Which figure influenced Woodrow Wilson's thinking?

Which figure influenced Woodrow Wilson's thinking?

• A. Mazzini
• B. Kant
• C. Marx
• D. Hobbes

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how Wilson’s thinking was shaped by earlier nationalist and liberal ideas about self-determination and the role of nations. Giuseppe Mazzini, a 19th‑century Italian nationalist, argued that a nation is a moral community and that people deserve self-rule under republican government. This emphasis on national self-determination and the nation as a vehicle for liberty and moral progress sits squarely with Wilson’s postwar vision, where self-determining nations and a rules‑based international order underpin his Fourteen Points and his push for democratic cooperation. The other figures contributed in different streams of thought—Kant more on universal law and cosmopolitan peace, Marx on class struggle and economic theory, Hobbes on order and the social contract—but the specific idea that nations should govern themselves and shape a peaceful world aligns most closely with Mazzini’s influence.

The idea being tested is how Wilson’s thinking was shaped by earlier nationalist and liberal ideas about self-determination and the role of nations. Giuseppe Mazzini, a 19th‑century Italian nationalist, argued that a nation is a moral community and that people deserve self-rule under republican government. This emphasis on national self-determination and the nation as a vehicle for liberty and moral progress sits squarely with Wilson’s postwar vision, where self-determining nations and a rules‑based international order underpin his Fourteen Points and his push for democratic cooperation. The other figures contributed in different streams of thought—Kant more on universal law and cosmopolitan peace, Marx on class struggle and economic theory, Hobbes on order and the social contract—but the specific idea that nations should govern themselves and shape a peaceful world aligns most closely with Mazzini’s influence.