Modern History Research Articles

"Invisible Force" or Diplomatic Powerlessness? (American Diplomacy Through the Eyes of CIA Director William Burns)

The memoirs of William Burns, the American diplomat and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, paint a wide panorama of U.S. foreign policy. These memoirs are particularly relevant because they document the role of the United States in destabilizing the world order that emerged following the Second World War, including its participation in fomenting crises in the post-Soviet space that led to the development of the Ukrainian crisis and the beginning of a special military operation by Russia. The memoirs are not only the testimony of an informed eyewitness but also a valuable source on the modern history of international relations, since they are supplemented with declassified diplomatic documents of the American State Department. These documents, now part of the academic record, clarify both the patterns of American foreign policy behavior and the destructive role of the United States in numerous crises, many of which, according to the documents presented, were predicted by W. Burns as inevitable long before the escalation occurred.

The Progression of Modern Western Psychological Theories to Incorporate Religious Thought

The focus of psychology has shifted significantly throughout modern history and separate schools of thought have developed to explain this important topic. Four considerable trends in modern Western psychology have progressed research and understanding, with each trend starting through a mindset to compensate for weakness in preceding theories. Psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology have facilitated a greater understanding of the human mind and experiences in a primarily constructive direction. However, these schools of thought intentionally excluded religious teachings and worldviews, despite the strong history of believers in religion and the positive benefits that religion can provide. Transpersonal psychology and positive psychology have explored religious experiences and practices, using this knowledge to advance psychology beyond the previous schools of thought and improving the psychological well-being of those who have gleaned from their findings. Analyzing and synthesizing these movements, as well as related fields of study, leads to recommendations for future directions to advance psychological research.

Wives, Widows, Daughters, and Guildswomen: Female Workers in Sixteenth-Century Florentine Taverns and Inns

Early modern Florentines depicted their taverns as wonderful and raucous places that were central to masculine sociability and a threat to female chastity. Many modern historians have followed this lead, presenting the history of Florentine taverns as a study of contemporary sociability and morality. In contrast to the male-centric tavern, this study explores sixteenth-century Florentine taverns as places of work employing many women in a variety of roles. Focusing on workscapes problematizes occupational gendering and considers how taverns involved the tavern keeper’s household and neighbours. Using guild, census, and judicial records, this study explores the spaces that some female tavern keepers, procuresses, and sex workers shared in an effort to reveal women’s work in a professional space previously considered to be exclusively male-dominated.

Al-Ḥasan al-Yūsī (d. 1102/1691) on Books, Knowledge Acquisition, and Manuscript Correction in the Seventeenth-Century Maghrib

Abstract This article examines the practices of textual transmission and correction adopted by seventeenth-century Maghribī scholars, focusing on al-Ḥasan al-Yūsī (d. 1102/1691) and his comprehensive manual al-Qānūn fī aḥkām al-ʿilm wa-aḥkām al-ʿālim wa-aḥkām al-mutaʿallim (The Canon on the Principles of Knowledge and the Rules for the Scholar and the Student). In this work, al-Yūsī reflects on the importance of books in the acquisition and transmission of knowledge, outlines the conditions under which it is permissible to extract knowledge directly from books and argues for the application of strategies of textual criticism developed by ḥadīth scholars. This study examines al-Yūsī’s views on these practices and the role they played in rural Sufi lodges in the Western Maghrib. Examples from the library of the Sufi brotherhood Nāṣiriyya in Tamgrūt, with which al-Yūsī was closely associated, illustrate how these theoretical principles were put into practice. By shedding light on these practices, the article contributes to our understanding of scholarly methods in early modern Islamic intellectual history.

Édouard Dolléans: First Modern Historian of Chartism?

Though Édouard Dolléans (1877–1954) was described by Malcolm Chase as Chartism’s first modern historian, his writings on the subject have never been translated into English and are largely unfamiliar to current historians of the movement. This paper discusses the two editions of Dolléans’s history of Chartism, published in 1912–13 and 1949, and the uses that Dolléans made of these materials in his wider labour histories and political journalism. It locates Dolléans within a first phase of Chartist historiography that was international in character and resonates with current concerns with a transnational labour history. It also situates Dolléans within distinctively French intellectual traditions as his perspectives on Chartism were shaped and reshaped in turbulent political times amidst influences that ranged from syndicalism and the Popular Front to wartime collaboration and the labour movement’s Cold War polarization. Though Dolléans was a flawed historian, he provides a notable case study in the interactions of past and present in the writing of labour history and both influenced and anticipated the concerns with activist biography of a later generation of French labour historians.

