The Peace Movements Project

How did peace movements navigate colonialism and decolonization? Our five-year global history project studies how local peace movements across the decolonizing world have connected to international peace organizations from the early 1900s onwards. Each of our subprojects focuses on a specific region, which we bring together in a shared analytical framework and data visualization of the international connections of the peace advocates we study.

We are based at the Institute for History of Leiden University, and we are funded by the European Research Council and the Dutch Research Council. Our team members work on peace movements in West-Africa, North Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, and we research the international connections these movements built. Such connections took many forms, ranging from institutionalized forms of cooperation, to protests, marches, and intentional communities. They centered on shared methods, goals, or on specific issues such as conscientious objection or nuclear disarmament.

We are always eager to hear from researchers whose interests align with ours! We will host an international conference on peace movements and decolonization in Leiden in the academic year of 2026/2027, so do tell us about your work!