Post WW2 Research Articles

Youth – Agents of Change? German Views on a Possible Paradigm Shift

Abstract Young people are traditionally seen as the future of church and society, as “agents of change.”1 In Europe one might be reminded of the fundamental change during the late 1960s, when mainly students formed demonstrations induced by the Vietnam war and the downsides of the bourgeois structures of society during the post ww ii-period. These experiences formed an image of youth that grounded research in sociology, psychology, and pedagogy for a long period of time and still seem to influence actual thinking and talking about youth. But is this view still appropriate? Are young people of today still “agents of change”? In the following, this image shall be contrasted with recent findings from Germany which indicate a change, a possible paradigm shift, regarding political interest, relations between generations and finally the role of youth ministry as a possible companion for young people in the middle of a changing society – and even the entire world – facing fundamental tasks.

Trends in temperatures in Sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence of global warming

Climate change has become a serious environmental matter of global concern. This paper attempts to verify if there is climatic change in Sub-Saharan Africa with the help of monthly station data from January 1901 to December 2020 on the mean temperatures of 48 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. To do this, we employ fractional integration to account for the data's probable long memory feature. However, because other statistical features such as linear trends and seasonality might also be present in the data, we propose a broad framework that treats these three characteristics (long-range dependence, time trends, and seasonality) in a unified treatment. We first note that long memory is an observed feature in the data and using the original data, the time trends are found to be significant in Southern and Eastern countries, with higher coefficients being observed when the post-War II data are employed. When looking at the anomalies with respect to selected periods, long memory is found in all cases, and a higher number of trends are detected. Thus, 41 countries show significant time trends, with the values being higher again in the post WW2 sample, suggesting that industrialization might have contributed to global warming. The results also indicate some degree of heterogeneity across the African countries.

Echoes of War: Exploring War poets and their Continued Resonance

War poetry offers a very deep and personal perspective on the cruelty and destruction of war. Despite technological advancements in modern warfare since the World Wars, the fundamental miseries of armed conflict still exist. This essay examines the relevance of classic war poets like Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke in the modern context post WW I. Their evocative and authentic portrayal of life and death in the trenches and battlefields of WW I emphasize the necessity of peace and offer long lasting insights into the real consequences of conflict. Even though the vivid experiences of these poets were chronicled decades ago, their writings are still very relevant even today.

California Dreaming: Gabriela Mistral’s Lucid Cold War Paranoia

Gabriela Mistral’s boundary crossing strategized and anticipated multiply shifting dynamics druing the early years of the Cold War. Border-crossings prove relevant to the method of triangulation deployed throughout this study. As a method, triangulation draws from multiple kinds of measures, relating correspondence tointerviews, historical maps and photographs, survey data, consular reports and more. From this combination of theory, method, and sources a biographical narrative develops that is at once accurate (to compensate for an ongoing stream of poorly-edited, inaccurately transcribed or attributed materials) and an intimate reflection on Gabriela Mistral’s “paranoia” in post WW II era California. This study of Mistral’s life and work in California from 1946-1948 reveals her experience of borders as personally empowering within the consularservice, where help from nearby Mexico countered the hostilities from Santiago. Her condition as a mestizaidentified Chilean citizen with substantial international experience made her cognizant of the tensions along borders, which enhanced her understanding of race in the United States and Mexico. Harnessing the power of borders and her contacts with the media, Mistral effectively countered and undermined patriarchal and colonial power structures that sought to control and silence her.

Language and Globalization (and modern society)

The need for acquisition of new languages as a skill has never been more prevalent than now, in this post WW2 world where the co-operative initiations taken by nations has resulted in professionals to actively pursue communicative efforts in order to establish them and their brand internationally. Now due to the colonial past of United Kingdom, English has taken a predominant place in connecting the world. However, it is to be noted that a lot of the world still either don't speak English or refuse to give English predominance in their culture. Therefore, to reach them one must garner a knowledge of their language and develop a cultural intelligence be fitting enough to use the newly learned language with high efficiency. Hence, this balance in business communication across the world with its everdemanding nature for it to tip to one common international language with national and regional identity associated with their respective languages, is currently very delicate. Some countries actively have given into the concept of English as the international language while others still want to define their world with the boundaries defined by their linguistic identity. That is the clash we seen in language and its associated identity as a result of this globalizing world

