CWAR Conferences
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The European Institute’s Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Fellowship offers to selected Columbia students the opportunity to conduct original archival research on the history of culture and the Cold War.
After the conclusion of each research session, the students work on their research papers to be presented at a conference at Columbia University.
In December 2017, the Cold War History Research Center (Budapest) published Students on the Cold War: New Finding and Interpretations, edited by Csaba Békés and Melinda Kalmár. The publication includes work by five CWAR Fellows: Fatima Dar, Adriana Popa, Monique Kil, Thalia Ertman, and Tinatin Japaridze.
Previous CWAR Conferences
The virtual conference was organized in collaboration with the Institute of International, Politics, and Regional Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest; the Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; and the European Institute, Columbia University, New York.
Video recordings of the conference below, which are all available on the Cold War History Research Center's Facebook page.
View Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speech, which includes:
- Opening remarks from Csaba BÉKÉS, Professor, Director, Cold War History Research Center at Corvinus University of Budapest and the Centre for Social Sciences
- Opening speech from László CSICSMANN, Vice-rector, Corvinus University of Budapest
- Keynote speech from Mark KRAMER, Director of Cold War studies at Harvard University & Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
View Panel 1: The Middle East and Africa in the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Dániel VÉKONY (Corvinus University of Budapest)
- Hasan GÖNDER (University of Szeged, Doctoral School of History, PhD candidate) Negative effects of the Cold War on Turkey: The End of Village Institutes and Reform Studies
- Faruh KUZIEV (Central European University, Vienna, History Department, PhD candidate) Muslim scientists, Muslim soldiers, and Muslim Muslims: The Cold War Generations of Sharora (the 1950s–1990s)
- Tibor PINTÉR (University of Szeged, Hungary, Doctoral School of SZTE–ÁJTK, PhD student) Somalia's neighborhood policy during the Cold War
- Buyisile NTAKA (Corvinus University of Budapest, International Security Studies, PhD Candidate) The Soviet Union and Liberation Movements in Southern Africa: The Case of the ANC in South Africa from 1960–1990
View Panel 2: Nuclear History and Intelligence, which includes:
- Chair: Péter MARTON (Corvinus University of Budapest)
- Péter TAKÁCS (University of Public Service, Budapest, Hungary, Doctoral School of Public Administration, PhD student) Cold War Trends in the Nuclear Age: Hannah Arendt's Concept Typology on the Issue of Total War and Political Revolution
- Hannah KUNZE (Columbia University, USA, European Institute, Dual BA) The Demise of the Family Unit: Parenting and Alcoholism in the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War Years
- Carol Louise ASHBY (Sciences Po, France and Columbia University, USA, Political Science Major Dual BA) Swinging Spies: Sexpionage during the Sexual Revolution in New York and Washington D.C. in the 1970s
View Panel 3: Cultural Aspects of the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Victoria PHILLIPS, Lecturer in History, Columbia University, USA – LSE, UK
- Clara LEVRERO (Columbia University, USA, Barnard College, BA in History) American–Italian Music Cultural Diplomacy: Gian Carlo Menotti and the Spoleto Festival
- Ruby GURALNIK DAWES (Columbia University, USA, Barnard College, Intellectual History, Art History, BA) Red Art Termites and the Conspiracy of Modernism: Donderoism and Paradoxes of the Early Cold War
- Veronika JONSSON (Columbia University, USA, International and World History, MA/MSc) American Culture for Export: The 1959 "Ballets: U.S.A." Tour in Iceland
View Panel 4: East-Central Europe in the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Csaba BÉKÉS (Professor, Director, Cold War History Research Center at Corvinus University of Budapest and the Centre for Social Sciences)
- Sabine NACHBAUR (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research into Consequences of War, Graz, Austria, PhD candidate) Czechoslovak Intelligence in Austria from the Perspective of Austrian Authorities during the Early Cold War, 1948–1960
- Bartosz GROMKO (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw, Poland, PhD candidate) Radio Varsavia – the Voice of the Italian Communists from beyond the Iron Curtain
- Jitka DRAHOTSKA (University of Aberdeen, UK, Department of History, BA) The Winter after the Spring: Emotions in the Transitionary Period between the Prague Spring and the Advent of Normalization in Czechoslovakia through the Selfimmolation of Jan Palach
- Karol CHWASTEK (University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, Silesian Freedom and Solidarity Centre, PhD candidate) For Dignity, Resistance against Martial Law in Poland in December 1981
- Andrei OLTENAU (Babes–Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania, Faculty of History and Philosophy, UBB Master) "The Most Favored Nation!" Misinterpreted by Western states: Ceausescu, a Failed Hope of Relaxation (1975–1985)
View Panel 5: The Neutrals in the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Barnabás VAJDA (University Selye János, Komárno, Slovakia)
- Anna STEINER (University of Graz – Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War) The Road to Helsinki: Neutral Austria in Soviet Foreign Policy Strategy, 1969–1975
- James P. BROWN (Northumbria University, UK, Department of Humanities, PhD Candidate) Cold War Dissidents and their Transnational Supporters in Britain, America and the USSR: 1964–1991
- Rosa Florence GEOGHEGAN (Columbia University, USA, European Studies, Dual BA) Neutrality, Geography and Sovereignty: An Examination of Cold War Neutrality in Three Small European States: Ireland, Austria and Finland.
