Cold War Research Articles

Eastern Bloc Agents in West Germany

This paper highlights how contemporary archaeology can contribute to our knowledge of contemporary history, in a case where written sources no longer exist and any surviving protagonists either will not or cannot divulge what they know. Its focus is on a Soviet spy radio from the last years of the Cold War which was discovered during a recent archaeological excavation in Germany’s Rhineland. The radio was probably produced in 1987 and was soon afterwards concealed in woodland, most likely by someone working for Soviet military intelligence, the GRU. The findspot is close to various Cold War military installations involving nuclear weapons, and the radio would have enabled the swift transmission of military information into the Eastern Bloc that would have been useful in the event of war. As rare archaeological evidence of espionage, the radio can also help us to understand continuities between the Cold War and the present time.

Bunker Museology

After the Cold War ended in 1991, many former nuclear bunkers were discarded by the British state and left as field monuments. This article examines the two-stage evolution of bunker museology in Scotland, wherein these archaeological remains have been converted into museums, initially by private collector-enthusiasts and latterly by community groups. My case study of the Gairloch Museum in the Wester Ross documents the reincarnation of a Cold War monument as a community museum, illustrating the positive potential of transforming unofficial into official heritage with the participation of local people. The Gairloch Museum is considered alongside two other local bunker restoration projects in Edinburgh and Dundee, advocating the need for public bodies to give greater priority to the preservation of Cold War heritage in Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole.

Gender and Anticommunism in Children’s Social Protection in Postwar Greece

The article analyses the welfare activities provided by the Greek royal foundations in the period from their establishment in 1947 until 1968, focusing on their interventions concerning children and youth and their evolution over time. Placing the royal foundations’ activities in the Cold War and post-Civil War context, it argues that the intertwined state, parastatal and private initiatives, among which they had a hegemonic role, constituted the idiosyncratic Greek welfare state of the period, whose workings can be better grasped through the perspective of the mixed economy of welfare. Based on archival research, it highlights the gendered character of this specific version of welfare state-cum-mixed economy of welfare, and show that it was highly conservative, patriarchal and normative, based on ideological, political, class and gender exclusions. It depended on gendered massive voluntary action, especially women’s voluntary or low-paid work and elite women’s empowering activities.

The KGB’s Black Box: Intelligence Operations and Bias in the People’s Republic of China

The Soviet Union's intelligence operations in China helped to fuel tensions between the two communist powers, which were based on analytical biases and the difficulty of operating in China. While the Soviet Union was worried about a potential Chinese attack, it found it hard to penetrate Chinese political circles due to cultural differences and difficulties in recruiting Chinese spies. Prior to the Cold War, Soviet intelligence agencies had an easier time recruiting Chinese nationals as spies, but as the Sino-Soviet split deepened, recruiting agents, penetrating political circles, and making sense of China became more challenging. The Soviet Union's biased analytical framework on China contributed to escalatory tensions and created a feedback loop of distrust. While there are limitations to analyzing leaked USSR official notes carried by a defector, they provide valuable insights into Soviet operations in China. The KGB established its "Line K" department for Chinese espionage and operations, but complained about a chronic shortage of Chinese documents passed along by assets that would enable it to draw serious assessments about the Chinese communist government.

What’s an Expert, and Why? A comment on Christian Dayé, Experts, Social Scientists, and Techniques of Prognosis in Cold War America

What’s an Expert, and Why? A comment on Christian Dayé, Experts, Social Scientists, and Techniques of Prognosis in Cold War America