Decline or redeployment? The sociology of work in the UK

This paper takes issue with previous influential accounts of the evolution and contemporary potency of the Sociology of work (SoW) in the UK by challenging mythologies which have grown up around the trajectory of the sub-discipline. This paper is based on a sociological analysis of the political, organisational and social forces which have shaped the sub-discipline and comprehensive examination of its broad and complex canon. This enables a refutation of previous orthodoxies which suggest that a clearly defined SoW previously existed in, and emerged from, the narrow confines of Sociology departments only, and relatedly, that a ‘Golden Age’ of SoW research existed in the post WW II era and that its ending led to the irrevocable decline of the sub-discipline. These misinterpretations are politically problematic in that they laud an era of research which neglected complex and important questions in relation to who holds power and how that is exercised and in relation to the reproduction of social inequality within work and employment and furthermore, are based on a narrow interpretation of the SoW. This paper overturns conventional wisdom about the contemporary importance and relevance of the sub-discipline: where others have identified decline we explore SoW’s relationship to power and inequality and the spread and breath of its impact and concludes that the spread of discipline beyond the narrow confines of academia offers opportunities for radical social change.

The Raid in the Editorial Of ice of the Turkish Newspaper Tan, 1945, and its Impact on the State of Soviet-Turkish and US-Turkish Relations in the Post-WWII Period

The author examines the demonstrations carried out by university students in Istanbul on December 4, 1945 and the raid on the printing operations of the pro-Soviet Tan newspaper, known as the Tan Raid, in light of U.S. State Department documents, namely the related fi les in National Archives Records Administration. The infl uence of the Tan Raid on Turkey’s international relations is discussed in the context of Turkish-American and Turkish-Soviet relations. The Raid is regarded as a signifi cant incident since it coincides with the post WW2 period when Turkey’s relations with the Soviet Union had already deteriorated due to Moscow’s demands to revise the Montreux Convention by 19th of March 1945. Furthermore, Turkish-American diplomatic contacts in the aftermath of the Raid show Washington’s perspective on policy towards Soviet Union, as U.S. offi cials advised a moderate line to their Turkish counterparts. On the other hand, preparations for the Raid seem highly controversial since Turkish government offi cials did not strongly condemn the event and the police did not intervene against the protestors despite of their violent actions towards Tan and some left leaning bookstores. The slogans during the demonstration show its anti-Soviet character, which Ankara denied in order to decrease tensions with the Soviets by arguing that it was Tan ’s owner, the Sertel couple to whom the anger was directed, not the Soviet Union. The intelligence obtained by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, the meetings they conducted with Turkish politicians, their conclusions regarding the process leading up to the raid, and their opinions on Turkish-Soviet relations provide the background for the analysis.

Přistěhovalectví ve Francii a jeho bezpečnostní dopady

The article is about the immigration in France and its consequences on the security field. It starts by the historical context and pays a big attention to the development during last two decades. It analyses the process of the islamisation on the cultural, social, security, and political levels. It continues by the French debate which reflects the clash of two contrasting approaches: political correctness vs. critical attitudes. The French experts dispute about two key subjects: the numbers of the immigrants and, namely, the correlations between the immigration and the growing numbers and brutality of the terrorist attacks (the so - called amalgam). The last part analyses the place and the role the immigrants in the French armed forces. This text offers an original periodisation of the phenomena of the immigration in France since the first post WW II years until today. It examines not only its quantitative aspects, but also its qualitative changes.

The Swedish model and the pandemic: trust, trade union rights and collective self-regulation

