Science, Dissent, and Activism: How Non-State Actors Challenged the Cold War Order
This conference seeks to advance an analytically grounded discussion of how non-state actors used science, expertise, and moral authority to challenge Cold War logics of sovereignty, security, and ideological loyalty. Particular emphasis will be placed on the interplay between knowledge production and political agency across different institutional settings, including conferences, committees, universities and research institutes, expert networks, and non-governmental organizations. A central point of reference is the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and related initiatives, understood not only as a peace movement but as laboratories of non-state diplomacy, epistemic authority, and Cold War governance.
We welcome empirically rich case studies as well as theoretically informed contributions from the history of science and technology, Cold War history, new diplomatic history, political sciences, international relations, political sociology, area studies, and peace studies. Comparative, transnational, and entangled perspectives are particularly encouraged.
Submission Guidelines: Prospective participants are invited to submit a short abstract (max. 240 words) and a brief biographical note by 19 April 2026 to doubravka.olsakova@fsv.cuni.cz.
You can find more information here.
Acknowledgement: The conference is organized within the framework of the research grant Forging Peace in the Shadow: Czechoslovak Pugwash and Pugwash in Czechoslovakia (GA25-16159S), in collaboration with the IUHST/DHST Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy and in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig.