Legacy Of War Research Articles

Making green cocoa: Deforestation, the legacy of war, and agrarian capitalism in Côte d'Ivoire

AbstractThis article examines the legacy of war on environmental policy, contributing to recent literature on the linkages between armed violence, conservation, rural livelihoods and global value chains. It argues that environmental norms reshape agricultural practices, but also the means by which people claim control over land and labour. Using the case of cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire, this paper examines the impact of ‘zero‐deforestation’ policies on the country's last agricultural frontier: its western forestlands, where migration and deforestation have driven the development of the cocoa economy for years. The region is now feeling the effects of global trade policies such as the European Deforestation‐Free Regulation (EUDR), competition for the last remaining forests and social fault lines inherited from the war. This article traces the origins of the zero‐deforestation policy, its national and local impact and its implications for social struggles over the control of land and labour.

The British Digital Press Archive as a source on the history of the collective memory of the First World War participants in the interwar period

Importance. The 110th anniversary of the First World War outbreak awakens in the public and scientific community not only discussions about the causes of the conflict, but also forces us to turn to the legacy of this process. In this regard, the work actualizes the theme of historical memory of the “Great War”. The purpose of the study is to reflect the complex of the legacy of the First World War in Great Britain in the 1930s by referring to the British Newspaper Archive.Materials and Methods. For the analysis of historical memory in the Great Britain, memoirs, monumental art, works of cinema, music, and many others are often involved. Methods of working with the British newspaper Archive are considered and, based on a specific historical method, we will reflect the perception of the First World War in British society and the situation of veterans in the 1930s. The method of quantitative content analysis is used. The necessary database of source material is selected by keywords, then the selected sources are grouped according to a certain topic. Memoirs, monumental art, works of cinema, music and much more are often used to analyze historical memory in Great Britain. In this work, we will look at the techniques of working with the British Newspaper Archive and, based on a specific historical method, reflect the perception of the First World War in British society and the situation of veterans in the 1930s. Due to the free access to a huge mass of English-language sources, this digital archive is of interest to researchers. The work uses the method of quantitative content analysis.Results and Discussion. During the study of press materials, it can be stated that the following agenda has been identified in the historical memory and legacy of the First World War in Great Britain in the 1930s: 1) the presence of narratives reflecting the pride of British society for the heroism of soldiers and sorrow for the many sacrifices they made in the name of victory in the war; 2) despite the discussions’ existence about the frontline brotherhood during the war period, after the war, veterans rallied into unions and organizations engaged in a wide variety of support (from mediation when applying for a job to appeals to the authorities about pension provision).Conclusion. Thus, despite the apparent immensity of the digital database of the British Newspaper Archive, the application of the well-known methodological principle of “Occam’s razor” makes it possible to compile a corpus of sources that meet the purpose of the study. Immersion in the press materials themselves allows the researcher to immerse himself more in the socio-cultural context of Great Britain in the 1930s. Due to the complexity of the information from the studied sources.

‘We Must Find a Way to Remember Them Too’: British Second World War Conscientious Objectors in Post-War Culture

This article examines the ways in which British Second World War conscientious objectors (COs) have been commemorated, memorialized, and represented since 1945. Despite comprising nearly 60 000 men, the CO is strikingly absent in both the popular narrative of the Second World War and official, institutional commemorations of the conflict. This is not true of their First World War counterpart. This is unsurprising: the Second World War CO is largely at odds with popular British conceptions of the war as a ‘just’ conflict. Nevertheless, a broad and diverse set of initiatives have been established to commemorate the CO. The CO also features in numerous forms of post-war popular culture, including fiction, films, television programmes, and plays. It is these disparate remembrance practices and representations that this article brings together to help us explore both the memory of wartime conscientious objection and the broader cultural legacies of the Second World War.

Policing the Catastrophe: History and Conspiracy in David Peace's Tokyo Trilogy

Abstract This essay focuses on the police protagonists in David Peace's Tokyo Trilogy and the historical mediations they perform in the worlds of the novels. It argues that these mediations are generated by the way Peace subverts the conventional narrative structure of historical detective fiction: rather than moving toward resolution—solving a crime—the object of detection is continually displaced to conspiracies with historical and political implications, thereby constituting different temporalities that do not move forward but rather repeat, circulate, or are perpetually delayed. Underlying these repetitions, transmissions, and premonitions are historical-political legacies of Japanese empire, war, and American anti-communist conspiracies, which open toward a critical-conspiratorial understanding of postwar Japan.

