Trophy Art as Ambassadors: Reflections Beyond Diplomatic Deadlock in the German-Russian Dialogue

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Eichwede
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
International Law ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Cultural Goods ◽  
The Past ◽  
The University ◽  
Second World

AbstractThis article provides brief coverage of the Russian-German dialogue since 1991 and the search for solutions about looted art of German ownership seized at the end of the Second World War and still held in Russia. So far, while Russia and Germany regard themselves as partners and friends in political and economic realms, they have been unable to find agreement about the looted art. Germany seems no longer to retain Russian cultural goods plundered during the war, whereas Russia still possesses a significant amount of German cultural assets. On the basis of existing treaties and international law, Germany demands its restitution. Russia, on the other hand, has nationalized the confiscated goods in 1998 as compensation for its own war losses. Nevertheless, not a few citizens of both countries have been returning artworks and books privately, in some cases supported by the governments. A convincing solution for the general problem can only be found if the treasures, which in the past have been understood as trophies, could be transformed into cultural ambassadors, while dialogue and the search for new ways continue within the framework of a policy of reconciliation. This approach also includes further research and analysis of the Russian cultural losses resulting from the war, a project undertaken in the 1990s at the Forschungsstelle Osteuropa (Research Center for Eastern Europe) of the University of Bremen, as briefly described in an appendix to the article.

The Belgian national past: Between commemoration and silence

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Rosoux ◽  
Laurence van Ypersele
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The One ◽  
Memory Conflicts ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

This article examines the gradual deconstruction of the Belgian national identity. Is it possible to speak of a de facto differentiation or even ‘federalization’ of the so-called ‘national past’ in Belgium? How do Belgians choose to remember and forget this past? To contribute to an understanding of these issues, the article considers two very different episodes of Belgian history, namely the First World War and the colonization of the Congo. On the one hand, the memory of the First World War appears to provide the template for memory conflicts in Belgium, and thus informs the memories of other tragedies such as the Second World War. On the other hand, the memory of the colonial past remains much more consensual – providing a more nuanced picture of competing views on the past. Beyond the differences between the ways in which these episodes are officially portrayed, the same fundamental trend may be observed: the gradual fragmentation of a supposedly smooth and reliable national version of history.

Popular Culture

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Vuletic
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Goods ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Government ◽  
Second World

Immediately following the Second World War, Eastern European communist parties employed censorship against Western popular culture, such as film and popular music, which they regarded as politically inappropriate. From the late 1950s, most parties increasingly sought to satisfy their citizens’ desires for consumption and entertainment, and they promoted the development of local cultural alternatives. The parties were not uniform in their policies, as a comparison between Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia demonstrates. However, they did seek to appropriate popular culture to advance their political interests, and they similarly faced resistance from some domestic artists who criticized the government. The reluctance of the parties to allow as much freedom of consumption and expression as existed in the West, together with their inability to provide cultural goods that could keep up with Western fashions, points to popular culture as a factor that contributed to the demise of communism in Eastern Europe

scholarly journals ‘The Crucible of the Malayan Nation’: The University and the Making of a New Malaya, 1938–62

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1149-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. STOCKWELL
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
The University ◽  
Second World

AbstractLike so many features of the British Empire, policy for colonial higher education was transformed during the Second World War. In 1945 the Asquith Commission established principles for its development, and in 1948 the Carr–Saunders report recommended the immediate establishment of a university in Malaya to prepare for self-government. This institution grew at a rate that surpassed expectations, but the aspirations of its founders were challenged by lack of resources, the mixed reactions of the Malayan people and the politics of decolonisation. The role of the University of Malaya in engineering a united Malayan nation was hampered by lingering colonial attitudes and ultimately frustrated by differences between Singapore and the Federation. These differences culminated in the university's partition in January 1962. In the end it was the politics of nation-building which moulded the university rather than the other way round.

Coercion, Internalization, Decolonization

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-89
Author(s):  
Felix Lange
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
Second World

The chapter discusses competing narratives of ‘rise’ and ‘decline’ of international law in the historical writings of international lawyers and historians. The author proposes a contextual approach to the history of international law which takes the terminology of the actors of the past seriously, but also leaves room for an assessment of functional equivalents. The author applies his contextual approach to the story of international law’s universalization. He claims that from the seventeenth century, European international law universalized via processes of forceful coercion by Western powers, internalization through non-Western states, and decolonization after the Second World War.

Individual Patrimonial Rights Under the European Human Rights System: Some Reflections on the Concepts of Possession and Dispossession of Property

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
Alberto M. Aronovitz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
International Law ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Second World War ◽  
European Countries ◽  
World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Second World

Both in general and in regional international law, the subject of private patrimonial rights presents a spectrum of interesting points for discussion. Amid the most notorious issues that have loomed in recent times in relation to this topic, one could refer to the dispute over the dormant accounts of Holocaust victims in Switzerland and other European countries (or, more widely, to the entire question of gold and other property stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War), to the problem of reprivatization of property in Eastern Europe, or to the issue of restitution of property taken in pursuance of communist reforms in the former Soviet Union and its former satellite countries.

