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From its very inception UNESCO was one of the forums, where East-West contest in the ideological sphere became most visible. For many years the Organization remained a hostage of Cold War confrontation, when both opposing blocs attempted to use it as an instrument in their war of ideas. On the other hand, the UNESCO that had been founded, as its Constitution declares, "for the purpose of advancing, through the educational and scientific and cultural relations of the people of the world, the objective of international peace and of the common welfare of mankind," played an important and not always appreciated part in alleviating contradictions between opposing Cold War blocs, seeking ways of mitigating the conflict between them by way of influencing people's thinking and spreading ideas of peace and accommodation that could help eliminate the seeds of war in the minds of people.
The principal objective of the conference therefore is to study the influence that the Cold War exerted on UNESCO, its activities and evolution, as well as the impact that the organization, through its efforts in connecting peoples and countries in the sphere of culture, education and science, had left on confrontation between the countries divided by irreconcilable discrepancy of worldviews, interests and objectives in the international arena . This symposium, organized by the International Scientific Committee for the UNESCO History Project will be hosted by the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, University of Heidelberg, Germany on 4-5 March 2010.
Please find further details and the programme on our web site: www.unesco.org/archives
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