Temporality in the United Nations 2030 Agenda: development or rupture?

Time is a constitutive element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN). This article analyses how the 2030 Agenda articulates time – i.e. how its discourse connects past, present and future. This analysis shows how the agenda partially breaks with the 19th-century evolutionist assumptions that pervaded previous UN development policies and strategies. On the one hand, the 2030 Agenda implicitly assumes that a historical rupture is needed to shift the world towards a sustainable path in order to avert a civilisational crisis, and that the history of modern, industrialised Western countries is no longer exemplary in this respect. On the other hand, the 2030 Agenda fails to integrate the need for a historical rupture consequentially: it falls into contradictions and continues to replicate the linear logics that caused the very problems that the agenda aims to solve. ‘Development or rupture?’ seems to be the troublesome and difficult dilemma that haunts the UN’s endeavour to transform the world.

Adaptation and Authorship in Xiangyan Congshu: Tracing the Origins of Laohu Tan Lidai Liren Ji and Its Modern Historical Fiction Influence

In the late Qing period, literary scholar Ping Buqing asserted that the inclusion of Laohu Tan Lidai Liren Ji (Account of Beautiful Women Through the Ages) in Xiangyan Congshu was entirely a creation of the Shenbao Publishing House, dismissing it as a "fabricated work" that dishonored past dynasties. This view has been widely accepted by later scholars. However, upon examining Xue Fucheng's Yong'an Notes, it becomes evident that Laohu Tan Lidai Liren Ji is more likely an adaptation by the editors of Shenbao of Xue's original work Huxian Tan Lidai Liren. Through analyzing the editorial choices and tendencies in the adaptation, we may infer the identity of the adapter, suggesting an attempt to subtly expand upon the conventions of historical fiction in modern times.

An examination of the traits and effects of "Red Songs" on education, Realistic inspiration and value, and culture during the Yan'an Period

An examination of the traits and effects of "Red Songs" on education, Realistic inspiration and value, and culture during the Yan'an Period

ВІДОБРАЖЕННЯ ВЗАЄМОДІЇ КУЛЬТУР ТА НАРОДІВ У ПІДРУЧНИКАХ З ВСЕСВІТНЬОЇ ІСТОРІЇ ДЛЯ 7 КЛАСУ (1995-2020 рр.)

The article deals with the analysis the interactions of Otherness in world history textbooks for the 7th grade. The 1995 textbook is the first to be published since independence. The interaction of different peoples and the mutual influence of their cultures are revealed, including the Arab Caliphate, the Crusades, and the history of the Eastern states. The author characterizes various methods of studying textbooks of 2007, 2015 and 2020, in particular, the use of content analysis. This allows us to determine how textbook authors reflect the mutual influences and cultural borrowings of representatives of different nations. This allows us to determine how textbook authors reflect the mutual influences and cultural borrowings of representatives of different nations. The textbooks in which the problem of the interaction of Otherness is presented in a thorough and more or less consistent manner are highlighted. At the same time, the author generalizes the conclusion that the presentation of examples of interaction between peoples and cultural borrowings in the text component of the 2020 edition of textbooks to students has decreased. The topic «The Arab Caliphate» is covered by examples from various textbooks that describe the influence of Others on the formation of Arab culture. The author proves the fragmentation of examples of interaction between Othernesses in modern world history textbooks for the 7th grade and the inconsistency of their reflection of the world of differences.

Using Public Participation Geographic Information System to Study Social Cohesion and Its Relationship with Activities and Specific Landscape Characteristics in Shanghai’s Modern Historic Parks

Evaluating the perceptions of social cohesion provides an elaborated understanding of the commemorative values of modern heritage. However, little attention has been paid to China’s modern historic parks (MHPs) due to the difficulty of capturing spatially explicit information. Utilizing a public participation GIS, we quantified four types of social cohesion in Shanghai’s existing MHPs, and analyzed their relationships with different types of activities and specific landscape features. The results show that the MHPs are rich in social cohesion, especially in belonging and place attachment. Social cohesion is spatially associated with leisure and sightseeing activities. The perception of different types of social cohesion varies across spaces with different landscape features. Our findings validate the composition of commemorative values of MHPs, and offer a reference for balancing the preservation and regeneration of modern heritage.

