America and the Postwar World: Remaking International Society, 1945-1956

America and the Postwar World: Remaking International Society, 1945-1956 PDF Author: David Mayers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351238426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
The main tide of international relations scholarship on the first years after World War II sweeps toward Cold War accounts. These have emphasized the United States and USSR in a context of geopolitical rivalry, with concomitant attention upon the bristling security state. Historians have also extensively analyzed the creation of an economic order (Bretton Woods), mainly designed by Americans and tailored to their interests, but resisted by peoples residing outside of North America, Western Europe, and Japan. This scholarship, centered on the Cold War as vortex and a reconfigured world economy, is rife with contending schools of interpretation and, bolstered by troves of declassified archival documents, will support investigations and writing into the future. By contrast, this book examines a past that ran concurrent with the Cold War and interacted with it, but which usefully can also be read as separable: Washington in the first years after World War II, and in response to that conflagration, sought to redesign international society. That society was then, and remains, an admittedly amorphous thing. Yet it has always had a tangible aspect, drawing self-regarding states into occasional cooperation, mediated by treaties, laws, norms, diplomatic customs, and transnational institutions. The U.S.-led attempt during the first postwar years to salvage international society focused on the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Acheson–Lilienthal plan to contain the atomic arms race, the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals to force Axis leaders to account, the 1948 Genocide Convention, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the founding of the United Nations. None of these initiatives was transformative, not individually or collectively. Yet they had an ameliorative effect, traces of which have touched the twenty-first century—in struggles to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons, bring war criminals to justice, create laws supportive of human rights, and maintain an aspirational United Nations, still striving to retain meaningfulness amid world hazards. Together these partially realized innovations and frameworks constitute, if nothing else, a point of moral reference, much needed as the border between war and peace has become blurred and the consequences of a return to unrestraint must be harrowing.

America and the Postwar World: Remaking International Society, 1945-1956

America and the Postwar World: Remaking International Society, 1945-1956 PDF Author: David Mayers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351238426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book Here

Book Description
The main tide of international relations scholarship on the first years after World War II sweeps toward Cold War accounts. These have emphasized the United States and USSR in a context of geopolitical rivalry, with concomitant attention upon the bristling security state. Historians have also extensively analyzed the creation of an economic order (Bretton Woods), mainly designed by Americans and tailored to their interests, but resisted by peoples residing outside of North America, Western Europe, and Japan. This scholarship, centered on the Cold War as vortex and a reconfigured world economy, is rife with contending schools of interpretation and, bolstered by troves of declassified archival documents, will support investigations and writing into the future. By contrast, this book examines a past that ran concurrent with the Cold War and interacted with it, but which usefully can also be read as separable: Washington in the first years after World War II, and in response to that conflagration, sought to redesign international society. That society was then, and remains, an admittedly amorphous thing. Yet it has always had a tangible aspect, drawing self-regarding states into occasional cooperation, mediated by treaties, laws, norms, diplomatic customs, and transnational institutions. The U.S.-led attempt during the first postwar years to salvage international society focused on the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Acheson–Lilienthal plan to contain the atomic arms race, the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals to force Axis leaders to account, the 1948 Genocide Convention, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the founding of the United Nations. None of these initiatives was transformative, not individually or collectively. Yet they had an ameliorative effect, traces of which have touched the twenty-first century—in struggles to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons, bring war criminals to justice, create laws supportive of human rights, and maintain an aspirational United Nations, still striving to retain meaningfulness amid world hazards. Together these partially realized innovations and frameworks constitute, if nothing else, a point of moral reference, much needed as the border between war and peace has become blurred and the consequences of a return to unrestraint must be harrowing.

Practical Lessons from US Foreign Policy

Practical Lessons from US Foreign Policy PDF Author: James E. Goodby
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030273121
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In foreign policy, the Trump administration has appeared to depart from long-standing norms of international behavior that have underwritten American primacy for decades in a more interdependent and prosperous world. In this book, a diplomat and a historian revisit that perception by examining and reproducing several of their own essays during the past twenty years. The essays reveal that Trump's style exaggerates tendencies towards unilateralism already present in the actions, if not the policies, of previous presidents, and in their neglect of three imperatives: collective security, regional integration, and diplomatic imagination. It is not too late, however, to remedy the problem by learning the lessons of the recent past.

