Abstract
The research on international organizations and their role in the Cold War has expanded significantly in the last decade. The IOs (both inter-governmental and non-governmental) have generally been found to be important actors, connectors, hubs, and producers of internationalism in the postwar world. However, the East-based international NGOs did not gain as much attention.
The proposed colloquium is set to explore the INGOs which were based in Prague during the Cold War. The questions to be discussed are as follows: What was the role of the Prague-based INGOs in East-West relations? Did they intensify or mitigate the Cold War conflicts? What role did they play in decolonization and North-South transfers? What was the nature of their relations with the Czechoslovak state, the USSR, and other state socialist countries and their institutions? What was their relation to other East-based INGOs, which were supporting Soviet foreign policies? What role did Prague as a space play in this history?
The INGOs in question are the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ), and the International Union of Students (IUS). In addition, Prague was the base of the International Organization of Radio and Television (OIRT), the Christian Peace Conference, and the international magazine Problems of Peace and Socialism. The history of these organizations has only rarely been researched and put in a wider context.
The international colloquium brings together scholars from different fields who are interested in these organizations. It is hosted by the Cold War Research Group and the Institute of World History at Charles University and convened by Mikuláš Pešta.