scholarly journals Between Dialogue and Denunciation: The World Council of Churches, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights during the Cold War

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Bastiaan Bouwman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War

While the historiography on the religious Cold War has tended to focus on Christian anticommunism, the World Council of Churches (WCC) sought to transcend the Cold War while simultaneously advancing religious freedom in the Soviet Union. This article connects the WCC's ecclesiastical diplomacy to the wider story of human rights, from which religion has too often been excluded. The WCC's quest for Christian fellowship led it to integrate the Russian Orthodox Church into its membership, but this commitment generated tensions with the rise of Soviet dissidence. Moreover, the WCC's turn towards the left and the Third World contrasted with newly ascendant voices for human rights in the 1970s: Amnesty International's depoliticised liberalism, evangelical anticommunism, and the Vatican under John Paul II. Thus, the WCC, an early and prominent transnational voice for human rights, ran afoul of shifts in both the Cold War and the politics of protest.

General Secretary of the World Council of Churches 1948-1966

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurjen A. Zeilstra
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cold War ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
International Crises ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
General Secretary ◽  
The Church

This chapter explores the central role Visser ’t Hooft played in the World Council from 1948 to 1966, showing how his vision and style influenced the direction the World Council took in dealing with issues like syncretism. We see the strong practical bent of the World Council in topics like the Cold War and international crises such as South Africa, Cuba and Cyprus. The chapter traces how Visser ’t Hooft involved the missionary nature of the church at every turn. We also learn how the revival he hoped for did not materialise. Instead, after 1960, secularisation grew, and Visser ’t Hooft’s ability to appeal to younger generations began to wane.

The Good Ship Oikoumene

Worldview ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 17-20
Author(s):  
Elliott Wright
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Cold War Era ◽  
World Council ◽  
John Foster Dulles ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Present Understanding

The World Council of Churches was bom in the cold war era. That's important for present understanding. At its beginning John Foster Dulles warned against Christian obeisance to the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” And Josef L. Hromádka, the eminent Czech theologian, spoke of the future bliss of socialist “material trust, free responsibility and service.” The WCC has been repeatedly accused— notably but not exclusively by Western conservatives— of damning the evils of the West while closing its eyes to injustices in Communist lands. At the same time, doctrinaire Marxists dismiss the Council as a product of the West and therefore unable to understand or act upon socialism's criticism of capitalism.

The Development of the United Nations Law Concerning Peace-Keeping Operations

1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-281
Author(s):  
Robert Siekmann
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Central America ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Cold War

Especially as a consequence of the termination of the Cold War, the détente in the relations between East en West (Gorbachev's ‘new thinking’ in foreign policy matters) and, finally, the disappearance of the Soviet Union, the number of UN peace-keeping operations substantially increased in recent years. One could even speak of a ‘proliferation’. Until 1988 the number of operations was twelve (seven peace-keeping forces: UNEF ‘I’ and ‘II’, ONUC, UNHCYP, UNSF (West New Guinea), UNDOF AND UNIFIL; and five military observer missions: UNTSO, UNMOGIP, UNOGIL, UNYOM and UNIPOM). Now, three forces and seven observer missions can be added. The forces are MINURSO (West Sahara), UNTAC (Cambodia) and UNPROFOR (Yugoslavia); the observer groups: UNGOMAP (Afghanistan/Pakistan), UNIIMOG (Iran/Iraq), UNAVEM ‘I’ and ‘II’ (Angola), ONUCA (Central America), UNIKOM (Iraq/Kuwait) and ONUSAL (El Salvador). UNTAG (Namibia), which was established in 1978, could not become operational until 1989 as a result of the new political circumstances in the world. So, a total of twenty-three operations have been undertaken, of which almost fifty percent was established in the last five years, whereas the other half was the result of decisions taken by the United Nations in the preceding forty years (UNTSO dates back to 1949). In the meantime, some ‘classic’ operations are being continued (UNTSO, UNMOGIP, UNFICYP, UNDOF, and UNIFIL), whereas some ‘modern’ operations already have been terminated as planned (UNTAG, UNGOMAP, UNIIMOG, UNAVEM ‘I’ and ‘II’, and ONUCA). At the moment (July 1992) eleven operations are in action – the greatest number in the UN history ever.

