The “Propaganda and Neutrality” conference was designed to overcome the existing limitations of the historiography, where historical propaganda analysis has often focused on belligerents, by offering a space for debate in which neutrals became the exclusive focus of the propaganda analysis with examples from just prior to the First World War to the late twentieth century.

The conference began with a panel on “Pre-First World War propaganda” with papers by MAARTJE ABBENHUIS (University of Auckland) and MARIO DRAPER (University of Kent). Abbenhuis considered the pre-eminence of neutrality before the outbreak of the First World War, revealing the roles played by the neutrals, and the employment of propaganda as an instrument to sell neutrality. Draper then revealed that Belgian neutrality could be seen as a form of active propaganda which exploited the 1839 Treaty of London – described by the German Chancellor as merely a “scrap of paper”.

The Keynote, given by JO FOX (University of London), emphasised the mutability of neutrality and propaganda, considering the neutral countries as the perfect site for interaction between the softer cultural diplomacy and the sharp interventions that characterise political warfare, drawing on her own research on the Political Warfare Executive (PWE).

The panel that followed the keynote speech, on the “First World War and the United States of America”, highlighted the US scenario as one of the most prominent examples of neutrality with papers by RICHARD DUNLEY (University of New South Wales), STEPHEN BADSEY (University of Wolverhampton) and VINCENT TROTT (Open University). Dunley studied the image of “navalism” and the influence of maritime rights in the relationship between opinion and Anglo-American policy, whilst Badsey considered a more general approach which examined the role played by propaganda and American neutrality in later historiographical interpretations up to the present day. Trott’s concluding paper analysed an American point of view with humourous cartoons published during the Great War being integral components of the national propaganda produced in magazines published in the United States.

The next panel, entitled “First World War and Alternative Battlegrounds”, revealed the extent of the propaganda war in alternative geographical scenarios – namely Argentina, Greece, Barcelona and Portugal. The panel members were MARÍA INÉS TATO (University of Buenos Aires and National Defense University), GEORGIOS GIANNAKOPOULOS (King’s College, London) and ZINOVIA LIALIOUTI (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), FLORIAN GRAFL (University of Munich) and MIGUEL BRANDÃO (University of Porto). The papers analysed how these different case studies required a mixture of broader messaging and tailoring to local situations and pre-existing points of view on national stereotypes. These were partially linguistic with pan-Latinism and French connections being highlighted by Tato and Brandao as being important in both Argentina and Portugal. There was an interesting spatial and urban dimension with a focus on Patras and Barcelona, highlighting the importance of specific situations.

The conference then moved on from the First World War with a panel entitled “Second World War – Ireland, Switzerland and Vichy France”. LIOR TIBET (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and KAREN GARNER (SUNY Empire State College) focused on two different aspects of propaganda in neutral Ireland with Tibet analysing the role of the German cinema as an example of a soft propaganda instrument, and the effectiveness of the Irish censorship to prevent it. Garner considered the impact of the Allied countries with a particular focus on the dominant personalities of Churchill, Roosevelt and de Valera. These papers were followed by GUY WOODWARD (University of Durham) and RICHARD CARSWELL (Independent Scholar) with Woodward analysing the role of the historian Elizabeth Wiskemann in Switzerland in gathering intelligence for the PWE and rumour-spreading; and Carswell analysing how Vichy France attempted to square the circle of projecting an image of a neutral country when it was surrounded by potential enemies.

The second day of conference was opened with two papers on a panel entitled “Second World War and Turkey” by YASEMIN DOĞANER and YASEMIN TÜRKKAN TUNALI (Hacettepe University) and EDWARD CORSE (University of Kent). These papers considered both the German and British propaganda campaigns in Turkey and revealed how they were closely monitored by the Turkish General Directorate of Security, the form that the propaganda took and the challenges the propagandists faced from the changing nature of the war.

