international community

international community

This expression has found favour in recent years with politicians and journalists, and one can see why. It is a convenient catch-all phrase invoked when international support for a policy or action is needed (or, more often, presumed), much as ‘public opinion’ is invoked in domestic politics. In neither case is any specific attribution or verification possible; yet both empty phrases sound impressive. The earliest evidence in the OED dates from the late 1950s and shows the expression to have originated in legal language:

• Could the papacy…be properly regarded as a member of the international community of the law of nations? —R. A. Graham, 1959.

Recent examples:

• Pretoria sees the Eminent Persons Group as a useful channel of communication with the ANC and the international community —Financial Times, 1986

• The way in which Saddam Hussein still behaves is unacceptable to us, to the United Nations and to the international community, and we shall continue to keep pressure on him —Hansard, 1992

• China's rising status on the world stage leads the international community to ask what road China will pursue to achieve its development —Morning Star, 2007.