- Christian NEUBACHER (Columbia University, USA, Master Candidate, European History, Politics, and Society, MA) The Magnificent Magyars: Hungarian–Soviet Relations through Football Diplomacy
View Panel 6: U.S. Diplomacy in the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Anita SZŰCS (Corvinus University of Budapest)
- Anna GRUTZA (Central European University, Vienna, Comparative History, PhD
- Candidate) Radio Free Europe and the Cold War Agency Crisis: US Cold War Scientists and Fact-Makers in the Trap of Pure Objectivity and Purified Reasons
- Zsolt MÁTÉ (University of Pécs, Hungary, PhD candidate) The 1956 Hungarian Revolution in View of the Communication of American Diplomacy
- Murat IPLICKI (Bilkent University, Turkey, Department of History, American Studies, PhD candidate) They Were Meant to be Together: Forging U.S.–Turkish Alliance through Business Diplomacy and Foreign Direct Investments between 1945–1960
View Panel 7: China and South-East Asia in the Cold War, which includes:
- Chair: Tamás MATURA (Corvinus University of Budapest)
- Holly MCKENZIE (LSE, UK – Peking University, China, International Affairs, Double MSc) Sino–US Cold War Cultural Diplomacy: the First American Women’s Friendship Delegation to China, 1973
- Rhe-Anne TAN (Columbia University, USA, – Sciences Po, France, Economy & Society Political Science, BA) Screening the Cold War in Southeast Asia: US Cultural Diplomacy and Postcolonial Counter-Narratives
- Yuwei Corrine FU (London School of Economics, UK, History of International Relations) From 'Peking all-stars’ to Cui Jian: US Music Diplomacy and Rock Music in China, 1979–1988
View Panel 8: International Relations in the Post Cold War Era, which includes:
- Chair: Beáta PARAGI (Corvinus University of Budapest)
- Simon SZILVÁSI (Corvinus University of Budapest, International Relations and Security S tudies, PhD Candidate ؘ– Antall József Knowledge Centre, Research Fellow) Mikhail Gorbachev‘s Speech in Murmansk and its implications on the Post-Cold War Arctic cooperation
- Jeff HAWN (London School of Economics, UK, International History, PhD candidate) Why the United States Foreign Policy Establishment Came to See Boris Yeltsin as the Key to Russian Democracy?
- Murat DEREGÖZÜ (Corvinus University of Budapest, PhD candidate) Post-Cold War Geopolitics of Turkey
- Neli KIRILOVA (Corvinus University of Budapest, International Relations and Security Studies, PhD Candidate – European Security and Defence College, & PhD Fellow, CSDP/CFSP) The Black Sea Regional Competition–Cooperation in Post-Cold War Russia – Turkey – NATO – EU Relations
The conference was organized in collaboration with the Institute of International Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest; the Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; and the European Institute, Columbia University, New York.
Video recordings of the conference below, which are all available on the Cold War History Research Center's Facebook page.
