The Annual Pierre du Bois Conference ‘Love, Hate, and the Fate of International Organizations: The Psychological Life of Global Governance (1900\u2013Present)’ was organised by the Graduate Institute in partnership with the Pierre du Bois Foundation and took place at Maison de la Paix in Geneva on May 6 and 7, 2026. Professor Amalia Ribi Forclaz<\/a> and Professor Carolyn Biltoft<\/a> organized the conference. This conference was also part of the \u2018Global Governance, Trust and Democratic Engagement in Past and Present\u2019 (GLO) Project.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Summary of the Conference<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the 6th<\/sup> and 7th<\/sup> May 2026, the Geneva Graduate Institute hosted the Pierre du Bois Conference, convened by Carolyn Biltoft and Amalia Ribi Forclaz and organised by Thomas Gidney. The conference brought a range of different academics from different backgrounds from across the world, from Canada to Japan and many countries in between.<\/p>\n The title of the conference was \u2018Love, Hate, and the Fate of International Organizations : The Psychological Life of Global Governance (1900\u2013Present)\u2019. The topic, which covered the influence of emotions and psychoanalysis within international history and global politics, is one that represents a growing intellectual shift. Once seen as a field dominated by a Machiavellian realpolitik operated by talented diplomats behind the scenes, new concepts have emerged to see how emotions, different perceptions and reactions have had a greater impact on global politics.<\/p>\n International organisations have often been seen as repositories of hope and idealism, yet rapidly changing attitudes to international institutions and globalisation have shaped the current political reality. International institutions can thus engender a sense of \u2018love\u2019 and cooperation, but also anger and \u2018hate\u2019, both topics of discussion, but what of the third topic of discussion, their \u2018fate\u2019? Historians, as prophets of the past, rather than clairvoyants of the future, have often struggled to know what comes next, yet the current future of the international system was clearly a topic that rested in the balance of this conference\u2019s discussion.<\/p>\n The first panel, entitled \u2018Letters to the World \u2019, examined how ordinary people communicate with international institutions, often via petitioning systems. Nicole Bourbonnais (IHEID) opened the panel, discussing how mothers petitioned the WHO, whilst Peter Gatrell (Manchester) exposed how refugees were forced to disclose intimate details of their lives to the UNHCR for recognition. The panel closed with Dan Gorman\u2019s (Waterloo) presentation on how civil society groups such as the United Nations Associations operated to garner popular support for the UN system.<\/p>\n The following panel was entitled \u2018Law as Psychic Theatre\u2019. International law and courts such as the ICJ are seen to uphold legal norms and shape precedent, but they are also significant in delivering a drama of redemption and punishment. Alberto Rinaldi (Lund) reveals attempts by actors from the Global South to litigate their cases and the often emotionally charged nature of their appeals. Emanuele Monaco (Bologna) examines how the ICJ at The Hague shaped powerful norms about the nationality of married women, and how women confronted the gendered domestic hierarchies embedded within the Court. Nitzan Lebovic (Lehigh) finished the panel by examining the 1946 Nuremberg Trials and the 1948 Genocide Convention and how the role of complicity during the Holocaust shaped such principles.<\/p>\n The third and last panel of the day, entitled \u2018Projection onto the Forum \u2019, examined how bodies at international institutions have become podiums to express emotion. Kaiga (Hiroshima) presentation revealed how the fascistic ideas of national emotions and aspirations often came into conflict with the machinery of collective security at the League of Nations. Foray (Indiana) showed the significance of personal relations and diplomacy in the early days of the UN, over Indonesia\u2019s war of independence against the Netherlands. Finally, Martell (Lyon) brought a highly psychoanalytical paper to bear on the current political moment and the resistance of new techno elites and their resistance to the universal idealism of international institutions.<\/p>\n The day was concluded by the keynote lecture by Joanna Bourke (Birbeck), on the \u2018Making and Unmaking of Life: The Politics and Psychology of Fear from the 1970s to the Present\u2019. This keynote address examined the evolution of a new form of politics, largely in the United States, driven by a mixture of anxiety and messianic religion that had culminated in the current moment, notably in Evangelical support for President Trump. The talk touched on a range of topics, looking to the future, notably on shifting perceptions of young men and women, and the rise of the \u2018manosphere\u2019.<\/p>\n Day two kicked off with Panel 4 entitled \u2018Good Object, Bad Object\u2019, which examines the attachments people and activists have projected onto international institutions, often to be subsequently let down. Bond\u2019s (UCL) opening paper on Cora Deng reveals the life of a Christian activist in the YWCA, who was eventually forced by the Chinese Communist Party to condemn it. Van Trigt (Leiden) argued that disability advocates have long imagined the UN as an ally for those with cognitive disabilities, only to be met with indifference. Finally, Quiroga-Villamarin (NYU) delved into Dersen and Kelen\u2019s world of satirical cartoons during the era of the League of Nations, making the institution and the statesmen around it objects of both idealisation and ridicule.<\/p>\n Panel 5, \u2018Inside the Institution\u2019, sought to present the role of staff and civil servants within international institutions and their beliefs. Schacht (Heidelberg) analysed the internal politics within the League of Nations as it transitioned to the United Nations during the War. Pierre (Geneva) and Ikonomou (Copenhagen) examined, through a variety of photos of civil servants to the League of Nations, how members of the global bureaucracy created new communities but also recreated hierarchies. Barrett (Northumbria) presented the lives of two UNESCO workers, Lu Gweidjen from China and Joseph Needham from Britain, revealing the mixing of the professional and the personal.<\/p>\n The final panel of the conference, \u2018The IO as a Vessel\u2019, featured Jahanbani\u2019s (Kansas) presentation on the eccentric activist Garry Davis, a former US bomber crewman who ripped up his passport at the UN General Assembly in Paris and demanded one world government. Bullon-Cassis (IHEID) traced the development of space law and technologies, and how people have projected on the UN a planetary-wide role as a regulator of the final frontier. Finally, Corradini (Copenhagen) wrapped up the conference by examining how the League became an embattled site over the consumption of alcohol during the height of the era of prohibition<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Love, Hate, and the Fate of International Organizations: The Psychological Life of Global Governance (1900\u2013Present) May 6-7, 2026 The Annual Pierre du Bois Conference ‘Love, Hate, and the Fate of International Organizations: The Psychological Life of Global Governance (1900\u2013Present)’ was organised by the Graduate Institute in partnership with the Pierre du Bois Foundation and took place at Maison de la… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":19446,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19437","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","xfolkentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19437"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20003,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19437\/revisions\/20003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondation-pierredubois.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nPlease find below the programme:<\/h4>\nGuest Program_PDB_GLO (1)<\/a>\n