Symposium: Introduction The politics of memory: Commemorating the centenary of the First World War JOAN BEAUMONT Australian National University This symposium examines how the centenary of the First World War has been marked in five countries: Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Given their distinctive national historical experiences and political cultures, the metanarratives of the war in these countries differ; as does the relationship between the state and sub-state actors in memory making. However, in each case the commemorations of the war have been shaped by a negotiation between the state and other agents of memory at the sub-state level. National memory has also been consciously projected into international relations, through carefully orchestrated anniversary ceremonies and performative memorial diplomacy. But, despite these transnational commemorative practices, the centenary of the war remains predominantly framed within local and national imaginings. Keywords: Anzac; commemoration; First World War; national memory; war memory In 2014–15 there have been remarkable displays across the globe of collective and national memory in the form of commemorations of the First World War. This wave of remembrance has been so diverse and complex that it has been beyond the capacity of a single scholar to track. This symposium therefore brings together a group of scholars to consider how the centenary of the First World War has been marked thus far in five countries: Australia, France, Germany, the UK and the USA. In particular, we consider how the character of the centenary commemorations in 2014 and 2015 has been shaped by particular national historical experiences; how the state and sub-national groups have interacted in the processes of memory formation; and how the centenary commemorations have generated debates within these countries. The recent commemorations of the First World War may seem exceptionally intense, but it is important to recognise that they are part of ‘memory boom’ that has a longer history. For at least three decades societies and governments, particularly in the West, have been turning to the past, seeking a means of investing today’s social Joan Beaumont is a Professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. Australian Journal of Political Science, 2015 Vol. 50, No. 3, 529–535, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2015.1079938 © 2015 Australian Political Studies Association