Authenticity and its Discontents: Abdallah Laroui on the Moroccan and Arab Subject

This article examines the topic of postcolonial subject formation in the work of Moroccan historian and theorist Abdallah Laroui (1933–) by analyzing his evaluation of the notion of authenticity. I trace understandings of self-identity for Moroccans and other Arab populations that Laroui articulates in his work from the 1960s through the 2000s, and situate his interventions in relation both to relevant political developments and to contributions of other Arab intellectuals on this question, across this time period. Rather than interpret Laroui as a proponent of undifferentiated universalism in his reading of modern history, as many of his critics and commentators do, I demonstrate how he departs from such an approach by calling attention to the notion of particularism, which he defends as a counterpoint to authenticity. The article concludes with a discussion of Laroui's abandonment of a positive, alternative conception of cultural and political subjectivity by the late twentieth century, and considers what the implications of this shift in his thought are.

ТРІЄНАЛЕ МОДЕРНІЗМУ У БЕРЛІНІ: Модернізм – різноманітна і транснаціональна спадщина як самодостатня якість

The end of the XX - begin of the XXI century saw qualitative changes in architecture and art that contributed to the intensification of both cultural and socio-political activity of diverse protagonists from different regions. The article analyzes the main scientific goals of the Triennale 2022, which took place in Berlin. Modernism is a progressive cultural heritage, avant-garde architecture, art, urban and social development, which is extremely relevant for the future of Europe and the sustainability of values. The initiated European cooperation project aims to pave the way for a “European Triennial of Modernism” (ETOM) involving about 40 partners from about 15 countries, focusing on Central Europe. Their shared history of modernism is based on a variety of examples, sources, protagonists and - today even more so on a variety of actors committed to valuing diversity and a sustainable perspective of modernism. The participants discuss identical problems of building cultural and societal development in their countries and, using trans-European cooperation, compare and combine similar problems in Europe, addressing a common public. This format of lively exchange of information is especially relevant today, in the face of war and attempts to divide Europeans. This type of trans-European cooperation in the field of building culture is exemplary for the further development of cultural cooperation and unity, especially in Central Europe. The objectives of the study are to analyze the multiple perspectives and problematic issues of heterogeneous views in order to understand modernism as a transnational phenomenon and to further research and communicate it in this sense.

Activities of Center for Research of Modern and Contemporary History Tuzla in 2023

Aktivnosti Centra za istraživanje moderne i savremene historije Tuzla u 2023. godini // Activities of Center for Research of Modern and Contemporary History Tuzla in 2023

“In Pursuit of Reform”

The religious and intellectual history of early modern and modern Islam is often reduced to a teleological and Arabo-centric narrative, in which modernity began with Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition or the Nahḍa, the Arab Renaissance. Within this narrative, the succession of Sufism, Islamic reformism, Islamism, and Salafism is seen as a “genealogy of Islamism.” Using a regressive history approach, and presenting the currents of international historiography on Islam between the fifteenth and the twenty-first century, this article seeks in contrast to illuminate the plurality of possible pathways and the heterogeneous nature of historical moments. Moving backward through time, it attempts to identify ruptures and continuities, and to highlight successive interpretations of medieval authors and concepts (such as salafiyya). In so doing, it endeavors to demonstrate the constructed nature of the received historiographical narrative of late nineteenth-century “Islamic reformism,” as well as that of “Arabic thought in the liberal age.” Historiographical debates on the “neo-Sufism” and Aufklärung of the eighteenth century have led to a better understanding of Islam in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a thirst for renewal (tajdīd) flourished in hadith, Islamic law, and Sufism. Recent research on the process of “confessionalization” over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has highlighted the importance of political factors in developments of Islam during the age of the three Empires (Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman).

Praying with Moses Cordovero: Adopting and Adapting Spanish Kabbalah in Italy and East-Central Europe

Abstract This article explores Moses Cordovero’s (1522–1570) commentary on the Rosh Hashanah liturgy and its reception among Italian and East-Central European Jews, highlighting its intersections with broader issues in early modern Jewish history, such as manuscript and print cultures, individual mobility, and the dissemination of knowledge. Through an in-depth analysis of three documents—an annotated printed Mahzor and two manuscripts written in Ashkenazi script—the article demonstrates how individuals enhanced and adapted Cordovero’s kabbalistic intentions for their own liturgical practices. The study traces the journey of Cordovero’s commentary from manuscript to print and back into manuscript, emphasizing the personal stories and material transformations that made this text a practical tool for prayer. Ultimately, the article provides insights into the dynamic interplay between Cordoverean kabbalah and local liturgical rites, illustrating how early modern Jews actively engaged with and reshaped their devotional texts.

