Divided Development: Post-War Ideas on River Utilisation and their Influence on the Development of the Danube

Abstract

In the 1950s the United States feared that the Soviet Union would overtake their leading position in river development. The Tennessee Valley Authority had become a household name across the globe, but now the Soviets, too, began to share their expertise in this field. This article examines how Soviet experiences were applied on the river Danube. It hence discusses the cold-war discourse of modernisation, exemplified by river development, from both the capitalist and Communist perspective. Particular attention is paid to the institutional context of this transfer, the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, and the attempts of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to play a role in this process.