Cold War Research Articles

Decoding Operational Latitude of Russian Private Military Companies (PMCs): A Case Study of Wagner Group in Syria

The usage of private military companies (PMCs) has remained rampant among significant powers of the world since the Cold War. Historically, PMCs emerged as small contractors in the beginning but gradually attained multiplicity with distinctive capabilities. The Russian Wagner Group provides multi-dimensional and sophisticated support to the Putin Administration. The Group accounts for an operational latitude which is advanced, diplomatic, and target-oriented, and maneuvers Russian strength in both Syria and Ukraine. Russian mercenaries are state-specific, i.e., the use of Wagner Group in Syria and Ukraine, making it challenging for the opposition to understand the functioning and administration of these companies. By 2019, the Group remained covert yet precarious for its enemies. However, the new advancements suggest that the idea of plausible deniability is now shifting towards overt use as well as far-reaching proprietorship of the Group as a branch of Russian military interests. The research focuses on the private structure of Wagner Group paving the way for new challenges towards the NATO countries, shifting from conventional military threats from Russia towards overt, opportunist, and task-oriented PMCs.

Towards what new world order?

This article investigates the disintegration of post-Cold War American hegemony and its implications for world order. To this end, it analyzes how financial crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geostrategic changes accelerated this fragmentation and, proposes that such disintegration could result in both a new Cold War and a fairer multipolar order. It is concluded that the new order must focus on global issues such as environmental preservation and socioeconomic development, highlighting the need for international cooperation to face future challenges.

Foreign views on the culture of Soviet Kazakhstan: an analysis of historiography

The research conducted by American scholars focused on themes such as nationality, language, religion, politics, modernization, and cultural change. These scholars sought to understand the implementation of Sovietnational policies in a multi-ethnic society like Kazakhstan and the delicate balance between Soviet identityand ethnic identities within the union. Language reform and its impact on cultural and linguistic diversitywere also explored, along with the interaction between Islam and the secular ideology of the Soviet state. Theeffects of Soviet modernization programs on Kazakhstani society, including the disruption of traditional prac-tices and ways of life, were investigated. Moreover, the study examined how Soviet policies influenced cul-tural institutions, literary practices, and artistic expression, highlighting the tensions between conformity toSoviet norms and the preservation of a distinctive Kazakh cultural identity. The article acknowledges that thebroader global dynamics of the Cold War era influenced the interpretive frameworks and assumptions ofthese scholars. As part of an intellectual tradition shaped by Western liberal values, American scholars oftentook a critical stance toward the Soviet system. Their research emphasized the failures, problems, and resistance generated by Soviet policies, including state modernization, national policies, and language reforms.The article concludes that despite valuable contributions from scholars such as Wheeler, Allworth, and Con-nolly, a comprehensive examination of Kazakh culture during the Soviet period through the lens of foreignhistoriography remains lacking. It highlights the need for further research to deepen our understanding of themultifaceted aspects of Sovietera Kazakh culture, shedding light on the complexities and contradictions inherent in the Soviet project.

The American Position towards the Establishment of the Palestinian State: From the Oslo Accord to the Deal of the Century (1993 – 2019)

The end of the Cold War period in the early 1990s crowned the United States of America (US) as the sole superpower in the world, allowing it to engage more actively in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Yet, there were initiatives by the US administrations that addressed the conflict since the 1970s. The consecutive US administrations of President Clinton, President Bush and President Obama made efforts in addressing the conflict but all failed to reach a settlement where negotiations were stuck during addressing the final status issues including the fate of the Israeli settlements and the status of Jerusalem. The Trump administration took a different radical approach and imposed a unilateral peace proposal that sided the Israeli narrative known as “deal of the century”. Under these US efforts, and under the claim that the Palestinians rejected most of these initiatives or were the side that failed these US peace initiatives, the question that arises in mind is that to what extent did the American position address the minimum aspiration of the Palestinian people in establishing their own independent state? Basically, the article suggests that the US was not a fair broker, it didn’t practice any form of pressure on the Israeli side but instead blamed the Palestinians – who are under the Israeli occupation -, the US didn’t accept the comments or the reservations of the Palestinians over its peace initiatives but accepted and adopted the Israeli comments, according to the US officials’ statements. The article writing methods generally follow the descriptive analytical approach and the historical approach along with highlighting the official statements and documents related to the topic.

A South Asian Identity Constructed By The Indo-Pacific Discourse: India

It has been estimated that by 2050, four of the top five economies in the world will all be in Asia, with India, Japan and Indonesia all taking a spot alongside China in surpassing the United States, and revealing a global shift toward the Asian axis. While the Asia-Pacific discourse that has emerged since the Cold War promotes a China-centered understanding of Asia, a South Asian country, India, is emerging as a second rising power on the Asian continent and is taking a central position in the region. The continuing discourse will play an active role in the construction of a South Asian identity and its acceptance in the international arena.

