Primus Project












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            Title: The Past is Present: The Use and Misuse of Traumatic Historical Events in Foreign P


            Project Duration: January 2022 - December 2025


            Budget: Budget: $490.000

            Supported by: PRIMUS [ URL "https://cuni.cz/UKEN-558.html"] Research Program by Charles Un




            Summary:
            How do traumatic historical events shape contemporary foreign policy? This question has be
            pressing by the rise of European populist parties who advocate revisionist policies, which

            through controversial framings of the past. In assessing why and how "the past is present"
            project will impact this ongoing policy debate by analyzing how memories of World War II a
            shape: (i) EU member states’ foreign policies; (ii) the EU's decision-making and; (iii) Is

            relations. There are few studies of how framings of traumatic events affect international 
            populism has affected memory politics. TPIP will address this research gap through an inte
            mixed-methods framework, which it will apply to key case studies at the intersection of me

            foreign policy.

            Project Goals:

            TPIP highlights the salience of history in foreign policy. In light of the instrumentaliza
            in democracies, a process exacerbated by nativist populism (Norris & Inglehart 2019), this
            examines how troubled and traumatic pasts affect international relations. TPIP will analyz

            of historical traumas shape contemporary policy across the EU and between European states 
            project will produce findings relevant to on-going policy debates concerning memory, popul
            policy and European integration.


            TPIP addresses several salient research gaps. Multiple works have noted that memories of t
            a state's international relations (Miskimmon et al. 2014, Finkel 2010). However, scholarly

            taken place within, rather than across, the disciplines of international relations and mem
            Furthermore, academics have not addressed how the past shapes foreign policy in divergent 
            milieu. Equally, scholars have yet to identify how populist-fueled European debates over h

            have re-defined relations with Israel.

            TPIP will therefore merge and expand recent works on ontological security (Mälksoo 2015, S

            2016), memory politics (Pakier & Str?th 2013) and Israel-Europe relations (Pardo & Peters 
            contributing its own findings on how framings of the traumatic past shape EU policy and bi
            between its member states and Israel.


            TPIP constructs an interdisciplinary framework assessing the role of memory politics in fo
            a topic that scholars have only recently examined (Klymenko and Siddi 2020, Bachleitner 20

            provide a timely and unique contribution to the literature, by focusing on how populism ha
            memories of historical trauma and provoked corresponding policy debates.


            TRIP provides an important empirical contribution, by comparatively exploring the instrume
            historical traumas in Central, Eastern and Western European states. Each of these milieus 
            historical experiences and memories and uneven postwar development. By comparing these cas

            contribute to the amelioration of conflict structures in international relations and count
            messages propagated by populist parties.