International History

European Colonial Politics and the Roots of the Holocaust

Steven Hawkes • Aug 25 2011 • Essays

Whilst the German experience in South West Africa is significant, the wider phenomenon of imperial domination is the greater contributory factor to the genocidal Nazi mentality. An ethos of thought and norms developed in the colonies which created the potential for totalitarian domination and mass extermination in Europe, culminating in the catastrophic events of the Holocaust.

The Industrial Revolution and a Newtonian Culture

Mieke Molthof • Aug 24 2011 • Essays

The intellectual environment of the Chinese and Islamic empires appears not to have been fit enough to be the first civilizations experiencing an industrial take off. The absence of a Newtonian culture may in this regard contribute to a better understanding of why these great civilizations were not the first to industrialize.

The collective memory of WWII in France

James Chisem • Aug 22 2011 • Essays

This essay shows how, over the past six decades, collective memory of the Second World War in France has been centrally implicated in, and influenced by, wider socio-political debates relating to the nature of French national identity. The discourse will be structured in a manner which engages with the primary vectors of French memory regarding ‘les annes noires’.

Who wanted to go to war over Korea in 1950?

Anna Costa • Aug 18 2011 • Essays

‘To want’ is a strong word. This essay argues that an unqualified desire for war can hardly be attributed to Stalin, Truman or Mao, albeit with differences in the way and degree to which this is true for them individually. A concise historiography of the Korean War is followed by a tripartite analysis of the motivations the characterized the three leaders’ decision-making in the crucial years and months leading to the Korean War.

Enduring Rivalry? A Case Study of the Conflict in Kashmir

Anders Knut Brudevoll • Aug 17 2011 • Essays

This case study will start by presenting the origins and causes of the conflict in Kashmir. After presenting an assessment of the relative failure of attempted conflict resolution process, the study will look at the main obstacles of conflict resolution, emphasizing mutual nuclear capability and domestic constraints. In conclusion, it will draw on relevant theory to examine why conflict resolution is still on-going.

The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Importance of Power and Knowledge

Tom Thornley • Aug 15 2011 • Essays

Theorists conceive of knowledge and its relations to reality differently. Knowledge of the world is ‘reality’, yet this ‘reality’ is socially constructed through discourse. Looking through the Realist lens, the Cuban Missile Crisis becomes an affair of two rationally acting Great Powers locked in a power struggle owing to the inducements of a bipolar anarchic international system.

India’s Nuclear Restraint and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosion

Tom Thornley • Aug 11 2011 • Essays

India’s nuclear trajectory does not match the realist logic that characterised many of the original nuclear powers. India has followed a uniquely Indian path towards nuclear development. By accepting the constructed-ness of foreign policy, it is possible to find explanations for India’s nuclear policy in the dominant understandings of Indian identity, science and modernity constructed primarily by Nehru.

The Manchurian and Abyssinian Crises and the Failure of Collective Security

Anna Costa • Aug 11 2011 • Essays

Collective security in the interwar period was oxymoronic in that specific national security interests proved irreconcilable with the idea of security for all by all. Additionally, it was empty, as when perceived national security aims did not openly contradict the principle of collective security the two often did not coincide, a gap that translated into a powerful disincentive to embrace collective security as an ideal, and enforce it as a practice.

Economic Revival of West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s

Cameron Payne • Aug 7 2011 • Essays

The economic revival of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the two decades following the second world war saw a period of unprecedented growth. This impressive leap in growth figures, which bought about greatly increased living standards for the populace, found its roots among underlying economic conditions, foreign influences and the domestic drive towards competition and consumerism.

How effective was the foreign policy of Sir Edward Grey 1906-14?

Alexander Stewart • Jul 31 2011 • Essays

When Sir Edward Grey took office as Foreign Secretary, in early December, 1905, he did so at a crossroads in both British and European history. He faced numerous tests during his tenure in Whitehall and for the most part he handled them with distinction.

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