10 | International Union Rights | 27/3 FOCUS | IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON WORK AND THE CHALLENGE FOR UNION RIGHTS The Swedish model and the pandemic: trust, trade union rights and collective self-regulation ‘Normality’ in a society takes place on a narrow mountain plateau supported by democracy and trade union rights. On one side of the peak, the slope downwards into the dark valley of technocracy is steep. The other side falls away into the crevasse of populism. Both form the pit of authoritarianism, where democracy and trade union rights are but lofty dreams. Life on the mountain plateau can seem safe. But the security of ‘normality’ is deceptive. When Covid19 rocks the foundations, life on the plateau sways. The democratic state suddenly does not feel so secure. Some argue that a pandemic was expected; that our western capitalist economies were bound to enter a crisis. So it might be, but Covid-19 has also proven to be an unpredictable threat not only to human lives and our post WW2 political and economic system, but also to democracy and trade union rights. How can Covid-19 be fought back? Each country has had its different strategies. Some countries have experimented with curfews, lock downs and closed borders. The consequences for the wellbeing of citizens and the economy have been severe. Other countries have trusted their citizens to take on more personal responsibility. Everyday life and economic activities, albeit somewhat slower, have been able to continue. The latter approach, the Swedish way, has caught international attention. This article argues that much of the foundations that underpin the Swedish collective self-regulatory labour market model have also been conducive to the Swedish Covid-19 strategy. Conditions vary between countries. One must do the best with the conditions where one finds oneself. Social capital, trust and responsibility are some of the key ingredients. The collective self-regulatory labour market can be used as tool to understand why a different path was possible in Sweden, but also to illustrate the importance of appropriate national solutions. Trust and self-regulation as a legislative strategy Trade unions and employers in Sweden are well organised and enjoy a large autonomy to regulate matters between them. There is no legislative minimum wage or system to declare generally binding collective agreements. The Swedish collective self-regulatory system, as professor Otto Kahn-Freund, the father of collective labour law, would have put it, is a laissez-faire system. The Swedish legislator trusts employers and trade unions. But the social partners generally also trust the legislator. Autonomous collective agreements cover all economic activity on the labour market in practice – and also establish norms for nonorganised employers and workers. Collective self-regulation also makes matters easier for the legislator. Most conflicts and problems generated by technological, organisational development and changed conditions in general on the labour market can be solved by the social partners. The legislator’s attention can then be elsewhere. Trust often grows out of actions. Trade unions and employers in Sweden have largely been acting responsibly since the 1930s. Many national crises have been solved, partly or fully, through the adaptability that collective agreements provide. Some recent examples are the economic crisis in the 1990s, when the wage-formation system was transformed, but also in 2008 when special collective agreements provided solutions to the liquidity problems caused by the financial crisis. The strong self-regulatory Swedish labour market model has many advantages. It gives the buyers and sellers of work power to regulate the price and conditions of labour. Agreements can win legitimacy, but they can also balance and change local power relations. Self-regulatory models often make a difference for people. They engage people in conditions at their workplace and often make real change. An authoritarian dynamic is never far away in society In country after country, authoritarian traits are becoming more prominent. The framework of populism falsely posits the ‘proper people’ against the ‘corrupt establishment’. It is an authoritarian tradition that tends to restrict democratic freedoms and rights, especially the right of expression and association – the same fundamental rights that form the basis for trade unionism. Populist politicians tend to ignore the experts and pretend to be...

An Overview of Public History in Italy: No Longer A Field Without a Name

AbstractThis article traces the origins and development of public history in Italy, a field not anymore without this name today. Public history in Italy has its roots in historical institutions born in the nineteenth century and in the post WW2 first Italian Republic. The concept of “public use of history” (1993), the important role played by memory issues in post-war society, local and national identity issues, the birth of public archaeology (2015) before public history, the emergence of history festivals in the new millennium are all important moments shaping the history of the field and described in this essay. The foundation of the “Italian Association of Public History” (AIPH) in 2016/2017, and the promotion of an Italian Public History Manifesto (2018) together with the creation of Public History masters in universities, are all concrete signs of a vital development of the field in the Peninsula.

Seeing nature as a ‘universal store of genes’: How biological diversity became ‘genetic resources’, 1890–1940

Till late in the 20th century, biological diversity has been understood and addressed in terms of “genetic resources”. This paper proposes a history of this “genetic resources” concept and the biopolitical practices it was related to. A semantic history of the ‘resource’ idiom first sheds light on how, in the age of empires and fossil industrialism, the Earth came to be considered as a stock of static mineral and living reserves. Then we follow how the gene became the unit of this “resourcist” view of biological diversity as static stocks of entities open to prospection, harnessing and “conservation”. Erwin Baur, Nikolai I. Vavilov, Aleksandr S. Serebrovsky and Hermann J. Muller were key biologists who introduced a spatial turn to the gene concept. Beyond the space-time of Neo-mendelian and Morganian laboratory genetics, genes became understood though a geographical gaze at a planetary scale. The world became a “universal store of genes” (Vavilov, 1929). From 1926 to World War 2, this advent of genes as new global epistemic objects went hand in hand with genes' new modes of existence as geopolitical objects. The article documents Interwar years' scramble for genes as well as first collaborative international efforts to conserve and exchange genetic material (which prefigured post WW2 initiatives), and situates the rise of the ‘genetic resources’ category within mid 20th century's imperialism, high-modernism, agricultural modernization and biopolitics.