Nazi Crimes, Max Merten and his Prosecution as Reflected in Greece and beyond

The prosecution of Max Merten (1911–1971), the only Nazi war criminal accused of Holocaust involvement in Greece, coincided not only with the start of the Greek-German negotiations on victim compensation but also with the Eichmann trial. In 1959, the Merten Case provoked a massive public backlash, both because of the gravity of his crimes and because of his impending extradition to West Germany. We argue that in the Cold War atmosphere, when the Merten Case attracted international attention, the actions of internal and external power elites in the West deliberately departed from the concept of transitional justice to use this murky affair to their political advantage. Rather than a fair trial, the aim was to obstruct it in the interests of good relations, political self-preservation, and gradual social amnesia about Greek complicity during the German occupation. In contrast, the Eastern Bloc fed the opposite narrative of rotten capitalism by building on its proclaimed struggle against fascism. By combining archival sources and newspaper coverage of the Merten Case on both sides of the East-West conflict, our article explores which mechanisms were mobilised in public and which incentives were carried out behind the scenes. This allows us to examine multidirectional attitudes in a geopolitical sense, with the main aim of showing the discursive imposition of disinformation operating (in)formally through the channels of political institutions during the Cold War.

“This did not happen even during the Cold War”: religion and international sanctions in the Russo-Ukrainian War

The Russian Orthodox Church has emerged as a significant contributor to the intellectual framework that underpins Russia’s full-scale invasion and war against Ukraine. The Church’s endorsement and subsequent support of the war have compelled a number of secular governments and organisations to address this political involvement, resulting in the inclusion of church leaders and church-related entities on sanctions lists related to the conflict. This article aims to analyse the presence of religious figures on sanctions lists related to the war and the challenges associated with the implementation of such sanctions, particularly in the context of the ongoing debate concerning restrictions on freedom of religion and beliefs.

What about the BRICS? examining power politics in a changing world order

ABSTRACT The rise of the BRICS has been a significant event in world politics. The bloc represents more than half of the world’s population, has vast territories, has some of the largest economies, and possesses nuclear weapons. Its emergence poses a substantial challenge to the US-led liberal order. Has there been a shift in the world order? Have Western institutions, policies, and narratives been contested because of the BRICS? This paper aims to examine power relations in world politics and explore changes to the liberal order that emerged at the end of the Cold War. It also analyzes the BRICS as a group, its role in world politics and its potential as a counterhegemonic power.

Cold War liberals in the dock

Cold War liberals in the dock

Khosrow I’s Foreign Policy and 6th century Yemen

In examining Khosrow I's expedition to Yemen, this paper looks at one of the pivotal fronts in the Great Game of Late Antiquity, the "cold war" between the Byzantine and Sassanian empires, the two superpowers of their age. It analyzes the King of King's decision to launch the mission from a mainly economic angle. It looks at southern Arabia's own intrinsic value, the geopolitical significance of Yemen in relation to the maratime Silk Road, and the rise of Mecca, a new commercial hub in neighbouring Hejaz. By doing this, the author hopes to exhibit the central importance which southern Arabia played in the geopolitics and commerce of Late Antiquity.

Make China great again: the strategies of Confucian accountants

PurposeThis paper aims to offer insight into how strategies within the accounting profession, which has been becoming more global, might be changed by the recent outbreak of the Second Cold War between the West and the Rest of the World.Design/methodology/approachWe explore the strategies of those who called themselves “Confucian accountants” in China, a country which has recently discouraged its state-owned enterprises from using the services of the Big 4. We do this by employing qualitative research methods, including reflexive photo interviews, in which Big-4 accountants, recognised as the most Westernised accounting actors in China, and Confucian accountants are asked to take and explain photographs representing their professional lives. Bourdieu’s notions of “economy of practices” and “vision-of-division strategy” are drawn upon to understand who the Confucian accountants are and what they do strategically in their pursuit of a higher revenue stream and improved social standing in the Chinese social space.FindingsThe homegrown Confucian accountants share cultural-cognitive characteristics with neighbouring social actors, such as their clients and government officials, who have been inculcated with Confucianism and the state’s cultural confidence policy in pursuit of a “socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics”. Those accountants try to enhance their social standing and revenue stream by strategically demonstrating their difference from Big-4 accountants. For this purpose, they wear Confucian clothes, have Confucian props in their office, employ Confucian phrases in their everyday conversations, use Confucian business cards and construct and maintain guanxi with government officials and clients.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to explore Confucian accountants’ strategies for increasing their revenue and social standing at the start of the Second Cold War.