미·중 패권 경쟁과 한반도 신냉전 구도의 강화 : 한미일 공조와 북중러 협력을 중심으로

미·중 패권 경쟁과 한반도 신냉전 구도의 강화 : 한미일 공조와 북중러 협력을 중심으로

Geopolitics of decolonization: Carnegie Endowment’s diplomatic training program 1960–73

This paper considers the case of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s ‘Programs in Diplomacy’, which from 1960 to 73 provided international, bilingual training for the diplomats of ‘newer states’ – former colonies that gained independence after 1945. Drawing on archival research in three continents, we can see that the spaces and practices of diplomatic training through these programmes were inherently geopolitical: they would shape social and professional norms and networks, in turn shaping state-building and international life. As a result, the pedagogies, curricula, and spaces of these courses must be understood through the prism of contemporary (geo)political tensions: the ideological confrontations of decolonization and the Cold War. Organizers sought ‘neutral ground’ for the programmes, in terms of both their locations and their content. Beginning in Geneva and New York, the programmes shifted quickly towards universities in the Global South and articulated Third World ideals such as African unity. Despite consistent attempts to frame the programmes as technical and non-ideological, their discursive and material geographies reveal an approach to ‘learning the international’ that privileged Western liberal norms and practices, particularly through a pedagogy of socialization.

Touring Communist Poland: British Defence Attachés in Search of Secrets, 1980–1987

This article explores problems of collecting intelligence in Poland by British defence attachés. In the 1980s, the last decade of the Cold War, tours of Poland by the British defence attaché staff turned out to be an essential method of collecting military intelligence about the Polish Army and Soviet forces in Poland. Annual reports of British attachés in Warsaw were declassified for every year of the 1980s except 1988 and 1989. Most of their content was made available, with the exception of some parts related to equipment and coordination of tours with North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners. The reports provided a detailed picture of the British Section’s knowledge about the Polish armed forces whose military capabilities it sought to assess.

Television and Cinema as an Agent of Development and Social Change

Television and cinema have had an immense influence on society and culture universally. They have not only provided a global platform for the exchange of information but have also provided space for interaction between cultures. In a world of globalization, beyond their primary aim of entertainment, television and cinema have become important means of communication among different communities while also gaining commercial value along the way. Where on one hand they have been used for communal and/or political propaganda, terrorism, religious preaching, coercion, cultural assimilation and as a means of making a profit, they have also represented social activism, promotion of various cultures and traditional practices and art. Television and cinema, as a visual medium, provide diverse possibilities to society. From its conception as a black-and-white medium, it has evolved into a popular form of applications such as Netflix and Amazon Prime videos which has resulted in a much wider reach. For instance, the giant franchise of the Bond films promotes a particular political agenda with the backdrop of the Cold War and September 11 and the most popular cartoon show Tom and Jerry describes the relationship of predator-prey or oppressor-oppressed transcends the primary purpose of entertainment. The Charlie Chaplin films that offer a critique of the new progressing society and the various fairy tales that outline the gender and societal roles of individuals further expand the purpose and approach of the visual medium. Television and cinema take on a didactic role that not only aims at education but also contributes to the creation and/or destruction of conventions. This paper focuses on the evolution of television and cinema on a global platform while discussing its role in development and social change.

A New Era in Defense Planning Approaches: Digital Transformation Era

The primary environmental elements that countries encounter shape and change defense planning. Each planning phase is honored with the primary element needed to implement the change. Because of this, the period of polarization and nuclear threat is named the Threat-Based Planning Approach. Similar to this, emphasis was placed on the Capability-Based Planning Approach and the Scenario-Based Planning Approach in order to foresee the growing uncertainties following 9/11 due to the increasing relevance of talent after the Cold War. With the idea of “Industry 4.0,” the world has undergone a rapid transformation, and the idea of “digital transformation” has gained fundamental interest from people, businesses, and nations alike. With this idea, planning and development started to take shape. As a result, this circumstance also has an impact on defense planning strategies. The article’s major point is, rather than bringing about minor adjustments, to highlight how digital transformation, which has a transformative effect, starts a fundamental transition in military planning methodologies and introduces a new perspective on planning.

