thought of in any terms but statist ones.Afro-Asian solidarity coalesced around their respective struggles for independence:“The fundamental consensus of Bandung was an emphasis on the absolutesovereignty of the post-colonial state”. 135 Thus, at a time when European stateswere commencing the process that would lead to the eventual negotiation of ameasure of their respective national sovereignties, through the launch in 1951 of theEuropean Coal and Steel Community, in Africa and Asia, expressions of politicalmodernity were taking place in the non-negotiable form of the independent, post-131 This distinction is Sylvest’s, “Continuity and Change”.132 Sylvest, “Continuity and Change”, 266.133 Sylvest, “Beyond the State?”, 73.134 Ibid.: 73.135 Amrith, “Asian Internationalism”, 560.72