The Impact of the Cold War on the Afghan Society

The article is devoted to the policies of the global players of the Cold War using the example of Afghanistan. Noting the features of the Afghan policy of the Cold War, the author highlighted the key content of the very concept of the Cold War, political events in Afghanistan, internal and external challenges, ethnic problems and the problem of women during the Cold War. The influence of geopolitical processes on the development, internal and external interests of Afghan society in the 20th century, the social, economic and political consequences of the Cold War, features of the development of the political system and political culture of Afghanistan, ethnic problems in Afghan public discourse, etc. are considered. The author concludes that “The Cold War of the superpowers had a direct impact on internal political developments in Afghanistan, where parties and public organizations emerged as political structures with secular or Islamic ideology. The author comes to the conclusion that the internal political unity of Afghan society was not ensured for the reason that the Afghan elite was unable to form an ideology expressing national unity, and its individual parts preferred to serve the interests of one or another player without supporting the national interests of Afghanistan.The article was prepared according to the International Academic Mobility Program, organized by the National Research Institute of the Communications Development (Moscow) for young scientists from foreign countries.

Образ общего врага СССР и НАТО в англоязычном кинематографе периода холодной войны

The author extensively examines the plots of films from the Cold War period in English-language cinema, focusing on the representation of the “common enemy” and the Soviet side. The research aim is to identify how this theme evolved during periods of détente and escalation of the Cold War in the 1980s, exploring the images and plots used in films. The study analyzes a range of films and TV series as sources of this theme, including James Bond films, the series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “The A-Team”, as well as works by directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Don Siegel, and John Mackenzie. The scientific novelty lies in analyzing plots and characters that have received little attention in Russian cultural studies. New sources have been introduced into the academic discourse, and the theme of the article is novel, shedding new light on the topic of cultural confrontation between the USSR and the Western bloc, revealing plots that reshape perceptions of the representation of the Soviet side in Anglo-American cinema. The author concludes that British and American directors did not consider the USSR as absolute evil, leading to the creation of a narrative trope of a common enemy hostile to both NATO and the Soviet Union.

Organizing Peace in the Americas: Collective Security versus International Adjudication

Abstract American states concluded two treaties to organize peace in the postwar world: the Rio Treaty (1947) and the Pact of Bogotá (1948). At first sight, they appear to reflect a division of tasks: the Rio Treaty would address threats to the peace and security of the Americas, and the Pact of Bogotá would help solve the disputes between American states. However, the Rio Treaty’s dominance during the Cold War calls this division into question. This paper first argues that American states pursued two projects of peace. The Rio Treaty was a defence pact with an autonomous enforcement mechanism, to which the United States was strongly committed. The Pact of Bogotá reflected Latin American states’ thinking that a comprehensive framework for solving disputes would mitigate regional power asymmetries. Second, it claims that the Rio Treaty’s vague provisions and the US support it enjoyed facilitated its dominance during the Cold War.

Consuls in the Cold War, edited by Sue Onslow and Lori Maguire

Consuls in the Cold War, edited by Sue Onslow and Lori Maguire

The Dual Containment metaphor: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and linking the Cold War to the War on Terror

ABSTRACT This essay analyzes the Dual Containment metaphor of the Clinton administration, which reconciled President Clinton’s internationalist post-Cold War rhetoric with aggressive treatment of Iraq and Iran. I argue that the Clinton administration deployed the Dual Containment metaphor to redefine these two Persian Gulf states in line with Cold War topoi of enemyship and threat, symbolically and militarily confining them so that they could not endanger the project of democratic enlargement after the fall of the Soviet Union. While the Dual Containment label eventually fell out of circulation, its core elements saturated Clinton’s presidential rhetoric throughout his time in the White House and laid the rhetorical groundwork for George W. Bush’s foreign policy, culminating with his freedom agenda and military misadventures in the Gulf. In making this case, this essay shows how metaphors offer a useful device through which to assess the constitutive force of presidential rhetoric across diachronic, institutional, and articulatory contexts.

