UNESCO's Tensions Project (1947–1957) on India and Israel: Peace research in an era of decolonization

In the light of Second World War, devastation Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decolonization in Asia, newly established UN organization for education, science culture (UNESCO) initiated a global research project 1947. Its main task was to find out how tensions within between societies can be explained tackled secure peace social justice. Combining history with sciences intellectual history, this article assesses design conduct Tensions Project India Israel at crossroads post-fascism post-colonialism. It finds reasons Project's limited impact contradictions universal knowledge claims local specificities, its over-confidence scientific solutions problems, interfering nation-building early postcolonial states, comparability research, neglect political activism.