America in the World after Hegemony

There are a variety of literatures that illuminate the logic and character of the post -Cold War transformation of the global system. One literature explores the rise and decline of the great powers and the international orders that they establish and dominate. This paper explores the evolution of the international system in historical perspective with particular emphasis on the role of the United States before and after the end of the Cold War against a backdrop of broader global context. It concentrates on the end of bipolarity and the emergence of unipolar system with American dominance and hegemony and its further decline. Washington failed to endorse with practical means its declared goal of “benign hegemon”. The author makes a comparative analysis between the dawn of the British Empire and current stage of crisis development of the United States with principal issue of transformation of the world order from unipolarity to multipolarity or from single power dominance to a more balanced international system. The paper also touches upon the strategic errors the American elite has made in its relationship with Russia and China referring to them as ”adversaries and revisionist powers” hostile to the US. America shortsightedly opened the gates of modernisation before China in the vain hope to make it an ally against the Soviet Union only to be disappointed later. And it underestimated the significance of rapid Russian assertion after the break up of the Soviet Union only to have a unique situation of “two fronts” in American history. As a result of his research the author comes to a conclusion and thoroughly substantiates it with facts that a new world order emerges which can be referred to as “improved status -quo” or alternative order with new economic, financial and political institutions in sight as opposed to the old Breton - Woods system of post WW2 American dominance. Still the open question persists whether this transformation can be peaceful and consensual or fraught with new hardship for the people and even military confrontation among great powers.

“… new content will require an appropriate form …” The Slovene Painter and Graphic Artist France Mihelič (1907 – 1998)

The paper deals with the question of modernism in the post WW II period when the new political situation in Eastern Europe brought significant changes in art. The case of the Slovene painter France Mihelič (1907–1998) illustrates how important personal experience was in the transformation from realism to modernism as well as how crucial it was for a talented artist to be acquainted with contemporary trends in the main Western European art centres. After WW II, most Slovene artists travelled to Paris in order to advance creatively, yet France Mihelič’s stay in the French city (1950) stands out. Mihelič is an acknowledged representative of fantastic art who reached his artistic peak in the 1950s when he exhibited and received awards at key art events in Europe and South America.

Towards net zero energy for older apartment buildings in Brisbane

Abstract: Between 1961 and 1981 the number of Australian apartments more than tripled in response to booming post WW2 immigration, growing local manufacturing industries and the new construction skills of migrants. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records more than 500,000 brick multi-residential dwellings constructed in this period. This cohort is very consistent in construction method, with cavity brickwork external walls, rendered brick internal walls, concrete slab floors, and roofs typically made of an uninsulated low pitch metal sheet. These buildings were built in an age where there were no energy or water efficiency regulations and many remain close to original condition. They are now around 40 years old and are facing the need for replacement of substantial parts of their building envelopes. The uniformity of this building type and the number of dwellings involved make it worth investigating what renovation strategies could be implemented to improve their energy efficiency and indoor comfort conditions. International examples show that substantial energy demand reduction is possible, and net zero energy is an achievable and cost effective target for similar apartment buildings. This paper presents initial results of ongoing research into the current condition and future value of 1960s and 1970s apartment buildings in Brisbane. Modeling tools are employed to assess hygro-thermal behaviour and energy consumption of a typical building, comparing its current and post energy retrofit performance. The feasibility of the most effective retrofit strategies is then evaluated in light of socio economic factors, and conclusions are drawn about the best future for these buildings and their inhabitants.

The effect of federal government size on private economic performance in Canada: 1870–2011

This paper asks whether government size is complementary to or a substitute for private economic activity and whether that effect is a function of its size. It does so by testing the hypothesis that the growth of federal government size in Canada over the long 1870–2011 period has had an inverted U shape with a tipping point in relation to private output. Its contribution is three fold: first it argues that historical size should be linked to the level rather than the growth rate of private performance; second it incorporates formal controls for endogeneity; and third, nonparametric techniques assess whether the quadratic form most often used to test this hypothesis is appropriate. The empirical work finds the inverted U shape to be consistent with the data for Canada, but only for the 1870–1936 time period. In the post WW2 time period when federal size is above peak size, the data suggest that increases have imposed constant rather than increasing cost. The policy implication is that while government size complemented the growth of the Canadian private economy in its early stages, recent experience is more consistent with the hypothesis that increases in government size have decreased rather than increased private per capita output.

Faith and Patriotism: Some Snapshots and Reflections on 1914 and Beyond

Abstract This article offers some fascinating ‘snapshots’ into theological activity and awareness between British and German theologians just prior to WW1, between the wars and post WW2. He helpfully surveys the differences between German and English understandings of the Church-Struggle or Kirchenkampf and some of its struggles which we might now name as too much identification with the prevailing culture and not enough critical distance. He considers how public opinion was divided in the 1930s the role of significant Anglican leaders in and post WW2. He concludes with reflections on Luther's two ‘regiments’, the essential spiritual domain of the Church and the temporal, political power of the State and with Harnack's understanding of the church with thoughts on implications for how we relate to church and state today.