Keeping the Cold War Cold: Korea, 1966–1976

Abstract During the Cold War, U.S. strategic leaders had to deal with policies and issues in every part of the globe. The main theater was in Europe, but there were other regions that demanded attention. Korea was an important one. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the peninsula was on the brink of conflict as North Korea initiated a series of operations that were legitimate acts of war. There was a strong desire among South Korean government officials for a military response, but U.S. government leaders said no. Officials in Washington recognized the limits of U.S. power at the time, and designed their responses to maintain the status quo. The story of how the United States handled its undertakings in areas of marginal importance was a chapter in the larger history of the Cold War. A number of historians have suggested that the Third World played a key role in shaping developments in the Cold War, but U.S. actions in Korea indicate something a bit more complicated. Knowing when to become involved and when to limit losses was crucial in how the United States managed events along the periphery of the Cold War.

From the National to the Comparative in International Law: Cold War Redux?

Abstract Recent years have witnessed greater attention to the ‘national’ dimension in international law and, in its wake, a move towards comparison. The first section of this article examines the early rise of ‘comparative’ approaches to international law with reference to the pioneering work of William E. Butler during the Cold War and contextualizes the coinage of the term ‘invisible college of international law’ at a time of relative ‘détente’ in the 1970s, suggesting, furthermore, that a pattern of repetition and renewal in engagement with constructions and international legal thought in the Cold War period is currently taking place. The second section examines a move to the national in international law and both the promises and perils of comparative international law, including because of the parallel introduction of the new divisive-prone descriptors of ‘authoritarian international law’ and ‘rules-based international system’. It also highlights the cyclical nature of the ‘comparative’ turn to the national in international law now that the war in Ukraine and the strongly divided reactions to Israel’s protracted military campaign in the Gaza Strip are crystallizing a new Cold War-like scenario in an emerging post-Western-centric and multi-polar order. The conclusion recaps the main findings of the article and suggests that comparative international law should be used to enhance, not to undermine, the language of international law as a two-way bridge between peoples and nations in times of turmoil.

East Asian translations of Jean-Paul Sartre’s pre-1950 literary works

Abstract Starting from his first appearance in an East-Asian literary magazine and ending with his last works to be translated before the decline of his popularity in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the Cold War, the period 1938–1975 saw extensive translations of Sartre’s literary works in East-Asia (Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong). This study examines Sartre’s literary works published before 1950, by which most of his renowned ones have been published in France. Divided into Japanese and Chinese sections, it first elaborates on the state of translation of Sartre’s literary works in East Asia from 1938 to 1975 before explaining the phenomenon of multiple translated versions and their differences. The focus then turns to two specific translation cases, one in Japanese and another in Chinese, as examples to illustrate the relation between the vibrant scene of translation attempts within the East Asian region and the wartime situations of the Second World War and the Cold War era. By conducting these investigations, this essay aims to outline how, in Japan, the wartime situation impacted the practice and publication of translations and how, in the case of China, the wartime experience of translators shaped their translation strategies and interpretations regarding Sartre’s literary works.

Nationalism, Pronatalism, and the Guild of Gynecology: The Complex Legacy of Abortion Regulation in Hungary

Abstract By tracing the history of abortion politics in Hungary since World War I, this article covers a century of conflict with particular attention to gynecologists’ self-serving professional jockeying and lobbying under very different political regimes. It suggests that nationalism has been a pivotal element of the abortion debates that both government actors and gynecologists have shaped over the last hundred years and argues that abortion rights were differently recognized in eastern and western Europe during the Cold War because of the legacy of mass wartime rapes committed by the Soviet troops in Hungary, among other countries, which determined those countries’ postwar legislation on abortion and reproductive rights. The article introduces the rarely researched contribution of the gynecologist lobby to the debates by examining how they could represent their own interests independently of political regime. Today, Hungary's illiberal regime questions the legitimacy of abortion by normalizing US fundamentalist-Christian discourse because anti-abortion policy fits into its nation-building course.