War Veterans and the World after 1945

War Veterans and the World after 1945 PDF Author: Ángel Alcalde
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351119966
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
This book examines war veterans’ history after 1945 from a global perspective. In the Cold War era, in most countries of the world there was a sizeable portion of population with direct war experience. This edited volume gathers contributions which show the veterans’ involvement in all the major historical processes shaping the world after World War II. Cold War politics, racial conflict, decolonization, state-building, and the reshaping of war memory were phenomena in which former soldiers and ex-combatants were directly involved. By examining how different veterans’ groups, movements and organizations challenged or sustained the Cold War, strived to prevent or to foster decolonization, and transcended or supported official memories of war, the volume characterizes veterans as largely independent and autonomous actors which interacted with societies and states in the making of our times. Spanning historical cases from the United States to Hong-Kong, from Europe to Southern Africa, from Algeria to Iran, the volume situates veterans within the turbulent international context since World War II.

The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations

The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations PDF Author: Tyson Reeder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000516636
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations provides a comprehensive view of U.S. diplomacy and foreign affairs from the founding to the present. With contributions from recognized experts from around the world, this volume unveils America’s long and complicated history on the world stage. It presents the United States’ evolution from a weak player, even a European pawn, to a global hegemonic leader over the course of two and a half centuries. The contributors offer an expansive vision of U.S. foreign relations—from U.S.-Native American diplomacy in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the post-9/11 war on terror. They shed new light on well-known events and suggest future paths of research, and they capture lesser-known episodes that invite reconsideration of common assumptions about America’s place in the world. Bringing these discussions to a single forum, the book provides a strong reference source for scholars and students who seek to understand the broad themes and changing approaches to the field. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of U.S. history, political science, international relations, conflict resolution, and public policy, amongst other areas.

France, Britain and the United States in the Twentieth Century: Volume 2, 1940–1961

France, Britain and the United States in the Twentieth Century: Volume 2, 1940–1961 PDF Author: Andrew J. Williams
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 1137414448
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
"In his account of the relationship between France, the UK and the US Andrew Williams successfully intertwines diplomatic history with international thought. We are presented with a historical stage that includes both the doers and the thinkers of the age, and as a result this is a must read for both diplomatic historians and historians of international thought. The second in a multivolume study, this volume takes the story beyond the fall of France into the war years, the period of post-war reconstruction, and the Cold War. As with the first volume, Williams is an excellent guide, stepping over the ruins of past worlds, and introducing us to an epoch with more than its fair share of both visionaries and villains. Yet in this second volume the stakes are higher, as the United States comes to terms with its role as the paramount world power, Britain faces a world that challenges its imperial order, and France is picking up the pieces from its defeat." Lucian Ashworth, Memorial University, Canada "Following on from his outstanding first volume reviewing the complex interwar relationships between France, Britain and the United States, Williams’ second volume is an indispensable and lucid overview of the vitally important era of post-war reconstruction. From national post-war developments to institutional structures and superpower shifts, Williams examines clearly and engagingly the final passing of pre-modern power structures and the emergence of a new Europe." Amelia Hadfield, University of Surrey, UK /div"At a time of intense debates about Europe, the ‘Anglosphere’ and empires old and new, Andrew Williams’s book is a timely demonstration that the weight of emotion in the shaping of foreign policy and its makers should not be forgotten. Unearthing some of the ‘forces profondes’ in diplomacy and reflecting on feelings of humiliation and liberation in national constructs, Andrew Williams discusses the cultural conceptions and misconceptions that French, American and British diplomats had of each other, thereby revisiting the reasons why the ‘special relationship’ was largely a myth – but one which had tangible consequences on French and British policies in their retreat from empire. By connecting the personal and the national, the structural and accidental, Williams offers essential insights into the major conflicts of the period and their impact on diplomatic cultures across the Atlantic." Mélanie Torrent, Université Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France The second volume of this study of France’s unique contribution to the international relations of the last century covers the period from the Fall of France in 1940 to Charles de Gaulle’s triumphant return to power in the late 1950s. France had gone from being a victorious member of the coalition with Britain and the United States that won the First World War to a defeated nation in a few short weeks. France then experienced the humiliation of collaboration with and occupation by the enemy, followed by resistance and liberation and a slow return to global influence over the next twenty years. This volume examines how these processes played out by concentrating on France’s relations with Britain and the United States, most importantly over questions of post-war order, the integration of Europe and the withdrawal from Empire.