The next panel “Second World War and Iberian connections” included three panellists, SIMONE MURACA (University of Padua), MARTA GARCÍA CABRERA (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and VERONICA BARRY (Maynooth University) who focused on propaganda efforts in Spain and Portugal, as well as Ireland. The Iberian Peninsula was the scene of a strong soft power campaign driven by the Axis powers through cultural and social propaganda, but also the target of subversive propaganda plans designed by Great Britain to combat enemy influence. Muraca analysed Fascist cultural propaganda in Portugal, describing a number of different actors that were involved in the propaganda effort, both officially and informally. García Cabrera highlighted the operational propaganda plans designed by the PWE in the event that Spain entered the war or Germany invaded its territory. Barry evidenced how women were elevated to the forefront of Nazi foreign policy in relation to the German propaganda in Spain and Ireland.

The panel “Second World War – Looking beyond Europe” reflected how the propaganda activities were extended to the Asian and Latin American scenarios, with HELENA F.S. LOPES (University of Bristol) and JOÃO ARTHUR CICILIATO FRANZOLIN (University Estadual Júlio de Mesquita Filho). Lopes examined the roles and practices of propaganda in the Portuguese-administered enclave of Macau between 1937-1945, whilst Franzolin took a comparative approach to the objectives, effects, and characteristics of three magazines – the German magazine “Signal”, and the US publications, “Victory” and “Em Guarda”.

The conference then moved on from “hot wars” to consider neutrality in a more ideological space, with a panel on “The Cold War”. This panel evidenced the importance of non-alignment rather than military neutrality in three countries, Sweden, Switzerland and Laos, with papers by EMIL STJERNHOLM (Lund University), CYRIL CORDOBA (Freie Universität Berlin) and P. MIKE RATTANASENGCHANH (Midwestern State University). Stjernholm studied the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Radio’s import of East German DEFA films and their reception in the Swedish public sphere which contrasted with Cordoba’s analysis of Maoist propaganda in Switzerland, as it became Beijing’s most important diplomatic mission for the spread of Maoism in Western Europe. Rattanasengchanh then described how, after gaining independence from France in 1954, Laos was immediately caught up in Cold War propaganda.

The last panel of the conference, under the title “Late Twentieth Century cross-continental interactions”, presented a new dimension of propaganda and neutrality characterised by the concepts of positioning, cooperation, and intermediation, with papers by HILLARY BRIFFA (King’s College), STEVE WESTLAKE (University of Bristol) and NICHOLAS J. CULL (University of Southern California). Briffa analysed the role and self-promotion of Malta as a strategic mediator – playing a brokering role between Europe and North Africa. Whereas Westlake challenged the dominant idea of the BBC World Service as a benevolent global public service beyond the realms of state propaganda. Cull completed the conference with a comparative analysis of the propaganda campaign that tried to end British and US government neutrality over Apartheid in South Africa with other of persuasion to undermine a non-interventionist stance.

In conclusion, the participants and attendees showed the importance of neutrals in wars during this period, and highlighted the role of propaganda as an instrument of pressure to maintain the neutrality of countries or the adoption of a more belligerent position. Neutrals were not only the target of propaganda campaigns, but their populations, intellectual groups, business entities, and political factions also mobilised interested propaganda campaigns in which the international dimension was combined with the national context of the countries.

In addition, the conference showed the power of neutrality as a form of propaganda, capable of placing neutrals as the subject of the propaganda messages. The various papers highlighted the relationship between war, persuasion and foreign policy; the prominence of imperialism and the importance of diaspora communities; the constant interconnection between neutrality, persuasion, intellectuality, and intelligence; as well as the diplomatic and cultural component of the foreign propaganda campaigns.

