Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. In 1971 the Sri Lankan Prime Minister tabled the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace at the 26th United Nations General Assembly, marking the state's international debut at the global stage. This article analyses the trajectory of this highly significant initiative in the context of rapidly evolving political instabilities within Sri Lanka and across the Indian Ocean region. It argues that Sri Lanka's pursuit of peace during the 1970s and 1980s stemmed from multiple threats to its sovereignty combined with the state's desire to develop strategic all ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. During the Cold War, Prague was home to several international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) uniting member organizations of different fields (students, journalists, trade unions, communist parties, churches and others). This article aims at a reinterpretation of their history through the lens of decolonization, presenting the NGOs not only as soldiers in the Cold War but also as ‘hubs of anti-colonialism’. It shows the role of the ‘Third World’ delegates in the NGOs and their positioning toward Czechoslovak state socialism. It explores t ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. This article deals with the management of public order during a crucial period of Spain's twentieth-century democratization process. A regional case-study is employed in order to analyse the detail of political violence and gain a clearer understanding of both the participants and the role of the police and the civil governor. It is based on an exhaustive database containing all the episodes of violence that led to deaths and serious injuries. Quantitative research, combined with adequate contextualization, is vital to unravel the evolution of t ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. Throughout human history, people have always produced waste, but during the last century, this has shown explosive growth. Globally, a combination of rising incomes, urbanization, the development of new, cheap materials, and changing lifestyles have driven the growth of products that were designed to be used for only limited periods of time producing a totally unprecedented amount and variety of waste. However, this development has not affected all people in similar ways. Waste has been a marker of unprecedented but unbalanced efficiency, wealth ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. Recent studies have explored the history of consumerism in communist Eastern Europe, suggesting that socialist consumption followed its own rhythm and logic. However, when it comes to waste-making and recycling existing literature focuses on post-industrial waste practices of the Soviet bloc, paying little attention to post-consumer waste. However, socialist societies did not follow the West's example and refrained from introducing single-use materials, such as disposable beverage containers. Could this also mean that socialists did a better job ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Ahead of Print. On 14 July 1943, soldiers of the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment brutally murdered more than 70 German and Italian prisoners of war in two separate incidents in the vicinity of the Santo Pietro Airfield near the village of Santo Pietro di Caltagirone, Sicily. These killings, erroneously known as the ‘Biscari Massacre,’ stand as some of the most brutal atrocities committed by American forces in Europe during the Second World War. Despite this, the US Army generally failed to hold the massacres’ perpetrators a ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 59, Issue 1, Page 216-218, January 2024 ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 59, Issue 1, Page 214-216, January 2024 ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 59, Issue 1, Page 212-214, January 2024 ..read more

Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 59, Issue 1, Page 211-212, January 2024 ..read more