War Period Research Articles

Arda ÖZKAN and Göktürk TÜYSÜZOĞLU (ed.), Security Studies: Classic to Post-Modern Approaches (Lanham, Maryland, Lexington Books, 2023)

What kinds of security threats do states currently face in international relations? What areas do security studies cover in the discipline? Contrary to the military security-oriented structure of the Cold War period, the new era requires a more inclusive and alternative approach to security studies due to the effects of globalization. Therefore, many areas that were seen as low politics issues in the early years of the discipline have begun to play an important role in shaping today’s international system and the security perception of states. For someone seeking to answer the above questions, Security Studies: Classic to Post-Modern Approaches, edited by Arda Özkan and Göktürk Tüysüzoğlu, is a good starting point. Within the framework of its eighteen chapters, the book is an important reference that not only deals with the classical approaches of the discipline, such as military issues, but also explores post-modern approaches and contemporary topics, such as energy, environment, migration, and so on.

Sergei I. ZHUK, KGB Operations against the USA and Canada in Soviet Ukraine, 1953-1991 (London and New York, Routledge, 2022)

Professor Zhuk’s “KGB Operations against the USA and Canada in Soviet Ukraine, 1953- 1991” focuses on the post-Stalin Cold War period, when Soviet Ukraine was gradually opened to American and Canadian visitors and combines counter-intelligence documents in the 1st (and 16th) fund of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) archive with the Committee for State Security’s (KGB) official correspondence and reports to the political leadership of Soviet Ukraine. The first and most important historical source of the book which follows a chronological and thematic sequence reflecting the story of special KGB operations is the reports of various KGB agents who participated in KGB counterintelligence operations. The second group of “unexpected” sources, as the author calls it, consists of interviews with retired KGB officials in Kyiv and Dnipro. In the first part of the book (pp. 1-94), it is emphasized that the most important target of the KGB in the geopolitical conflict was Ukrainian nationalism, which was linked to and financed by Americans, and from 1953 to 1991, almost 50% of all criminal cases were devoted to this “dangerous” issue of Ukrainian nationalism. The author states that the second target of Ukrainian KGB was Jewish nationalism, while the third target was religious sects and the fourth target was American espionage. The most interesting narrative of the first part is the “Yankees case” involving Valentina Fedorovna Safianova and seven so-called nationalist Jews. Professor Zhuk, who mentioned in his work that the KGB adopted an antiSemitic approach despite the Soviet Union’s (USSR) official distancing from anti-Semitism, states that the KGB used Ukrainians and Russians for the needs of Soviet intelligence. The Ukrainian diaspora in America in the 1960s became the “useful means” of the Soviet KGB and one demonstrative example used by the author, Zhuk, is Peter Krawchuk who visited Soviet Ukraine as a member of Canadian Ukrainian Communist Delegations almost every year starting from 1947. Zhuk wrote regarding Peter Krawchuk that “Their material wellbeing, even their Canadian businesses depended on those relations (p. 66)”.

Military Education and Military-Physical Training of Schoolchildren in the Chkalovsk (Orenburg) Region During the Great Patriotic War

The relevance of studying the problem of military education and military physical training of schoolchildren of the Chkalovsky (Orenburg) region during the Great Patriotic War has scientific, practical and cognitive significance, since the study of this topic reveals the regional aspect of the problem.The purpose of the study is to study military education and military physical training of school students of the Chkalov (Orenburg) region during the war as a scientific problem.The objectives are a systematic analysis of military training and military-physical training of schoolchildren in the region during the war period, revealing the difficulties and complexities of solving this problem.The methodology of the work is based on following the principles of historicism, consistency and objectivity. Both general scientific methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis) and special historical methods were used: problemchronological, comparative historical.Results. During the Great Patriotic War, the issue of organizing military-physical training of high school students on a large state scale became particularly acute. It was thanks to the purposeful and coordinated work of all authorities to solve this problem in the schools of the country, including the Chkalov region, that relatively prepared reinforcements arrived in the troops.Conclusion. With the outbreak of the war, there was a practical need for students to undergo military training while still at school, since many after graduation entered the active army. Although this work was launched in the prewar years, but in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War it took on a full-scale character. The country's leadership was able to build in extreme conditions a fairly effective system of training young people for military trials, as close as possible to combat. However, the solution to this problem has caused a number of difficulties in the Chkalov region: incomplete staffing of schools with military instructors and teachers of military affairs; low general education and pedagogical training of some of them; staff turnover; insufficient material provision of schools with sports, gymnastics and military equipment. However, these problems were gradually resolved over the course of the war.