Imaginaries of Care and Science in Anthropocene Utopian Futurology: The Sociology of Science in Kim S. Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future

The article analyzes climate fiction utopia ‘Ministry for the Future’ by Kim S. Robinson. The analytical method relies on the framework of sociotechnical imaginaries proposed by Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim and combines it with the critical history of science and feminist studies of care. Since in the process of writing the novel its author went through numerous consultations with scientists, in the article this oeuvre is analyzed both as a piece of science fiction and as a futurology essay. It is examined how the institutions of science are portrayed, how society of citizens is imagined and how this vision of the future remains trapped in the misconceptions regarding science that result from the Cold War modernistic propaganda of science. On the basis of this analysis, the article offers a discussion of how the imaginaries of Anthropocene are likely to repeat such tropes, unless history of science and sociology of science during the Cold War becomes a necessary part of the Anthropocene studies.

ANALYSING RESERVE FORCES AS AN ENABLER FACTOR FOR ACTIVE MILITARY

The continuum degradation of the international security environment represents a negative effect of the unbalanced power that followed the end of the Cold War. With only one superpower controlling the international order it is almost impossible to prevent and manage numerous crisis and conflicts which happened all around the world at any time. Therefore, the idea of changing the current world order acquires greater and greater valences in the mind of regional powers. At the same time, the military conflict evolves and is highly influenced by the new risks and threats that appeared at national, regional and international security environments. Recent events demonstrate that we have to fight today wars and be prepared for the tomorrow ones at the same time. Preparing the population for defense and, implicitly, developing a culture of security within civil society, alongside the revitalization of the voluntary reserve, are vital and the only elements that can contribute to harnessing the society's volunteerism and accessing the potential available at this moment in Romanian society for achieving resilience and acceptable internal security. This is essential for fulfilling the objective of a possible regeneration of the active military force. Therefore, the role of reserve forces and reservists, including volunteer ones, in this new operating environment is continuing increasing and their importance inside national military forces acquires a new connotation for more and more missions. Apart for being just a human resource to replace lost active-duty personnel, reservists can enhance the resilience at national and military levels and fill up gaps or niche positions. This material will analyse how reserve forces were used in the current wars in line with new security environment paradigm and will propose some real ways ahead for the Romanian Armed Forces to develop such enabling operational resources.

THE EU'S ROLE IN THE TRANSNISTRIA CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

The end of the Cold War allowed many Eastern European countries to claim their right to self-determination. This event has created challenges to these states' sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Republic of Moldova was one of them, whose integrity was challenged by a separatist entity supported by the Russian Federation, which ended in a frozen conflict. In the struggle for reintegration, Moldova asked the international community for support, mainly the European Union and NATO, whose values are close to its way of development.

Problems of war and peace in the context of growing external threats to Russian sovereignty (2012–2022)

Importance. The purpose of the study is to consider the state of problems of war and peace in the dynamics of growing external threats to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation in 2012–2022. Among them, there is a special interest in war as a phenomenon that has once again become a radical tool for conducting interstate relations.Research Methods. The research is based on the principles of historicism, the unity of the objective and the subjective. Along with general scientific methods, such as analysis, dialectical method, case-study, elements of decisional, historical-comparative, retrospective and other methods from interdisciplinary knowledge were used.Results and Discussion. It is noted that the main reason for the escalation of the “hot phase” of the war is the actual refusal of the West to end the Cold War. The difference is given in the peculiarities of understanding modern war and its instruments in the goals and methods of international policy pursued by the United States using the examples of the actions of the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the Russian Federation under the leadership of President V.V. Putin. It is shown that the emerging trend towards the rejection of unilateralism, changes in the internal and external environment, was transformed into a radical political course of the United States under Barack Obama. The strengthening of the United States as a state, despite the contradictions between factions of the establishment, and its role as the center of the West, in the presence of acute inter-party discourse, under Trump is an instrument of the struggle for his global hegemony. While categorically rejecting the aggressive actions of Washington and NATO, the Russian leadership does not exclude the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the United States.Conclusion. The period under review was not only a fixation of trends launched by the West, but also seriously transformed Russia’s national security understanding. The concept of “hybrid warfare” seems to be the most productive to describe the current stage. In order to build a more stable international security system in the 21st century, it will be necessary to take into account changes in the nature of a number of international relations fundamental problems related to the war and peace problems.

‘Military’ miracle drugs and the ‘pharmaceuticalisation’ of everyday life from below in the Cold War USSR

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the interrelation between the process of militarisation of everyday life and individual subjectivities. More specifically, it explores one of the less obvious manifestations of this process – the issue of ‘military' miracle drugs. By this term, I understand the various pharmaceuticals that (1) are perceived to treat a very broad range of medical conditions, often without any scientific evidence proving their efficiency; and (2) are believed to have been developed by/for or have other connections to the military. The characterisation of the Soviet system (including and perhaps especially during the Cold War) as ‘militarised' has existed for a long time and remains commonplace. However, in this article, I would like to advance a more nuanced understanding of this militarisation. In the following, I show that ‘military' miracle drugs remained an important goal for citizen scientists as well as a desirable object of consumption for the Soviet public throughout the Cold War. In contrast to the conventional historical narrative, I further show that the Soviet state authorities did not attempt to advance this ‘pharmaceuticalisation’ but rather perceived this process as dangerous and tried to halt it as much as possible.

