Different shades of the past : history as an instrument of contemporary international conflicts

The conference volume consists of 12 articles and can be divided into two groups. The first group of articles deals with methodology and theory. The authors refer to the formulating and evolution of some theories and historical narratives (conflicts in international relations, the theory of democratic peace), but they also describe selected historical conflicts, by referring to the role of “tools” of historical narration, such as museums, monuments or new media. The second group of texts concerns cases of instrumentalisation of the past of a more general nature.The first group of articles includes the text of Dovilė Budrytė, Georgia Gwinnett College, USA. In the paper “Conflicts over Memory and Political Crises: Insights from Lithuania and Ukraine” she examines how research into memory politics in Eastern Europe can address more serious problems regarding international relations (IR). Budryte argues that research on historical memory (politics) that is common in area studies could help to rethink the study of crises in IR by demonstrating how crises change discourses and yield opportunities for memories to be challenged and defended ‒ not only by the “strong,” but also by the “weak” (or “peripheral”) actors. To illustrate this argument, the paper presents a comparative study of memory politics in Ukraine and Lithuania, tracing major discursive changes, their domestic and international impact and offering a depiction of how hegemonic historical accounts were created before and during the 2013/2014 crisis in Ukraine and how they were contested in the aftermath of the crisis. Contents Introduction Between Wikipedia and a Museum: Historical Narrative “Tools” Memory Politics and the Study of Crises in International Relations: Insights from Ukraine and Lithuania Local Memory, International Conflicts: Case Study of the Katyn Memorial in Jersey City, USA Sources of International Conflicts in Contemporary and Historical Context as a Threat to the Global Democratic and Liberal Order: Causes of Occurrence and Ways of Eradication The Role of Historical Museums in Overcoming the Traumatic Past Wiki-History of Crimea: Ukrainian and Russian Versions The Problem of Preserving Monumental Objects of Art during Contemporary International Conflicts (on the Example of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict) From Different Perspectives: History as an Instrument of Politics Historically Charged Conflict: Nagorno-Karabakh between War and Diplomatic Failure History as an Instrument of Continuing Indo-Pakistan Rivalry from 1947 till 2021 National History as Tools of Installing National Borders in Central Asia Countries Belgium – Its Neighbours and the Process from a Centralised to a Federalist State History as an Instrument of Contemporary International Conflicts: The Case of the Sudanese States The Comparison of Russian Propaganda: From the Years 1917–1921 to Nowadays List of Contributors In his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century the historian Yuval Noah Harrari wrote that man had the possibility to conquer the world precisely because he could create fictional stories and believe in them. People created more and more complex stories about themselves that served and continue to serve, according to the professor of the University of Jerusalem, building unity, social harmony and gaining power. A narrative about past, in which memory fragmentation and victimisation play a large role, may be a temptation to instrumentalise the past. This is especially true in relation to the events of the twentieth century, when a series of bloody war conflicts occurred. As shown in the following post-conference volume, today the wars of the past (World War I and World War II, Indian-Pakistani war) and current conflicts (Russo-Ukrainian war, war in Sudan or Nagorno-Karabakh) are also a catalyst for the process of instrumentalisation. This process can be analysed both at the level of the evolution of the language of conflict, including the erosion of the values of democratic dialogue, and the use of specific means of commemorating the past (monuments, museums, the Internet). In his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century the historian Yuval Noah Harrari wrote that man had the possibility to conquer the world precisely because he could create fictional stories and believe in them. People created more and more complex stories about themselves that served and continue to serve, according to the professor of the University of Jerusalem, building unity, social harmony and gaining power.00A narrative about past, in which memory fragmentation and victimisation play a large role, may be a temptation to instrumentalise the past. This is especially true in relation to the events of the twentieth century, when a series of bloody war conflicts occurred. As shown in the following post-conference volume, today the wars of the past (World War I and World War II, Indian-Pakistani war) and current conflicts (Russo-Ukrainian war, war in Sudan or Nagorno-Karabakh) are also a catalyst for the process of instrumentalisation. This process can be analysed both at the level of the evolution of the language of conflict, including the erosion of the values of democratic dialogue, and the use of specific means of commemorating the past (monuments, museums, the Internet)