The functioning of the vocational and technical education system of Ukraine in the war and post-war periods

The functioning of the vocational and technical education system of Ukraine in the war and post-war periods

Investigating extreme linkage topology in the aerospace and defence industry

This paper analyses return and volatility spillovers among 21 global aerospace and defence (A&D) companies from six countries and three continents using quantile-based models and daily data from August 23, 2010, to July 1, 2022. The results show that both return and volatility spillovers vary over time, and those estimated at normal market conditions, intensify during COVID-19 and Russia–Ukraine war periods. Spillovers of returns estimated at lower and upper quantiles exceed those estimated at the middle quantile. Volatility spillover is extremely high at the upper quantile and exhibits low variability. Chinese defence stocks are segmented from the rest under normal return conditions and a moderate volatility state. In contrast, they are somewhat integrated under extreme return conditions and volatility states. Hence, Chinese defence stocks entail more diversification benefits under normal conditions than in bear or bull markets. Further analysis shows that geopolitical risk consistently plays a significant role in driving both returns and volatility spillovers, especially during the pandemic and war periods, without ignoring the role of macroeconomic and financial variables. These results have implications for investors concerned with stock portfolio management under various return and volatility conditions and for policymakers preoccupied with policy design under unstable periods

Prima Donnas in Kevlar zones. Challenges to the Unconventional Warfare efforts of the U.S. Special Forces during Operation Enduring Freedom

ABSTRACT When Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) commenced in October 2001, the U.S. Special Forces (SF) were the first U.S. military unit on the ground in Afghanistan, utilising their Unconventional Warfare (UW) capabilities. Despite their significant role at the initial stage of the military campaign, SF began to encounter numerous challenges from as early as 2002 and throughout OEF. Based on an analysis of forty-five master’s theses authored by SF officers, this paper discusses the structural-organisational and cultural-conceptual challenges. These obstacles led to the marginalisation of SF’s UW efforts. Scholarship on special operations forces (SOF) often regards the period of the so-called global war on terrorism (GWOT) as U.S. SOF’s golden age focusing predominantly on the activities of SOF units linked to the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command rather than on SF. By examining the challenges faced by SF, this article aims to contribute to a more nuanced discussion of SOF efforts during GWOT.

Standardization production of Qi Knives: A comprehensive analysis of the minting remains of knife money unearthed in ancient Linzi in the late Warring states period

Standardization production of Qi Knives: A comprehensive analysis of the minting remains of knife money unearthed in ancient Linzi in the late Warring states period

Global uncertainty and the spillover of tail risk between green and Islamic markets: A time-frequency domain approach with portfolio implications

This study first calculates the left tail risks in the renewable energy, green, sustainable, Islamic equity and Islamic bond markets using CAViaR models. Then, applying TVP-VAR based connectedness method it estimates various measures of dynamic connectedness and spillover of the tail risks at short, medium, and long term. Furthermore, through wavelet coherence analysis it examines how various global uncertainties impact such connectedness in time and frequency domain. Lastly, it estimates hedging effectiveness, optimal portfolio weights and Sharpe Ratios to provide practical implications for the market participants. The results show that the tail risk connectedness and spillover are mainly driven by the short-term dynamics emphasizing the importance of short-lived noises in the transmission of down-side risks. Usually, the connectedness of the tail risks is higher during the period of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. Though the tail risks of Islamic bond and developing Islamic equity markets are mostly isolated in the full sample showing hedging potential of these markets, the network analysis shows their increased connectedness with other markets during the period of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war. In general, mature market indices such as Dow Jones Sustainable World and MSCI global environment indices, Dow Jones Islamic World, US and UK market indices are consistently net contributors/transmitters of tail risk shocks while Islamic bond and developing Islamic equity market indices are net receivers of shocks when they are connected to the network. Two uncertainty indices, that follow volatility related to gold and US dollar, demonstrate hedging potential and predictive power on the connectedness. Dow Jones Islamic World market index usually carries significant weights in optimal portfolio allocations while Islamic bonds from GCC countries have higher Sharpe Ratios indicating their promise as instruments for risk-adjusted profit.

Breaking boundaries in festival programming

In Germany, the modern jazz festival programmer descended from earlier multifaceted roles established during the interwar and war periods as cultivated by both German and international jazz critics, record collectors, and impresarios. While impresarios historically occupied multiple roles as fans, critics, and producers; they often inhabited the quintessential cosmopolitan role of (white) male jazz critic and discoverer of Black musical creativity. This article examines the impact of the legacy of this archetype in the German context, with the case study of JazzFest Berlin. In particular, we trace the particular contours of Joachim-Ernst Berendt’s (1922–2000) embodied enactment of masculinity within the postwar German jazz festival world, beginning with the seminal founder of the JazzFest Berlin. Drawing on feminist initiatives of the first American women jazz organizers, we compare this female-centric legacy with the particular style and ideologies created by Berliner Jazztage programmer Nadin Deventer, the first female programmer of this historic festival, who brings an innovative and socially engaged approach, in part by staging less constrained gender expectations. Through interviews and an examination of publications, programme reviews, and more, we reveal how the figure of the jazz impresario has been disrupted by increased attention to the roles of professional women programmers who consciously embrace diverse competencies and seek greater recognition of the intersectional barriers for women, women of colour, and foreigners within the German jazz scene.