Conflict and Development

Conflict and Development PDF Author: Andrew J. Williams
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040111556
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Fully revised and updated in its third edition, this timely book brings together the study of conflict and war and the problems surrounding the economic development of developing societies that are most prone to experiencing problems in moving on after war. The book does so by reflecting on the issues surrounding war as it unfolds and after it has (in principle) ‘ended’, within the context of the history, present-day problems and future prospects. The book aims to highlight the possibilities, successes and failures of past and present policies that bring ‘development’ to countries and peoples that want to be more involved in deciding their own futures after conflict and war, and often find themselves subject to what can be seen as arbitrary and even alien ways of thinking and acting by institutions in which they theoretically have membership and agency but often do not in practice. The case studies have been fully updated to reflect changes and developments since the second edition of this text, and there are questions at the end of each chapter to promote reflection. This new edition presents a deeper dive into the history of conflict and the emergence of new theories and policy guidance about present and future options in the fields of conflict and development. Accessible and engaging, this textbook is a pivotal resource for a nexus of subjects related to the often separated fields of conflict and development studies, as well as practitioners in this area.

To End All Wars, New Edition

To End All Wars, New Edition PDF Author: Thomas Knock
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191611
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
A close look at Woodrow Wilson’s political thought and international diplomacy In the widely acclaimed To End All Wars, Thomas Knock provides an intriguing, often provocative narrative of Woodrow Wilson’s epic quest for a new world order. This book follows Wilson’s thought and diplomacy from his policy toward revolutionary Mexico, through his dramatic call for “Peace without Victory” in World War I, to the Senate’s rejection of the League of Nations. Throughout, Knock reinterprets the origins of internationalism in American politics, sweeping away the view that isolationism was the cause of Wilson’s failure and revealing the role of competing visions of internationalism—conservative and progressive.

The Lost Peace

The Lost Peace PDF Author: Richard Sakwa
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300265611
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
The end of the Cold War was an opportunity – our inability to seize it has led to today’s renewed era of great power competition 1989 heralded a unique prospect for an enduring global peace, as harsh ideological divisions and conflicts began to be resolved. Now, three decades on, that peace has been lost. With war in Ukraine and increasing tensions between China, Russia, and the West, great power politics once again dominates the world stage. But could it have been different? Richard Sakwa shows how the years before the first mass invasion of Ukraine represented a hiatus in conflict rather than a lasting accord – and how, since then, we have been in a ‘Second Cold War’. Tracing the mistakes on both sides that led to the current crisis, Sakwa considers the resurgence of China and Russia and the disruptions and ambitions of the liberal order that opened up catastrophic new lines of conflict. This is a vital, strongly-argued account of how the world lost its chance at peace, and instead saw the return of war in Europe, global rivalries, and nuclear brinkmanship.

The Problems of Genocide

The Problems of Genocide PDF Author: A. Dirk Moses
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107103584
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 611

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Book Description
Historically delineates the problems of genocide as a concept in relation to rival categories of mass violence.

The Institution of International Order

The Institution of International Order PDF Author: Simon Jackson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351608762
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This volume delivers a history of internationalism at the League of Nations and the United Nations (UN), with a focus on the period from the 1920s to the 1970s, when the nation-state ascended to global hegemony as a political formation. Combining global, regional and local scaes of analysis, the essays presented here provide an interpretation of the two institutions — and their complex interrelationship — that is planetary in scale but also pioneeringly multi-local. Our central argument is that although the League and the UN shaped internationalism from the centre, they were themselves moulded just as powerfully by internationalisms that welled up globally, far beyond Geneva and New York City. The contributions are organised into three broad thematic sections, the first focused on the production of norms, the second on the development of expertise and the third on the global re-ordering of empire. By showing how the ruptures and continuities between the two international organisations have shaped the content and format of what we now refer to as ‘global governance’, the collection determinedly sets the Cold War and the emergence of the Third World into a single analytical frame alongside the crisis of empire after World War One and the geopolitics of the Great Depression. Each of these essays reveals how the League of Nations and the United Nations provided a global platform for formalising and proliferating political ideas and how the two institutions generated new spectrums of negotiation and dissidence and re-codified norms. As an ensemble, the book shows how the League of Nations and the United Nations constructed and progressively re-fashioned the basic building blocks of international society right across the twentieth century. Developing the new international history’s view of the League and UN as dynamic, complex forces, the book demonstrates that both organisations should be understood to have played an active role, not just in mediating a world of empires and then one of nation-states, but in forging the many principles and tenets by which international society is structured.