From global to local and back: the ‘Third World’ concept and the new radical left in France

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Kalter
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Third World ◽  
Global Dynamics ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
World Concept ◽  
Radical Left

AbstractIn the second half of the twentieth century, the transnational ‘Third World’ concept defined how people all over the globe perceived the world. This article explains the concept’s extraordinary traction by looking at the interplay of local uses and global contexts through which it emerged. Focusing on the particularly relevant setting of France, it examines the term’s invention in the context of the Cold War, development thinking, and decolonization. It then analyses the reviewPartisans(founded in 1961), which galvanized a new radical left in France and provided a platform for a communication about, but also with, the Third World. Finally, it shows how the association Cedetim (founded in 1967) addressed migrant workers in France as ‘the Third World at home’. In tracing the Third World’s local–global dynamics, this article suggests a praxis-oriented approach that goes beyond famous thinkers and texts and incorporates ‘lesser’ intellectuals and non-textual aspects into a global conceptual history in action.

The Cold War, the Unity of the Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, 1948-1966

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurjen A. Zeilstra
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Eastern Orthodoxy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Church ◽  
East West

Chapter 7 traces Visser ’t Hooft’s activity as a (controversial) bridge builder during the period of the Cold War, on the unity of the church, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite the Cold War, which prevented Eastern Orthodox churches from joining the World Council, Visser ’t Hooft held firmly to the direction set by the World Council as a third way between East and West, utilising insights he laid out in earlier publications. At the same time the World Council had to deal with the question of churches recognising other churches as true. In this chapter we see how Visser ’t Hooft inspired people to apply ecumenicity across the East-West divide. The chapter also looks at criticism of Visser ’t Hooft’s approach.

8. Collapsing Empires: The Cold War Battle for Hearts and Minds, 1953–63

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
French Empire ◽  
Suez Crisis ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Hearts And Minds

This chapter examines how the United States and the Soviet Union sought to win the hearts and minds of people in various parts of the world as empires began to collapse during the period 1953–1963. It begins with a discussion of the end of the French Empire, taking into account the loss of French Indo-China and the start of American involvement in Vietnam, along with the collapse of French rule in Morocco and Tunisia. It then considers the crises in the Congo, Angola, and the Middle East, focusing on the zenith of the Cold War in Black Africa, Britain’s declining power, and the Suez crisis. It concludes by looking at the end of the British Empire in Africa.

Conflict Analysis and Resolution as a Field

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Kriesberg
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Conflict Analysis ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Conflict Analysis And Resolution ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Communications ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
World Environment

Conflict analysis and resolution (CAR) is defined by a set of ideas about avoiding, minimizing, and stopping violence that often is mutually destructive. CAR relates to all domains of conflicts, whether within or between families, organizations, communities, or countries. The CAR field emerged between 1946 and 1969, as numerous wars and crises erupted, associated with the Cold War and the national liberation struggles of the decolonization process. Many doctrines, theories, and research appeared to explain and influence those conflicts. New governmental and nongovernmental actions were also undertaken to prevent future wars by building transnational institutions and fostering reconciliation between former enemies. The rapid expansion and institutionalization of CAR began in the early 1970s, when many American pioneers in the field became discouraged by their failure to accomplish more during the 1950s and 1960s. The end of the Cold War in 1989 and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 profoundly changed the world environment. Several developments contributed to limiting destructive international and domestic conflicts. These include the increasing economic integration of the world and the intensification of global communications; the growing adherence to norms protecting human rights; increasing number of democratic countries; and growing engagement of women in governance. Core CAR concepts include conflict analysis, conflict fluidity and subjectivity, and multiplicity of actors.

The United Nations, the Cold War, and Its Legacy

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Hankel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Member States ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Cold War

According to the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, the member states of this organization resolved ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ as well as to act in a way that demonstrates ‘faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person’. As demonstrated by the emergence and consolidation of the Cold War, the reality of the situation was very different. The two superpowers (USA and Soviet Union) pursued their own agendas based on their respective power politics. For the most part, the United Nations watched helplessly from the sidelines. The states were meticulous in their efforts to ensure that the United Nations was not allocated any powers that could have led to any appreciable infringement of their sovereignty.

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