Ethnicity, Nationalism and the European Cold War


Book Description

This book questions the prevalent assumption that ethnicity and nationalist politics had nothing to do with the Cold War and that, far from being 'frozen' until the fall of communism, they remained central to the conflict in Europe. Leading scholars bring their understanding of particular regions to bear on the wider issue of why ethnic explanations were written out of the discourse and whether this was a failure on the part of Western observers. This in turn has led to an overly simple understanding of power flowing downwards, from superpower to nation state and from state to society. Engaging with key thinkers such as Gaddis, Moynihan and Adam Roberts this collection ultimately allows such speculation to be replaced by historical research and bridges the gap between 'high politics' and ethnic concerns.




Nationalism and Internationalism in the Post-Cold War Era


Book Description

The tension between nationalism and internationalism has been a major feature of world politics since the end of the Cold War. Based on a Nobel symposium, this collection brings together an international selection of acclaimed authors from a wide variety of academic disciplines. The book combines focused case-studies and more theoretically based material to examine critically the post-Cold War political landscape. Subjects covered include: * changing interpretation of the nation state and nationalism * the growing prominence of transnational organisations * technological changes in information, communication and transport * multiculturalism and citizenship *ethnicity and religious identity in African, Indian, Bosnian and Polish nationalism * the growing global significance of Islam.




Europe and Ethnicity


Book Description

The 1990s have seen an upsurge in ethnic tensions in many parts of Europe. Europe and Ethnicity suggests the main reasons are to be found in the decisions taken during the first world and at Versailles. * An introductory chapter analyzes the context of the war with particular reference to regions and states where the national and ethnic questions were particularly complex and intransigent * Subsequent chapters present case studies from arenas of conflict: Ireland to Yugoslavia; the Middle East to the Baltic states; Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Europe and Ethnicity confirms the mixed legacy of the period for the ethnic stability of the areas examined, while taking into account the impact of the Second World War and the ending of the Cold War.







Race, Ethnicity, and the Cold War


Book Description

A white American woman is raped by a black Panamanian laborer in 1946 in the Panama Canal Zone, and the aftermath affects labor relations in the Western hemisphere for the next two decades. And numerous nations use the African continent to exercise their colonial muscle and postwar power, only to encounter the financial and military burdens that will exhaust and alienate their own citizenry half a world away. As Race, Ethnicity, and the Cold War reveals, during this dangerous era there were no longer any "isolated incidents." Like the butterfly flapping its wings and changing the weather on the other side of the globe, an instance of racial or ethnic hostility had ripple effects across a Cold War world of brinksmanship between bitter national rivals and ideological opponents. Table of Contents Preface Introduction: The Borders of Race and Nation Nico Slate Part I: Race and the International System Token Diplomacy: The United States, Race, and the Cold War Michael L. Krenn A Wind of Change? White Redoubt and the Postcolonial Moment in South Africa, 1960-1963 Ryan M. Irwin Part II: Race, Ethnicity, and Decolonization Race, Labor, and Security in the Panama Canal Zone: The 1946 Greaves Rape Case, Local 713, and the Isthmian Cold War Crackdown Michael Donoghue Race, Identity, and Diplomacy in the Papua Decolonization Struggle, 1949-1962 David Webster "For a Better Guinea" Winning Hearts and Minds in Portuguese Guinea Luís Nuno Rodrigues Part III: Race and the Interplay of Domestic and International Politics Testing the Limits of Soviet Internationalism: African Students in the Soviet Union Maxim Matusevich Crimes against Humanity in the Congo: Nazi Legacies and the German Cold War in Africa Katrina M. Hagen Race and the Cuban Revolution: The Impact of Cuba's Intervention in Angola Henley Adams Part IV: Ethnicity and the Interplay of Domestic and International Politics Ethnic Nationalism in the Cold War Context: The Cyprus Issue in the Greek and Greek American Public Debate, 1954-1989 Zinovia Lialiouti and Philip E. Muehlenbeck God Bless Reagan and God Help Canada: The Polish Canadian Action Group and Solidarnośc in Toronto Eric L. Payseur Ethnic Nationalism and the Collapse of Soviet Communism Mark R. Beissinger







Post-Cold War Identity Politics


Book Description

During the past decade northern Europe has started to assume an identity of its own. Categories of East and West have become blurred, challenging as well the idea of what it means to be Nordic. Post-Cold War Identity Politics maps this process in Scandinavia. Looking at projects designed to help regional development in the Nordic countires, it assesses whether a new way of defining 'Northern-ness' is emerging. The book highlights the existence of co-existing and - to some extent - competing region-building projects in northern Europe. It demonstrates how they are all efforts by existing nations to redefine their role in Europe at a time of change, and points to how they might develop in the future.




Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe


Book Description

The resilience of nationalism in contemporary Europe may seem paradoxical at a time when the nation state is widely seen as being 'in decline'. The contributors of this book see the resurgence of nationalism as symptomatic of the quest for identity and meaning in the complex modern world. Challenged from above by the supranational imperatives of globalism and from below by the complex pluralism of modern societies, the nation state, in the absence of alternatives to market consumerism, remains a focus for social identity. Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe takes a fully interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the 'national question'. Individual chapters consider the specifics of national identity in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Iberia, Russia, the former Yugoslavla and Poland, while looking also at external forces such as economic globalisation, European supranationalism, and the end of the Cold War. Setting current issues and conflicts in their broad historical context, the book reaffirms that 'nations' are not 'natural' phenomena but 'constructed' forms of social identity whose future will be determined in the social arena.




Ethnicity, Nationalism and the European Cold War


Book Description

This book questions the prevalent assumption that ethnicity and nationalist politics had nothing to do with the Cold War and that, far from being 'frozen' until the fall of communism, they remained central to the conflict in Europe. Leading scholars bring their understanding of particular regions to bear on the wider issue of why ethnic explanations were written out of the discourse and whether this was a failure on the part of Western observers. This in turn has led to an overly simple understanding of power flowing downwards, from superpower to nation state and from state to society. Engaging with key thinkers such as Gaddis, Moynihan and Adam Roberts this collection ultimately allows such speculation to be replaced by historical research and bridges the gap between 'high politics' and ethnic concerns.




Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State


Book Description

This book explores a largely forgotten legacy of multicultural political thought and practice from within Eastern Europe and examines its relevance to post-Cold War debates on state and nationhood. Featuring a Preface by former UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke, it weaves theory and practice to challenge established understandings of the nation state. Eastern Europe is still too often viewed through the prism of ethnic conflict, which overlooks the region’s positive contribution to modern debates on the political management of ethno-cultural diversity, and towards the construction of a united Europe ‘beyond the nation-state’. Based on extensive archival research in Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Russia, as well as the League of Nations Archive in Geneva, this book explores this neglected multicultural legacy and assesses its significance in the post-Cold War era, which has seen the reappearance of national cultural autonomy laws in several states of Eastern Europe. Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State is invaluable reading for students and scholars of political science, history, sociology and European studies, and also for policy makers and others interested in minority rights and ethnic conflict regulation.