The politics of voluntariness in modern history: introduction

ABSTRACT The introduction to the theme issue on the Politics of Voluntariness in Modern History starts by discussing the origins and uses of the liberal discourse on voluntariness in the seventeenth century. It was during this period that philosophers and politicians began to present voluntariness as specific to liberalism. By the same token, voluntariness and authoritarian rule have been declared incompatible. This introduction and the papers in the theme issue critically discuss the exclusive linkage of voluntariness and liberalism – an interpretation that fails to capture authoritarian governing in its entirety, while ignoring compulsory and exclusionary practices in liberal societies. This theme issue shows voluntariness to be essential to policies and political practices in both liberal and illiberal societies. Political practices are at the core of our articles: amid a web of actors, institutions, discourses, and expectations, the individual means and capacity to act voluntarily, make choices, and overcome constraints are historically and socially variable. The introduction and the theme issue explore this variability to illuminate how voluntariness operates as a driving force for political practices in liberal and illiberal societies, drawing on case studies from German, Swiss, and U.S.-American history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Islam, Purity, and Modernity

From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Mzab region in the north of the Algerian Sahara, then under French rule, was shaken by controversies over the consumption and lawfulness of European goods. Historians typically analyze these debates as a form of cultural resistance to colonization or as a sign of the allegedly difficult adaptation of “Islam” to “modernity.” They single out two types of reaction: that of self-proclaimed “reformist” scholars and that of “conservatives,” caricatured as shoring up a barren tradition. Based on the case of the Mzab and on a wide range of Islamic legal documents, this article opens up a new perspective on the relations between Islam, modernity, and colonialism, demonstrating that other logics were also at work. For the Islamic scholars involved, the most important issue at stake was the purity of their community and its preservation in a context of cultural and political uncertainty. Using the tools of Islamic law, both advocates and detractors of these “innovations” shaped a particular vision of their community and its boundaries. By bringing together colonial and Islamic sources, and drawing on both colonial and Islamic studies, this article challenges a reading of the modern history of Islam based on notions such as modernity and reform, which were essentially instrumental in these debates. It also moves away from a historiography that is blind to the internal complexity of these societies, drawing attention to the multiple rationales at work in colonized North Africa.

Artificial intelligence in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: where do we stand today?

The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most revolutionary changes in modern history. The combination of AI and Robotic surgery can be used positively for better patient outcomes. We aimed to conduct a review of AI and its role in robotic radical prostatectomy in modern day surgical practice. We conducted a literature review on this topic with specific discussion about whether the surgeon can be replaced by robots with AI capabilities based on latest studies available in the literature. We have presented a comprehensive overview of AI in robotic surgery. We conclude that AI capabilities are to assist the surgeon and the team to improve patient outcomes. Robots cannot replace the surgeon in the near future. Robots with AI capabilities can be only used as an adjuvant to complement the surgical team and not replace them.

Die Macht der Dissimulation

Abstract This paper reconstructs and discusses a shift in meaning that has taken place in the modern history of the concealment of art, a history that begins in classical rhetoric. It first shows how the ars-est-celare-artem doctrine was taken up in the early modern period by authors such as Accetto, Castiglione and Gracián and translated into a concept of sprezzatura, an art of disguising that has both aesthetic and political implications. The authors in question emphasize the difference between manipulative deception (simulazione) and an ethically acceptable disguise (dissimulazione), a deliberate concealment of one’s own arts, skills and abilities, which on the one hand provides protection in a power-dominated courtly culture, and on the other is linked to the aesthetic ideals of grace and naturalness. The distinction between simulazione and dissimulazione, which was very common in the Baroque period in particular, faded into oblivion in the 18th century. Dissimulation now tended to be fully integrated into the concept of simulation.

The Silent Protest

Throughout the course of modern history, political and religious authoritarian structures have sought to maintain monopolistic control of ideological discourse by placing severe limitations on freedom of expression. Dissident writers have characteristically responded to formal censorship, however, through the adoption of new literary techniques that move beyond ideological limitations. An exemplary case of literary innovation in the presence of strict regulations is Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, who lived as a Mexican nun during the seventeenth century. Through a joint examination of Sister Juana's life and the broader historical context for her literary voice, this article will explore several techniques and ideas found in her letter La Respuesta a Sor Filotea (1691). In particular, Sister Juana uses the concept of silence in her written work to promote intellectual equality for women and create a thematic space in which multiple perspectives can be voiced.