scholarly journals Techno-Transatlantic Science and Technology in Relations Between the United States and Europe

Ad Americam ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Zachara

The article focuses both on account technology as a factor in the twentieth-century relations of the United States and Europe and a view of transatlantic history through the lens of technology. It describes the trajectory of modernization through technology in certain characteristically transatlantic contexts – including the Cold War role, the advancement in military technologies and the international political competition. It demonstrates that technology development in many ways, provides structure for transatlantic cooperation and acting as a force reshaping political relations.

Author(s):  
Jordan J. Dominy

The formalized study of southern literature in the mid-twentieth century is an example of scholars formalizing the study of modernist aesthetics in order to suppress leftist politics and sentiments in literature and art. This formalized, institutional study was initiated in a climate in which intellectuals were under societal pressure, created by the Cold War, to praise literary and artistic production representative of American values. This even in southern literary studies occurred roughly at the same time that the United States sought to extoll the virtues of America’s free, democratic society abroad. In this manner, southern studies and American studies become two sides of the same coin. Intellectuals and writers that promoted American exceptionalism dealt with the rising Civil Rights Movement and the nation’s complicated history with race and poverty by casting the issues as moral rather than political problems that were distinctly southern and could therefore be corrected by drawing on “exceptional” southern values, such as tradition and honor. The result of such maneuvering is that over the course of the twentieth century, “south” becomes more than a geographical identity. Ultimately, “south” becomes a socio-political and cultural identity associated with modern conservatism with no geographical boundaries. Rather than a country divided into south and north, the United States is divided in the twenty-first century into red and blue states. The result of using southern literature to present southern values as appropriate, moderate values for the whole nation during the Cold War is to associate these values with nationalism and conservatism today.


Today, Hollywood cinema has made a striking turn regarding its portrayals of Russians, returning to the images of the Cold War. To explore the reasons for this sudden renewed interest in the Cold War, this book examines, among others, Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (2015), Ethan Coen and Joel Coen’s Hail, Caesar! (2016), David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde (2017), Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017), Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018), and Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow (2018), as well as such TV shows as Comrade Detective (2017) and The Americans (2013-2018). Are these recent films and series attempting to interpret the tightened political relations between the United States and Russia, suggesting the beginning of “Cold War II”? The chapters in this collection investigate the revival of the Cold War movie genre under multiple angles, including questions of patriotism, national identity, otherness, gender, and corruption. They are sensitive to the cinematic aesthetics and ethics of these representations as they reveal how these new images of the Cold War shape audiences’ understanding of the Cold War in general as well as of the relationship between the U.S. and Russia in particular. This collection defies the traditional definitions of the Cold War film and invites readers to discover the new phase in the Cold War movie genre: Cold War II.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-297
Author(s):  
Carolina de Castro Palhares ◽  
Pedro Henrique de Moraes Cicero

Na segunda metade do século XX, no contexto da política de poder bipolar decorrente da Guerra Fria, a América Latina vivenciou o surgimento de ditaduras civil-militares as quais, em parte, estruturam-se com a finalidade de manter a hegemonia estadunidense na região. Como resposta armada aos regimes de exceção, grupos guerrilheiros foram fundados tanto para reverter o cenário político interno quanto para denunciar a subordinação daqueles regimes aos interesses econômicos e geopolíticos estadunidenses. Partindo dessa conjuntura e apoiado nos documentos originais que tratam do tema, o artigo analisa a maneira pela qual a Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN) denunciou, interpretou e reagiu à participação dos Estados Unidos tanto no golpe de Estado de 1964 quanto na consolidação da ditadura brasileira.     Abstract: In the second half of the twentieth century, in the context of the bipolar power policy resulting from the Cold War, Latin America experienced the emergence of civil-military dictatorships which, in part, were structured with the purpose of maintaining US´ hegemony in the region. As an armed response to the regimes of exception, guerrilla groups were founded both to reverse the internal political scenario and to denounce the subordination of those regimes to US economic and geopolitical interests. Within this conjuncture and guided by the original documents that illustrate the theme, the article analyzes the way in which the Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN) denounced, interpreted and reacted to the participation of the United States both in the 1964 coup d'état and in the maintenance of the Brazilian Dictatorship . Keywords: Inter-American Relations; Civic-Military Dictatorships; Armed Struggle; Ação Libertadora Nacional.     Recebido em: abril/2020. Aprovado em:  setembro/2020.


Author(s):  
Daniel A. Morris

This chapter analyses Reinhold Niebuhr’s concepts of tragedy and irony. It explains how he defined these terms and identifies their place in his theological framework. Niebuhr identified the themes of tragedy and irony in his reflection on human nature, the crucifixion, and moral concepts such as sin, love, and justice. The chapter also explores his use of the terms within the context of twentieth-century global and domestic politics, highlighting his commentary on the Cold War, capitalism, and democracy in the United States. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the political tragedies and ironies Niebuhr identified are still with us today and that his concepts can be used to pursue the goals of his feminist, black, and Latinx critics.


This book uses trust—with its emotional and predictive aspects—to explore international relations in the second half of the Cold War, beginning with the late 1960s. The détente of the 1970s led to the development of some limited trust between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lessened international tensions and enabled advances in areas such as arms control. However, it also created uncertainty in other areas, especially on the part of smaller states that depended on their alliance leaders for protection. The chapters in this volume look at how the “emotional” side of the conflict affected the dynamics of various Cold War relations: between the superpowers, within the two ideological blocs, and inside individual countries on the margins of the East–West confrontation.


Author(s):  
Anne Searcy

During the Cold War, the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union developed cultural exchange programs, in which they sent performing artists abroad in order to generate goodwill for their countries. Ballet companies were frequently called on to serve in these programs, particularly in the direct Soviet-American exchange. This book analyzes four of the early ballet exchange tours, demonstrating how this series of encounters changed both geopolitical relations and the history of dance. The ballet tours were enormously popular. Performances functioned as an important symbolic meeting point for Soviet and American officials, creating goodwill and normalizing relations between the two countries in an era when nuclear conflict was a real threat. At the same time, Soviet and American audiences did not understand ballet in the same way. As American companies toured in the Soviet Union and vice versa, audiences saw the performances through the lens of their own local aesthetics. Ballet in the Cold War introduces the concept of transliteration to understand this process, showing how much power viewers wielded in the exchange and explaining how the dynamics of the Cold War continue to shape ballet today.


Daedalus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Jon Brook Wolfsthal

America survived the nuclear age through a complex combination of diplomatic and military decisions, and a good deal of luck. One of the tools that proved its value in both reducing the risks of nuclear use and setting rules for the ongoing nuclear competition were negotiated, legally binding, and verified arms control agreements. Such pacts between the United States and the Soviet Union arguably prevented the nuclear arms racing from getting worse and helped both sides climb off the Cold War nuclear precipice. Several important agreements remain in place between the United States and Russia, to the benefit of both states. Arms control is under threat, however, from domestic forces in the United States and from Russian actions that range from treaty violations to the broader weaponization of risk. But arms control can and should play a useful role in reducing the risk of nuclear war and forging a new agreement between Moscow and Washington on the new rules of the nuclear road.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document