The term "international community" is a phrase that can refer to either:

• All the lands represented in United Nations.
• The people of the lands all over the world.
• Shared values and principles among actors within an international system.

The international community is regulated by the international law created by the international treaties.

This term arose in the 1960s. It is one of many expansions of the use of the word "community" to replace "people" or "the world", for example. In the 1950s, political cartoons used a picture of a man, often wearing a hat, whose head was a globe. This figure was labelled "The World", not this nine-syllable phrase.

Usage of the expression

It has been claimed that the superpower nations (now mainly the United States) use the term to describe organizations in which they play a predominant role, regardless of the opinion of other nations. For example, the Kosovo War was described as an action of the international community even though it was undertaken by NATO, which represented under ten percent of the world's population during the Kosovo War, this including Italy and Greece who were in opposition to the involvements.

See also

Community building

Comunidad internacional | Internationale gemeenschap | Мировое сообщество (клише) | 国际社会