Transitional Justice and the Legacy of The Second World War

Transitional Justice and the Legacy of The Second World War

When rebels lose: The impact of civil war legacies on contemporary electoral outcomes in Peru, 2011–2021

Existing research on the electoral legacies of civil wars lacks a comprehensive understanding of the conditions under which certain expectations are valid. To bridge this gap, I explore the impact of Peru's civil war in the 1980s on contemporary electoral outcomes. Peru represents a case where the rebels were defeated by the Fujimori government, despite being responsible for a larger share of the violence. Using a unique dataset at the district level, I analyze the vote shares for Keiko Fujimori and her three primary left-wing opponents in the first rounds of the last three presidential elections. The findings indicate that Fujimori gains a premium in districts more affected by the conflict, while left-wing candidates experience an electoral disadvantage. A detailed analysis of the 2021 election shows that Pedro Castillo was able to offset this negative impact in poorer districts and those more severely affected by COVID-19.

“The camera got through safely”: photography and women’s memory activism after the Irish Civil War and Spanish Civil War

ABSTRACT This article takes a comparative approach to gendered legacies of civil war and militant women’s post-war memory activism in Ireland and Spain, and highlights a shared practice of photographic memory-keeping as a means of constructing counter-narratives of war. It focuses specifically on the testimonial memoirs “Blaze Away with your Little Gun” (1968–69) by Siobhán and Mairead de Paor and Cárcel de Mujeres (Vol. 1 and 2, 1985) and Mujeres en la Resistencia (1968) by Tomasa Cuevas, which commemorated women’s experiences of activism and imprisonment in the Irish Civil War and Spanish Civil War respectively. This article unpacks how militant women on the losing side of civil war navigated the gendered repression and enforced erasure of the post-war Irish Free State and Francoist dictatorship and uses the two case studies to demonstrate that women’s photographic practices enabled them to contest national narratives of war. It thus highlights how women’s testimonial photographic practices, the ways in which they created, re-defined, and circulated images within written memoirs, allowed them to reclaim agency over their experiences of activism and imprisonment and commemorate women who were otherwise erased from official remembrance.

‘Axis of Evil’ and the Academic Repression of Palestine Solidarity

In general, Palestine solidarity activism—irrespective of how and where it happens—faces censorship and repression, whereby solidarity with Palestine as a (national) cause is stigmatized and considered toxic to any mainstream discussion of the politics of Palestine/Israel. Academia tends to follow this norm of stigmatization and toxification of Palestine solidarity and any recognition of the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for liberation is viewed as a violation of the norms of scientific (i.e. objective) knowledge production. More recently, the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism has played a critical role in censuring and censoring individual scholars and scholarship deemed too supportive of the Palestinian struggle. In this article, however, I view this manner of repression as embedded in a political project that extends far beyond the working definition. Specifically, I argue that the academic repression of Palestine solidarity draws on the lasting discursive legacies of the Global War on Terror that sought to bifurcate the world into ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ Drawing on my personal experiences of repression where my work has been charged as being antisemitic, sympathetic to terrorism/terrorists and defending fundamentalism, I argue that lumping Palestinian solidarity with all things evil, abnormal, disruptive, negative, and inappropriate represents a continuation of the Global War on Terror as the Palestinian cause is toxified as nothing more than an extension of the ‘Axis of Evil.’