The Poor and the Poorest, Fifty Years on

We re-explore Able-Smith and Townsend's landmark study of poverty in early post WW2 Britain. They found a large increase in poverty between 1953-4 and 1960, a period of relatively strong economic growth. Our re-examination is a first exploitation of the newly-digitised Board of Trade Household Expenditure Survey data set for 1953/4. Able-Smith and Townsend used only a small part of this data source. We find that Able-Smith and Townsend substantially over-estimated the rise in absolute poverty and also substantially under-estimated the rise in relative poverty. Their and our findings on poverty reflect a large rise inequality in the distribution of expenditure among British households. This rise is related to a rise in the preponderance of pensioner households, who, for instance, account for all the poor households in the 1961 Family Expenditure survey.

Learning, capital-embodied technology and aggregate fluctuations

Recent cyclical episodes in the U.S. and G-7 economies are asymmetric: recoveries and expansions tend to be long and gradual and busts tend to be short and sharp. A large body of work views the two recent cyclical U.S. episodes, namely, the “new economy” boom in the late 1990s, and the 2000s housing boom-bust as episodes where over-optimistic beliefs have played a significant role. These episodes have revived interest in expectations driven business cycles models. However, previous work in this area has not addressed the important asymmetry feature of business cycles. This paper takes a step towards addressing this limitation of expectations driven business cycle models. We propose a generalization of the Greenwood et al. (1988) model with vintage capital and learning about capital embodied productivity and show it can deliver fluctuations that are asymmetric as in the U.S. data. Learning, calibrated to match the procyclical forecast precision from the Survey of Professional Forecasters, is crucial for the modelʼs ability to generate asymmetries. Forecast errors generated by the model are shown to trigger recessions that mimic in magnitude, duration and depth the typical post WW II U.S. recession.

Limits of the freedom of speech: Propaganda advocating racism and hatred clear obligations of European states

The prohibition of “advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred” by modern international law demonstrates more than any other provision concerning mass media a response effected by the horrors of National Socialism. It is primarily conceived of a special duty by States to take preventive measures to enforce the principle of non-discrimination and the right to life. This provision seems nowadays of special importance all over Europe. After the revolutions in former communist countries in the 1990s the democratic governments and movements are searching for new approaches to guarantee individual freedom, peace and social justice. Freedom of expression plays a decisive role in these conditions. People have eagerly embraced this freedom, so long withheld from them, and are using it to express their democratic aspirations. At the same time, this newly won freedom of expression has being misused to disseminate fascism and racial hatred. In the Balkans terrible crimes against humanity were committed. “Ethnic cleansing” was one of the results of this misuse of the freedom of expression. But also in post WW II democracies-like in Germany-one can find books and papers with racist und neo-fascist propaganda, sometime distributed by international networks. The attempt of the German government to prohibit the right-wing “National Party of Germany” (NPD) shows that the politics try to undertake some action against neo-fascist activities and propaganda. This paper examines the legal basis for international prohibitions against media content advocating war, racism and fascism and shows the ways in which democratic countries have handled (or failed to handle) this thorny issue.

Migration, Ethnicity and Privilege

Representation assumes that those who govern have knowledge of those for whom they govern. It is easy to presume knowledge of the “other”, but as we know this can be based in prejudice, cultural difference, or simply misinformation or simplification. Usually our explorations of this process have focused on populations identified as disadvantaged, disempowered or somehow “non-privileged”. However, the research process outlined here has revealed previously unexplored diversity within a population commonly described as privileged suggesting that good governance requires alertness to presuming to know both the unprivileged and the privileged. The research approach outlined in this paper has used a blend of historical reappraisal and qualitative techniques focusing on a population who have been conceptualized as doubly privileged. This population focus is that of older British; post World War II male migrants in South Australia. These people have been conceptualized as privileged because they are male, and they were part of the preferred ethnic group that Australian politicians and policy makers favoured post WW2. However, review of the historical data and qualitative interviews with some of these men show that the accepted narrative of a homogenous pre-WW2 British origin population is over simplistic. The historical research suggests that the presumption that post WW2 British migrant men were coming into an homogenous, privileging environment in migrating to SA is both ahistorical and crude. Furthermore the belief that post WW2 British migrant men were ethnically homogenous is undermined by the qualitative research, that reveals that their presumed homogeneity is much more fluid and nuanced than dominant conceptualisations have allowed. The impact of core ethnicities that continue to exist and compete in Britain, the social class focus and economic commodification of migrants in the machinations of powerful players in the state of South Australia all confound homogenizing, simplistic knowing of British migrant men in this state. Generically these findings caution social researchers with regard to presuming to know so called “privileged” populations as well as presumed non-privileged groups.