Science and Technology in Postwar Europe

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Jamison
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
First Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Postwar Reconstruction ◽  
Postwar Europe ◽  
Technical Artifacts ◽  
Scientific Facts

In the decades that have followed World War II, science and technology have come to play ever more central roles in the lives and life worlds of Europeans. Indeed, in the twenty-first century there is very little that goes on in Europe without there being at least some influence from science and technology. Europe has become a place where scientific ‘facts’ and technical ‘artifacts’ permeate our existence. They have infiltrated our languages, altered our behaviour, changed our habits, and, perhaps most fundamentally, imposed their instrumental logic – what philosophers call technological rationality – on our social interaction and the ways in which we communicate with one another. The advent of industrialisation led to the formation of a number of new scientific and engineering fields – thermodynamics, biochemistry, public health, electrical engineering, city planning, among others – and new forms of higher education and communication. This article focuses on science and technology in postwar Europe, and looks at postwar reconstruction, reform, and the age of commercialisation.

Catastrophic narratives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kahn ◽  
Mark Lipovetsky ◽  
Irina Reyfman ◽  
Stephanie Sandler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Criticism ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
First Century ◽  
Holocaust Literature ◽  
World War ◽  
Important Trend ◽  
Narrative Forms ◽  
Personal Trauma

The chapter considers how, beginning with the Revolution and continuing across the centry, new narrative forms in prose and poetry fashion a discourse of national destiny. As narratives conceptualize historical change and convey the meanings of catastrophe, they develop new plotlines, metaphoric systems and mythological visions. The chapter argues that Russian literature on the Great Terror, collectivization, and Gulag achieves a focus on historical and personal trauma comparable to Holocaust literature. Soviet narratives of World War II also form an important trend from the 1940s through twenty-first century, serving simultaneously as the source of social criticism and the sustained attempt to redefine national identity.

scholarly journals After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amitav Acharya
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
World Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The West ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
China And India ◽  
International Stability

While the West woke up to the threat to the liberal international order when Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, its decline was apparent even at the height of the Obama-Clinton era. What follows the end of the U.S.-dominated world order is not a return to multipolarity as many pundits assume. The twenty-first-century world—politically and culturally diverse but economically and institutionally interlinked—is vastly different from the multipolar world that existed prior to World War II. China and India are major powers now; and globalization will not end, but will take on a new form, driven more by the East than the West and more by South-South linkages than North-North ones. The system of global governance will fragment, with new actors and institutions chipping away at the old UN-based system. Liberal values and institutions will not disappear, but will have to coexist and enmesh with the ideas and institutions of others, especially those initiated by China. This “multiplex world” carries both risks and opportunities for managing international stability. Instead of bemoaning the passing of the old liberal order, the West should accept the new realities and search for new ways to ensure peace and stability in partnership with the rising powers.

After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Ecumenical Protestantism and the Modern American Encounter with Diversity

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hollinger
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
First Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Evangelical Churches ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Numbers Game ◽  
Mainline Protestant

This chapter addresses the question of why “mainline” Protestant churches experienced a dramatic loss of numbers from the mid-1960s through the early twenty-first century, while the evangelical churches grew. It argues that evangelicals triumphed in the numbers game by continuing to espouse several ideas about race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and divinity that remained popular with the white public when these same ideas were abandoned by leaders of the mainline, ecumenical churches as no longer defensible. The chapter also considers the historical significance of ecumenical Protestantism for U.S. history since World War II. It argues that it facilitated an engagement with many aspects of a diverse modernity that millions of Americans would not have achieved without the support and guidance of the ecumenical churches.

Contemporary Issues

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tolan ◽  
Gilles Veinstein ◽  
Henry Laurens
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
First Century ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
World War ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Newly Independent States

This chapter chronicles the struggles of the Muslim world and Europe during World War II as well as its aftermath. It shows how the war had helped to end European rule and begin the process of decolonization for Muslim nations such as Libya. And with the Muslim state now independent of direct European domination, the second half of the chapter explores the ways in which the Muslim world tackled the issue of development as well as a fresh wave of problems regarding human rights, universality, and other pitfalls of newly independent states struggling to survive in a world that has changed profoundly after a series of major conflicts. The chapter also reflects on the still-intertwined relationships between the Muslim world and Europe as history progresses into the twenty-first century.

Digitization, Virtual Collections, and Total Archives in the Twenty-First Century

2021 ◽  
pp. 148-173
Author(s):  
Jason Lustig
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
First Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
The World ◽  
Cairo Genizah

This final chapter argues that struggles over archival ownership and the possibility of archival totality continue far beyond the years immediately following World War II. It considers three case studies to consider new forms of total archives being created through virtual collections and digitization: The Center for Jewish History in New York City (formed in 1994/1995 and opened in 2000), the efforts by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research to digitize materials found in Lithuania and reunite them with their own files, and the Friedberg Genizah Project’s initiative to digitize and join together fragments of the Cairo Genizah found in repositories around the world. These case studies showcase enduring visions of monumentality and indicate how archival construction is not merely the province of the past. Instead, the process of gathering historical materials is a continual process of making and remaking history.

