themegroup

Building a Research Agenda in the Studies of War, Mass Violence and Genocide

Year Group 2020/21

A theme group together with the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in which international fellows and NIOD researchers work towards a research agenda in the Studies of War, Mass Violence & Genocide.

About the Project

Aim of this theme group is developing an innovative, multidisciplinary research agenda in the field of the multiple connections between ‘war and society’ in the recent past and the world of today.

The social memory of the Second World War still is very present in Dutch and European societies. The dominant national narratives of suffering and struggling for the ‘good causes’ of peace, freedom and democracy, and against political oppression, persecution, and genocide have ever since functioned as driving forces for the study of the impact of war on society. Present-day Dutch debates on the conduct of the Indonesian War of Independence, as well as on the impact of the present-day global conflicts and their backlash (postcolonial migration, refugee politics, inclusive and exclusive narratives of identity) are displaying different points of departure. Thus, such discussions illuminate, that the study of war and society requires new scholarly approaches connected to existing expertise. Therefore it is imperative to move beyond the established Dutch and European perspectives and put the dynamic interactions between the global north and south, east and west in the center of our consideration.

The theme group contributes to developing new theoretical frameworks and connected research practices in this field. Such a strategy should be multi-disciplinary, connecting the study of history and related disciplines to social and political science approaches. The study of both World Wars and the violent decolonisation have been dominated by nation-state approaches. In the world of today, this perspective is not tenable anymore. Therefore the key issues of Legitimacy, Governance, and Citizenship as connected to war and mass violence will be studied in a global context, within a longer temporal framework.