The Reluctant Internationalists in the Classroom (360G-Wellcome-097779_Z_11_B)

In the globalized world of 2011 the strengths and weaknesses of international institutions are attracting much public interest, and historians have begun to pay closer attention to the history of international collaboration. But much of this work is suffering from the limitations of local and national narratives on one hand, and a lack of appreciation of the role played bY public health on the other. This project, by contrast, constructs a new, broad perspective on ideas and forms of internation alism, and the international ambitions of doctors, medical researchers, relief workers, public health teams, politicians, generals, diplomats, and policy-makers in twentieth century Europe. Throughout the century, concerns about public health crises (real or imagined) were primary catalysts for international solutions, structures and mechanisms, which spurred or forced policy-makers at local and national levels into international action, often reluctantly. This project will examine the origins o f such policies, consequences and lasting legacies. The project will give rise to: - a major, agenda-setting monograph on the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) as the most significant international organisation to be established on the ruins of the League of Nations, which significantly shaped international collaboration in its wake; - four constituent research projects on crucial international moments , regions and organisations in twentieth-century Europe, e ach resulting in a monograph and peer-reviewed articles; - a collaboratively-written popular history of twentieth century public health and internationalism; - a range of public and academic events and resources; - an international research network, led and directed from Birkbeck.