Overview: Toward a Better World for Our Grandchildren

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hamburg ◽  
Beatrix A. Hamburg
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
First Century ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
The Internet ◽  
World War ◽  
Small Arms ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Killing Fields ◽  
The World ◽  
Prime Problem

The growing destructive capacities of humanity make this the prime problem of the twenty-first century. How we cope with this problem will have a profound bearing on the world of our grandchildren. The twentieth century was the bloodiest ever. World War II caused at least 50 million deaths. Six million died in the Holocaust. At Hiroshima, one bomb caused 100,000 deaths. Now thousands of such bombs (smaller and more conveniently transportable tactical bombs) are housed in Russia. Many are poorly guarded, susceptible to theft and bribery. Others may be made elsewhere. Danger increases with the number of such weapons existing in the world.Why? There is a greater chance of error, theft, and bribery—and ultimately their use in war or terrorism. Therefore, we should diminish the numbers as much as we can and secure responsible stewardship for those that remain. Moreover, there are still thousands of nuclear weapons that are far more powerful than the smaller tactical weapons. Biological and chemical weapons are easier to make than nuclear warheads and therefore have special appeal to terrorists. Small arms and light weapons now cover the world wall-to-wall. They include highly lethal machine guns, mortars, automatic rifles, and rocket launchers. Altogether, the destructive capacity of humanity is almost beyond imagination. Moreover, there is an exciting effect of today’s vast weapons on political demagogues, religious fanatics, and ethnic haters—and plenty of them exist in the world. Incitement to hatred and violence can occur with radio, TV, the Internet, and many other media. Thus, we can more powerfully incite violence, utilize more lethal weapons, and do much more damage than ever imaginable before. No group is so small or so far away as to prevent it from doing immense damage anywhere. The time has come to move beyond complacency, fatalism, denial, and avoidance. We must urgently seek to understand and strengthen an array of institutions and organizations that have the capacity to use tools and strategies to prevent deadly conflict. The first author (D.A.H.) considered many such possibilities in his recent book, No More Killing Fields: Preventing Deadly Conflict. Overall, this gives humanity a greater range of possibilities than ever before for building a system for preventing war and genocide. It will not be easy.

The Evolution of X-Ray Instrumentation at Rich. Seifert & Co.

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
A. Haase
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
German Language ◽  
X Rays ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
World War ◽  
Executive Management ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Max Von Laue

To facilitate orientation in time, some selected events will be briefly presented. Approximately five hundred years ago, Columbus discovered America. One hundred years ago, on November 8th, 1895, Wilhelm Conrad R6ntgen discovered the X-rays which in the German language are called after him. In 1912 Max von Laue conducted the first X-ray diffraction experiment. In 1892 Richard Seifert Sr. founded the Electrotechnical Plant in Hamburg. After World War I (1914-1918) the company founder gradually handed the firm over to his son Richard Seifert Jr. After his son had completed studies in physics and electrical engineering he conducted pioneering experiments on the application of X-rays in science and technology. From the very beginning, X-ray equipment was produced in the three fields of medicine, science and technology. It was only ten years after World War II (1939-1945) that the line of medical equipment was discontinued and the daughter [1] as a member of the third generation gradually took over executive management tasks.

Understanding the Trajectory of Japanese Capitalism

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-161
Author(s):  
Heidi Gottfried ◽  
David Fasenfest
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
World War ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Postwar Reconstruction ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Japanese Capitalism ◽  
Historical Examination

How can we understand the trajectory of Japanese capitalism? This Afterword situates Japan on a broad canvas stretching across both the region and the globe. East Asia’s regional dynamics figure prominently, shaping the trajectory of Japanese capitalism not only in the formative Age of Empire and postwar reconstruction, but also in the emergent Asian Century. An historical examination of geo-politics highlights imperial entanglements and both the routes and the roots of capitalist development in Japan. This discussion begins by setting the stage of post-World War II Japan, elaborating on the reproductive bargain that characterizes Japan’s political economy, investigating the importance of national identity as it informs who can participate in Japan’s economy, revealing the underbelly of contemporary Japan, discussing forces for change, and revisiting the methodological approach used to understand Japanese capitalism.

Soviet Atheism and Its Aftermath

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Luehrmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Integration ◽  
World War ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
The Church

If Soviet atheism is a variety of secularism, it more resembles eliminationist movements viewing religions as obstacles to the political integration of citizens into the state. Before World War II, the Bolshevik government issued decrees to disentangle the state from the church. Later, Khrushchev emphasized atheism and closed churches as part of a general populist, mobilizational approach to promoting communist values. By the 1970s, religious practices were not precluded but were assigned a marginal space outside of public engagement. The post-Soviet era has seen self-reported religiosity increase, while self-reported atheism has diminished, although remaining significant. Russia’s 1997 law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations requires a denomination to exist in a region for fifteen years to enjoy the full legal and tax status. Today, Russia differentiates between “good” religions that help to promote particular moral visions and “bad” religions that create social strife, promote violence, and endanger public health.

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