Southeast Asia in Australasian Universities

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Nicholas Tarling
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
The Past ◽  
Graduate Research ◽  
Research Students ◽  
The University ◽  
Second World

Australasian universities are tied to Southeast Asia in a number of ways. The most obvious is through their teaching. Since the second world war, but more particularly in the past ten or fifteen years, this has paid more attention to Southeast Asia, its peoples, their history and their languages, than at any time since the first university institutions were founded in Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century. There are other, perhaps less obvious, ties. The teaching has been primarily at undergraduate level, but the staff members involved have, of course, been involved in research in the area. Possibly the majority would have been trained overseas, if not themselves of overseas origin; but quite recently, and especially at one or two centres, the number of graduate research students has become significant, at least in Australia. Some of the research has been published in book or monograph form by existing Australasian or overseas publishers, or by the university presses, whose numbers have augmented over the past decade.

Montesquieu Revisited, or the Mixed Constitution and the Separation of Powers in Canada

1987 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Resnick
Keyword(s):  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
State Power ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mixed Constitution ◽  
Second World ◽  
Central Level

AbstractMontesquieu may be a better guide to understanding the nature of the Canadian state, past and present, than Hobbes or Locke of any of the other political philosophers of the past. This article argues that Montesquieu's doctrine has two major components–a discussion of the mixed constitution, blending monarchical, aristocratic and democratic features, and the separation of powers that distinguishes among executive, legislative and judicial. Each of these components can be used to illuminate the operation of state power at the central level in this country, the first the long period between 1867 and the Second World War, the second the post-Second World War period, and more especially the situation that has arisen with the passage of theConstitution Act, 1982.

scholarly journals Brandlucht rond ‘foute’ schrijvers. Oude en nieuwe legitimaties in het Vlaamse collaboratiedebat

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-234
Author(s):  
Marc Reynebeau
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Second World ◽  
Insight Into

Het historische debat over de collaboratie van de Vlaamse beweging tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog bleef lang verstoord door moralistische en politieke argumenten, wat het inzicht in de historische complexiteit van het onderwerp vaak versluierde. De voorbije decennia is echter ook op dit terrein een uitgesproken verwetenschappelijking merkbaar. Dat maakt het boek Verbrande schrijvers, een nieuwe bundeling opstellen over flamingantische schrijvers tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, zo opmerkelijk. Enerzijds doet Marnix Beyen daarin een veelbelovend voorstel om een nieuw onderzoeksparadigma op dit terrein te introduceren. Anderzijds getuigen de inleiding en enkele cruciale bijdragen van een ingesteldheid die moeilijk te rijmen is met de academische presentatie van het boek. Die vallen niet alleen op door een opvallend gebrek aan wetenschappelijke rigueur en van weinig kennis van zaken. Ze getuigen vooral van een ‘neonationalistische’ bevlogenheid die de historiografie over dit onderwerp opnieuw in haar oude zwakten doet hervallen: moralisme en politieke vooringenomenheid.________A burning smell surrounding collaborationist authors: Old and new arguments for justification in the debate about Flemish collaborationThe historical debate about the collaboration of the Flemish Movement during the Second World War has long been perturbed by moralistic and political arguments, which often obscured the insight into the historical complexity of the subject. However, during the past decades a distinctly more scientific approach may be noted in this area as well. That is why the book Verbrande schrijvers, a new collection of articles about authors supporting the Flemish Movement during the Second World War is so remarkable. On the one hand, Marnix Beyen proposes in this book the introduction of a very promising research paradigm in this area. On the other hand, the introduction and several crucial contributions manifest a mentality that is hardly consonant with the academic presentation of the book. They are noteworthy not only because of a notable lack of scientific consistency and a lack of expertise. They particularly manifest a ‘neo-nationalist’ enthusiasm that causes the historiography about this subject to fall prey again to its old weaknesses: moralism and political bias. 

South Asian Developmental Crisis (Review Article)

1973 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Rafiq Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Integrated Theory ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Developed World ◽  
Second World ◽  
Made In

Like nations and civilizations, sciences also pass through period of crises when established theories are overthrown by the unpredictable behaviour of events. Economics is passing through such a crisis. The challenge thrown by the Great Depression of early 1930s took a decade before Keynes re-established the supremacy of economics. But this supremacy has again been upset by the crisis of poverty in the vast under-developed world which attained political independence after the Second World War. Poverty had always existed but never before had it been of such concern to economists as during the past twenty five years or so. Economic literature dealing with this problem has piled up but so have the agonies of poverty. No plausible and well-integrated theory of economic development or under-development has emerged so far, though brilliant advances have been made in isolated directions.

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