Legacies of World War ii and the Cold War in U.S.-East Asia Relations

Legacies of World War ii and the Cold War in U.S.-East Asia Relations

Albanija tokom 1939-1944. prema poljskim diplomatskim dokumentima

On April 7, 1939, Italy's invasion of Albania marked a significant escalation in Benito Mussolini's imperialist aspirations. This invasion, driven by Mussolini's expansionist policies, swiftly resulted in the conquest of Albania. The country's strategic importance to Italy had long been recognized, making it a target for Italian territorial ambitions. The invasion precipitated the rapid departure of King Ahmet Zogu from Albania, as Italian forces quickly established control over the country. This event underscored Albania's vulnerability to external powers and its susceptibility to being manipulated for geopolitical gains. In this study, I aim to provide insights into the events surrounding Albania's occupation during World War II, drawing from Polish documents of the time. Polish diplomats and ambassadors were extensively informed about the situation in Albania and were able to offer objective perspectives, often emphasizing Poland's lack of political interest in the region. Additionally, the analysis incorporates data obtained from popular Polish newspapers of the era, which published articles and featured numerous photographs, providing valuable context to understand the political dynamics in Albania during this period. The role of the Polish ambassador in Rome, Wieniawa Długoszewski, was pivotal in informing Italy's connections about the invasion of Albania.Through diplomatic channels, Długoszewski facilitated communication regarding the unfolding events in Albania, contributing to a better understanding of the situation among allied nations. Following Italy's occupation of Albania, King Ahmet Zogu sought refuge in various countries, including a visit to Warsaw in July 1939. This visit, documented through studies and photographs from the time, sheds light on the diplomatic efforts and interactions between Albania and its allies during this tumultuous period. Additionally, key documents such as Ahmet Zog's letter to Wladyslaw Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister in London, and Antoni Balinski's correspondence regarding Britain's stance towards Zogu provide valuable insights into the diplomatic maneuvers undertaken by Albania and its allies. Despite efforts to gather comprehensive information, certain gaps remain, such as the absence of a report from a Polish officer who was part of the British mission in Albania. This underscores the challenges in fully understanding Albania's situation post-Italian occupation and during Nazi Germany's subsequent annexation. The impact of World War II on Albania was profound, leading to significant political, social, and economic upheavals. The invasion by Italy and subsequent occupation, followed by Nazi Germany's annexation, plunged Albania into a period of turmoil and conflict. The partisan warfare that ensued, led by communist factions under the direction of Enver Hoxha, further intensified the country's struggles. The aftermath of the war left Albania fundamentally transformed, with the establishment of a communist regime led by Enver Hoxha, which endured for decades. The war's legacy left an indelible mark on Albania, shaping its governance, society, and economy for years to come.

“We Know What War Is”: Veterans, Soldiers, and Military Masculinity in the Soviet “Fight for Peace,” c. 1955–65

AbstractThe aim of this article is to bring the issue of peace more definitively into the increasingly complex vision we have of the postwar era and to give particular thought to the place of the military man within a society that was now supposedly orientated toward peace. To do so, the discussion will range across both lived experience and cultural representations—predominantly of a visual nature—that broached the issue of peace, paying close attention to the ways in which the legacies of the Great Patriotic War shaped how serving soldiers and demobilized veterans articulated the need for peace and their role in ensuring its preservation. What will be repeatedly demonstrated in what follows is that the shadow of the Great Patriotic War loomed large over both cultural representations and personal conceptualizations of the ideal of peace, and as such the military man—both real and imagined, serving and demobilized—was integral to the discourse surrounding this most pressing social concern.

The Political Legacies of Wartime Resistance: How Local Communities in Italy Keep Anti-fascist Sentiments Alive

Can past wartime experiences affect political behavior beyond those who lived through them? We argue that local experiences of armed resistance leave political legacies that “memory entrepreneurs” can translate into contemporary political action via a community-based process of intergenerational transmission consisting of three core activities – memorialization, localization, and mobilization. We empirically substantiate this argument in Italy, where an intense armed resistance movement against Nazi-Fascist forces took place in the 1940s. We combine statistical analysis of original data across Italian municipalities and within-case analysis of a purposively selected locality to show how the past impacts the present via the preservation and activation of collective memories. This study improves our understanding of the processes of long-term transmission, emphasizes armed resistance as a critical source of the long-term political legacies of war, and explores its political effects beyond electoral and party politics.

Civil War Legacies, The Prohibition of The Drug Trade, and Armed Politics in Latin America

Civil War Legacies, The Prohibition of The Drug Trade, and Armed Politics in Latin America

History and memory beyond classroom in Croatia

This article examines attitudes of the Croatian final grade high school students towards the burdensome legacy of the Second World War and Croatian war for independence (1991–1995). Following the theoretical framework of memory studies, and implementing the concept of postmemory, we have developed a structural model connecting ideology and legacy of the wars. In addition, we have further modelled postmemory and its reliance on democratic values, namely political attitudes, trust in state institutions and political knowledge. Individualised predictors offered more nuanced analysis away from the binary understanding of pro-collaborationist and anti-fascist divide, in line with wider European trends and political culture(s).

Reflecting the Cold War in “Atomic Heart”

Introduction. The present study is devoted to the study of the influence of artifacts of the symbolic politics of the USA and the USSR on the positioning of the respective socio-political systems in modern video games. The article includes the content of the “Atomic Heart” video game studies and analysis from the point of view of the theory of social memory and symbolic politics. Methods and materials. A certain number of methods were used to solve the actual tasks in the article. In particular, case-study methods and elements of structural and comparative analysis were used. Analysis. The game “Atomic Heart” was chosen as a research case. The choice of the case is due to the high popularity of this game both within Russia and internationally, as well as the connection of the plot to the topic of the confrontation between the USSR and the United States after World War II and the presence of a wide representation of the symbolism of this conflict inside the game (up to the reproduction of real campaign materials). On the one hand, the ways of representing the USA in Soviet propaganda and their interpretation by video game developers are studied. On the other hand, the positioning of the Soviet Union by game designers and screenwriters by exploiting the images and stereotypes of perception that were formed in Western culture during the Cold War is examined. Results. The author concludes that, when forming the in-game symbols, the developers actively exploited the resource of Soviet aesthetics; however, Cold War narratives in Western mass culture works played a significant role in shaping the project’s emotional, semantic, and value content. The main reason for this decision was most likely economic, as the game was created with the expectation of generating the main profit in foreign markets as a commercial product. However, this decision actually contributed to the resuscitation of the functional qualities of the symbolic legacy of the Cold War and the use of its narratives to correct the perceptions of the target audience about the USSR and its role in the confrontation between the two blocs.

