Debate | Roundtable
80 Years of Peace in Europe?
- Date
- Thursday 15 May 2025
- Time
- Address
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 2.01
80 years after the end of the Second World War in Europe, the History and International Studies section, Institute for History, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University and the Cold War Research Network will bring together scholars and practitioners to reflect on this anniversary. This event is supported by the Europe Hub, Leiden University and the Erasmus Mundus MA degree programme in European Politics and Society.
Registration
I would like to attend80th Anniversary
May 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, followed later by the end of the Pacific War. For many in 1945, this was a time of great hope and the imagining of a different world. The idealism of the League Nations gave way to the creation of the United Nations. The Nuremberg Trials signalled that human rights would matter as much as the sovereignty of states. Power would be made subordinate to law, people’s right to self-determination would be both recognised and realised. Once warring states would turn to international organisations rather than war to settle their differences. Sitting alongside these expectations was the reality of the Cold War world, fragmented beyond a mere East-West axis, a reminder that states still sought power and control over others. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were again greeted with proclamations of a new world order, the human rights agenda elevated further. Fast forward to today and many of the assumptions and much that was built from 1945 are being questioned, even dismantled. In this roundtable, speakers will reflect on where we are now and how we got here.
Introduction
- Dr. Matt Broad
Moderator
- Dr. Maxine David
Speakers
- Dr Laurien Crump, Radboud University, Nijmegen
- Dr Daniel Schade, Institute for History, Leiden University
- Dr Vineet Thakur, Institute for History, Leiden University
- Dr Jue Wang, LIAS, Leiden University