View Part 1 here, which includes:
- Opening remarks from Director of Cold War History Research Center Csaba BEKES
- Opening speech from Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations in Corvinus University Laszlo CSICSMANN
- Vladislav ZUBOK (London School of Economics) keynote speech "Did the Cold War end in 1991 ? The Soviet Collapse and the Rise of the New Order"
- Panel 1 : Building bridges, diplomacy and relations between blocs
- Panel 2 : Nuclear weapons and intelligence
View Part 2 here, which includes:
- Panel 3 : The revolt of the Global South : decolonization, revolutions and national liberation movements
- Panel 4 : The Western presence in Africa
View Part 3 here, which includes:
- Victoria PHILLIPS (Columbia University) speech : " 'Grahamizing' and 'Americanizing' the Ballet Defectors for a Return to the Soviet Stage"
- Panel 5 : The nature of proxy war conflicts in the Cold War and beyond
- Panel 6 : The social dimensions of the Cold War
View Part 4 here, which includes:
- Panel 7 : Media, journalism and propaganda in the Cold War
- Panel 8 : Propaganda by other means and daily life
- Panel 9 : Arts and the Cold War
- Closing remarks from Director of Cold War History Research Center Csaba BEKES
The conference was organized in collaboration with the Institute of International Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest; the Institute for Political Science, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; and the European Institute, Columbia University, New York.
Video recordings of the conference below, which are all available on the Cold War History Research Center's Facebook page.
Co-organized by the History Department, Central European University, Budapest and the European Institute, Columbia University, New York
Videos from the event:
- Opening Remarks from Professor Csaba Békés and Radio Free Europe in the Cold War, Part 1
- Radio Free Europe in the Cold War, Part 2
- Europe in the Cold War
- Radio Free Europe in the Cold War Discussion
- Keynote Speech by Victoria Phillips and Soft Power in the Cold War Era Panel
- Asia and the Cold War
- Late Socialism in the Cold War
- Post Cold War Realities and Closing Remarks by Csaba Békés
Remarks from the conference: Thomas Kent, President and CEO, RFL/RL on “RFL/RL Today and Yesterday” (full text)
AGENDA
9:30-10am: Welcome Remarks
- Victoria Phillips, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Project, Adjunct Lecturer, European Institute, Department of History, Associated Faculty, Harriman Institute
10-10:45am: Conference Keynote
- “Managing Influence Projects: Lessons from Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty”
A Ross Johnson, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; Adviser to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Project, Hoover Archives; former Director, Radio Free Europe
11am-12noon: THEORY IN ACTION: Psychological Warfare, Intellectual Backlash, and Funding for Propaganda in the Cold War
- Commentator: Greg Tomlin, Branch Chief at Joint Staff, The Pentagon, author, Murrow’s Cold War: Public Diplomacy for the Kennedy Administration
- Fatima Dar: Psychological Warfare and Soft Power: A State of Total War
- Adriana Popa: “Radio Free Europe: Intellectual Backlash”
- Monique Kil: “A Penny for Every Word: Radio Free Europe’s Call for ‘Truth Dollars'”
12pm-1pm: SOFT POWER?: Race, Religion, Gender
- Commentator: Victoria de Grazia, Moore Collegiate Professor of History, author, Irresistible Empire: America’s Advance Through Twentieth-Century Europe
- Lotte Houwink ten Cate: Free Man in a Free Society: Broadcasting the March on Washington in the Soviet Union
- David Noell: Broadcasting Against Persecution: How American Cold War Broadcasters Used the Communist Quarrel with Religion to Define Religious Freedom
- Thalia Wells Ertman: “Every Courageous and Incisive Measure”: The Participation of Jewish and African-American Women’s Groups in the Crusade for Freedom’s Fight Against Communism
1pm-2pm: Luncheon Keynote
- “One Hundred Years of Cold War: Russian and American Interference in Domestic Politics Abroad”
Kenneth Osgood, Professor of History, Colorado School of Mines, author, Total Cold War: Eisenhower’s Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad
2pm-3pm: “Radio Free Europe in the Twenty-First Century”
- Thomas Kent, President and Chief Executive Officer of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
3:15-4:15pm: RFE FALLOUT: Orchestras, Television, and Balloons
- Commentator: Greg Tomlin, Branch Chief at Joint Staff, The Pentagon, author, Murrow’s Cold War: Public Diplomacy for the Kennedy Administration
- Giancarlo Milea: The Philharmonia Hungarica: Pride or Propaganda? 1957-1959
- Tinatin Japaridze : MIND THE GAP: Rebuilding the U.S.-Russian Space Bridge in the Post-Cold War Era
- Sarah Roth: Radiowaves and Weather Balloons: How Radio Free Europe’s Domination of the Airwaves and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
4:15-5:00pm: Closing Remarks
- Csaba Békés
Talk and Discussion by A. Ross Johnson, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; former Director, Radio Free Europe
Moderated by Victoria Phillips, Adjunct Lecturer, European Institute