The Legacy of the Cold War: Post-Colonial Identity among Former Russophone Residents of Harbin

The Legacy of the Cold War: Post-Colonial Identity among Former Russophone Residents of Harbin

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE SNOW: EXAMINING WAR THROUGH YURI BONDAREV’S “HOT SNOW” AND SHUKHRAT’S “YEARS IN OVERCOATS”

This comparative analysis delves into two pivotal works of war literature, exploring the profound themes of life, death, and human resilience amidst the Second World War’s brutality. By juxtaposing a Russian and an Uzbek perspective, the study not only uncovers the universal existential quandaries precipitated by war but also highlights the unique narrative techniques and cultural insights embedded within each tradition. Through examining narrative structure, character evolution, and the philosophical underpinnings of these texts, the article reveals the war’s multifaceted impact on both the front lines and the home front. This exploration emphasizes the importance of literary inquiry in grasping the complex legacies of war on literature and culture, showcasing literature’s capacity to bridge cultural divides and enhance our understanding of shared human experiences in times of conflict.

Increased impact sensitivity in ageing high explosives; analysis of Amatol extracted from explosive remnants of war.

Millions of tonnes of explosive remnants of war remain in nature and their volume is continuously growing. The explosive legacy of wars represents an increasing threat to the environment and societal safety and security. As munitions continue to deteriorate, harmful constituents will eventually leak into the environment, poisoning ecological receptors and contaminating the surrounding soil and groundwater. Moreover, munition deterioration due to exposure to various environmental factors may ultimately cause them to become increasingly sensitive to external stimuli and susceptible to accidental detonation. To thoroughly assess how to address these ageing munitions, we must first establish certain threshold values for safe and secure handling and final disposal of the explosive ordnance. One key factor is to establish how the impact sensitivity of the explosives evolves over time. In the present work, we investigated the high-explosive substance Amatol extracted from ageing explosive remnants of war. The results obtained in the analysis indicate that the high explosives in the examined specimens were generally much more sensitive to impact than previously assumed. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the standardized methodology of impact sensitivity testing was insufficient for estimating the sensitivities in question, and a more careful statistical analysis is required.

Private Military and Security Companies as a Legacy of War: Lessons Learned From the Former Yugoslavia

AbstractThe war in the former Yugoslavia produced many highly trained and experienced combatants, some of whom engaged not only in a variety of organized criminal activities such as the illicit trade of natural resources, trafficking and corruption, but also war crimes. In the post-war environment various criminal groups took advantage of post-conflict transition conditions which enabled them to be transformed into legitimate legal entities. The failure to investigate and hold to account those involved in criminal activity meant that demobilized soldiers turned to highly profitable, legally constituted private military and security companies (PMSCs). This is coupled with poorly designed security sector reforms that often fail to enhance effective and accountable security that is respectful of human rights. In recent years, similar transformations of many former combatants and criminal groups into legitimate PMSCs around the globe have raised new concerns about their growing activities across different sectors. This article uses the former Yugoslavia as an example from which to highlight some of the increasingly common problems posed by the creation of private military and security providers globally, as a result of the current uncoordinated processes to prevent armed conflicts. The article reflects on the need to avoid smart sanctions and use other foreign policy tools, while calling for an integrated approach to security sector reform and transitional justice that is necessary for sustainable peace.

Collateral Damage: The Legacy of the Secret War in Laos

Abstract We investigate the long-term impact of conflict on economic development, focusing on the US ‘Secret War’ in Laos (1964–73). Our study employs multiple empirical strategies and data on bombing campaigns, satellite imagery, and development indicators to demonstrate that regions heavily bombed during this period experienced lower economic development almost fifty years after the conflict officially ended. A one-standard-deviation increase in bombing intensity is associated with a 7.1% decrease in GDP per capita. We demonstrate the persistent effects of bombing campaigns on human capital accumulation, structural transformation and migration patterns, stressing the role of unexploded ordnance contamination as the primary mechanism of transmission of these effects.