James D. Hornfischer, Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War, 1945-1960 by Ian F. Dew

James D. Hornfischer, Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War, 1945-1960 by Ian F. Dew

Reimagining Scholars and Eunuchs: Nationalism, Masculinities, and Historicism in King Hu’s Martial Arts Films

ABSTRACT The historicist and cultural-essentialist filmmaker King Hu set most of his martial arts films in the Ming dynasty, a turbulent but legendary period in Chinese history. This article examines two archetypes in Hu’s films, namely the righteous Confucian scholar-xia and the politically powerful eunuch, who engage in contestations of masculinity within ideal cinematic spaces (jianghu, milieu). These settings and character designs profoundly influenced the martial arts genre. Hu’s cinematography embodied a field for negotiating Chinese masculinities that deviate somewhat from Euro-American theorising about gender binarism and masculinity. By tracing the historical and cultural origins of the scholar and eunuch archetypes, and scrutinising their cultural identities, power structures, gender negotiations, and distinctive notions of nationhood, this article illustrates that Hu’s works parodied and critiqued the problematic authoritarianism of the James Bond film series, despite the prevalence of Bond-esque Western ‘heroes’ in Hong Kong popular culture during the Cold War. He idealised the politically marginalised scholars, critically appraised the hegemonic and transgender eunuchs, and constructed unconventional and resolute swordswomen, and thereby re-articulated the gender and power systems of wen and wu, yin and yang, to revive Chinese cultural traditions and allegorise the sociopolitical landscape.

'These Are Not New Bigots' – Queer TV, <em>Erinnerungskultur</em> and the Potential of Unproduction Studies

The article discusses queer television using US and West-German prime-time soaps Dallas, Dynasty, Lindenstraße and drama series thirtysomething, outlining how they are in dialogue with each other through an entangled Cold War history. It places special focus on the depiction of gay and bisexual men during the HIV/AIDS crisis, as this chapter of queer history remains both decisive for public opinion on queer issues across borders, and its history is often obscured in collective memory. While the case studies consider actually produced/‘made’ work, they open up ways to engage with how systemic discrimination both on the level of production companies and audiences disrupt queer content, thus placing this in a framework of ‘unproduction studies’.

Introduction and Evaluation of Slovenian Space Activity, Policy, and Legislation Considering International Space Law

The examination of the development of space activities on a global scale, identifies several trends. One of them is the transition from dualism to multilateralism – from the Cold War, when only the two world superpowers of the time were active in space, to a situation where several countries are joining the now already large circle of spacefaring nations. Recently, Slovenia has followed the trend, and has in the last three years successfully launched three satellites, drawn out its space policy, and adopted its first space legislation. As it was one of the first countries in the region to do so, it can serve as a learning tool for other states wishing to embark on the same journey, enabling them to take a critical perspective and optimise their efforts. This study briefly presents Slovenian space activity, policy, and legislation. This study focuses on the legislative part, which presents and examines the compliance with international law. Based on this, certain improvements can be made and other states can decide how to draw their own national legislation governing space activities.

“Making Democracy Safe for the World”: Kenneth Waltz on Realism, Democracy, and War

Abstract This paper reevaluates the history of how some anti-war realists have assessed the relationship between democracy and armed conflict. To do so, I turn to a central realist figure: Kenneth Waltz. Drawing on newly available archival sources and his published work, I explore Waltz’s shifting relationship with American democracy, foreign policymaking, and war. I focus on his career-long anti-war commitments, tracing his foreign policy engagements over the half century of his academic career. Early on, Waltz argued in favor of American democracy as a source of adaptive, effective foreign policy. Gradually, however, his views shifted. After the Cold War and especially after 9/11, his anti-war beliefs and belief in democratic foreign policymaking came increasingly into tension. He moved from defending American democratic foreign policymaking to calling for structural constraints from without. We see this in Waltz’s late-life endorsement of the Iranian nuclear program, which was motivated not just by his well-known optimism about proliferation, but also by the hope that an Iranian nuclear arsenal would deter American intervention in the Middle East. Waltz’s experience has implications both for how we read his body of work and for how we understand realist attempts to shape foreign policy.