Conference overview:

Pre First World War
Chair: Michael Auwers, CegeSoma and University of Antwerp

Maartje Abbenhuis (University of Auckland): Mobilising neutrality to protect the world: Campaigning for neutrality in the international arena before and during the First World War

Mario Draper (University of Kent): “A Scrap of Paper”: Belgian Neutrality, Europe and the Prospect of war, 1870-1914

Keynote:
Jo Fox, University of London

First World War and the United States of America
Chair: Mark Connelly, University of Kent

Richard Dunley (University of New South Wales): Combating the Spectre of Navalism: propaganda, public opinion and maritime rights in the Anglo-American relationship 1914-5

Stephen Badsey (University of Wolverhampton): American neutrality and belligerent propaganda 1914-17

Vincent Trott (Open University): Humour, propaganda and neutrality: American Cartoons and the First World War 1914-1917

First World War and Alternative Battlegrounds
Chair: Stefan Goebel, University of Kent

María Inés Tato (University of Buenos Aires and National Defense University): Allied and German propaganda in Argentina during the First World War

Georgios Giannakopoulos (King’s College, London) / Zinovia Lialiouti (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens): Killing neutrality: the propaganda battle and the Greek “National Schism” (1915-1918)

Florian Grafl (University of Munich): Barcelona as an Alternative Battleground in the First World War

Miguel Brandão (University of Porto): Anglo-Portuguese Diplomacy and the Pro-Allied Propaganda during the Great War – The Portuguese “neutrality” (1914-1916)

Second World War – Ireland, Switzerland and Vichy France
Chair: Nicholas J.Cull, University of Southern California

Lior Tibet (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Censorship and Soft Power in Neutral Ireland 1933-1945: the case study of the German cinema

Karen Garner (SUNY Empire State College): Propaganda and Censorship in Neutral Eire during ‘the Emergency’: the influence of the Allies and personalities of Churchill, Roosevelt and de Valera

Guy Woodward (University of Durham): An Irregular Intellectual: Elizabeth Wiskemann in Berne, 1940-45

Richard Carswell (Independent Scholar): The role of propaganda in the case of ‘neutral’ Vichy France 1940-1944

Second World War and Turkey
Chair: Gaynor Johnson, University of Kent

Yasemin Doğaner (Hacettepe University) / Yasemin Türkkan Tunalı (Hacettepe University): Turkey’s Neutrality in the Shadow of Nazi Propaganda

Edward Corse (University of Kent): Pursuing a Reluctant Ally: the story of Britain’s propaganda campaign in neutral Turkey during the Second World War

Second World War and Iberian connections
Chair: Mark Lawrence, University of Kent

Simone Muraca (University of Padua): Beyond Neutrality: successes and failures of Italian cultural propaganda in Portugal during Second World War (1939-1945)

Marta García Cabrera (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria): Great Britain's contingency plans in Spain during World War Two: British propaganda as an instrument of military operations

Veronica Barry (Maynooth University): An examination of Nazi propaganda directed at women of the neutral states, 1933-45: a case study of Ireland and Spain

Second World War – Looking beyond Europe
Chair: Gaynor Johnson, University of Kent

Helena F.S. Lopes (University of Bristol): Invasion rumours, new newspapers, a kidnapped ship, and other propaganda tales of neutral Macau, 1937-1945

João Arthur Ciciliato Franzolin (University Estadual Júlio de Mesquita Filho): Signal, Em Guarda, Victory and the transnational struggle of the Axis and the Allies to influence readers in neutral and occupied countries during World War II

The Cold War
Chair: Ulf Schmidt, University of Hamburg

Emil Stjernholm (Lund University): DEFA Films on Swedish Television: Mapping the Reception of East German narratives

Cyril Cordoba (Freie Universität Berlin): Swiss counter-intelligence is as full of holes as its cheese” – neutrality and Maoist propaganda in 1960s Switzerland

P. Mike Rattanasengchanh (Midwestern State University): Laos and neutrality: unsung heroes in a tragic effort for neutrality

Late Twentieth Century cross-continental interactions
Chair: Philip Boobbyer, University of Kent

Hillary Briffa (King’s College, London): Malta: the Mediterranean Interlocutor

Steve Westlake (University of Bristol): Unwrapping ‘Britain’s Greatest Gift to the World in the Twentieth Century’: Neutrality, NGOs and the BBC World Service, 1989-1999

Nicholas J. Cull (University of Southern California): Anti-Apartheid propaganda and the counter-neutrality paradigm: the US and UK cases compared