Promoting standardisation in modern China: British and American engineers’ organisations, local Chinese engineers, and their transnational networks, 1901–41

Abstract Standardisation is a product of the second wave of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America. This article examines how Western standardisation practices were introduced, transmitted, and promoted in China during the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, it looks at the critical role played by British, American, and local Chinese engineers in the transmission process. The topics covered in the present article have seldom been considered, and this article tries to fill the gap in scholarship. It analyses the shifting patterns of various standardisation efforts that are closely related to the governance of both cities and the wider nation. Work examined includes that of the Engineering Society of China, led by British engineers, which initiated standardisation in the Shanghai International Settlement in the early twentieth century; that of the Association of Chinese and American Engineers, founded by engineers of China and the USA, which, after World War I, began to implement the standardisation of railway infrastructure, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Transportation of the Beijing government; and efforts in the 1930s under the Nanjing government to establish an ‘engineering’ or ‘technocratic’ state, which included the execution of national schemes for the development of industrial standardisation. From the period of World War I until the 1930s, the orientation and practices of American standardisation strategies dominated China; then, due to the worsening situation of the Chinese–Japanese War, ideological tendencies and national strategies for standardisation began to diverge.

«Дипломат поневоле»: страницы биографии Николая Васильевича Новикова

Introduction. The article analyzes the biography and diplomatic activities of Nikolai Vasilievich Novikov (1903–1989), a Soviet diplomat who represented the USSR in Cairo and in Washington during World War II and took part in the efforts to establish a new system of international relations at the beginning of the Cold War. Methods and materials. The article is based on published texts by Nikolai Novikov himself, diplomatic documents, periodicals, and materials from his personal archive, deposited in the Archive of the European University at St. Petersburg by the diplomat’s family. Analysis. The authors examine Novikov’s biography, the reasons for his rapid career in the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, his relations with Soviet foreign policy managers, and the circumstances of his resignation at a relatively young age. Special attention is paid to Novikov’s activities in the United States in the context of the emerging Cold War, the place of Novikov’s note (cable) in the process of shaping Soviet approaches to relations with the United States, and his own attitude to these approaches. Results. Novikov’s contribution to the shaping of the postwar world is underappreciated, as are his attempts to resist the changes that were breaking Soviet-American cooperation in the international arena. In fact, the strategic concepts formulated by Novikov in a memo to Molotov were the basis of the official Soviet interpretation of the causes and nature of the Cold War and were included in Soviet school and university textbooks on universal history and the history of international relations. Authors’ contributions. A.I. Kubyshkin analyzed the most important stages of Nikolai Novikov’s diplomatic activity and the general situation in relations between the USSR and the USA during the Second World War. He assessed Novikov’s activities from the political leadership of the USSR and foreign countries in which the Soviet diplomat worked. He also examined the most important aspects of the activities of Soviet diplomacy reflected in Novikov’s memoirs and carried out their internal criticism as a historical source. I.I. Kurilla processed the archive of Nikolai Novikov and identified and analyzed the corpus of sources of personal origin. He also analyzed the contents of Nikolai Novikov’s personal diaries, reviewed the personal contribution of N.V. Novikov in developing a strategy in relations with the United States in the initial period of the Cold War, and compared the contents of the “long telegram” of J. Kennan and the “Novikov telegram”.

DIGITILIZATION AND PROSPECT OF DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA.

The end of critical period of Cold War in the late 1990s paved the way for democratic agenda in Africa. The study seeks to examines the impact of adoption of technology in democratic transformation in Africa. The study posits that technology is unavoidably essential in ensuring a sustainable democratic structure, as digital technologies have had huge impact on governance around the globe which has made the world a global village. It argues that, the internet networking possibilities are creating many opportunities for the people to be actively participants in democracy. The study, establishes that, there is increase access to communication technologies which has made it easier for citizens to be politically sensitized and deeply involved in public discourse. To interrogate the discourse, the study adopts Democratic Theory and uses secondary sources to gather the relevant information. It concludes that, the technology provides a platform for citizens to exercise their franchise, which often strengthen the evolving democratic values in African countries. In view of the positive impact of technology in engendering well entrenched democratic values and effective structure, the study recommends that, the African leaders urgently need to address some challenges which often threaten the visibility of technology in the conduct of elections, particularly insecurity, falsification of data and manipulation of electoral machines.

«Центр бури»: маккартизм в американской культуре и кинематографе

Introduction. The article is devoted to the consideration of McCarthyism as one of the leading factors that influenced the cultural policy and politics of memory in the United States throughout the entire period of the Cold War. Methods and materials. The ways of representing the atmosphere of conservative ideological control in the United States in the films of the 1950’s – 2010’s are explored. Films are considered media texts, and the images contained in them are considered symbolic resources used to form and transform a collective identity, legitimize power, its control, and repressive technologies and practices – social mobilization, politicization of everyday life, censorship, and segregation into “their” and “strangers.” Analysis. In the course of the historical and imagological analysis, a conditional typology of potential agents of McCarthyism is made. The following are distinguished: institutional conformist careerists, administrators; “soft” conformists – failed oppositionists to political pressure; indoctrinated representatives of mass culture, demonstrating the active complicity of the authorities in imposing ideological labels and encouraging spy mania and exposure. Results. Conclusions are drawn that McCarthyism has become a form of anti-Americanism, moral corrosion, and commemorative trauma in American society, the result of the escalation of the cultural, ideological, and mental “storm,” producing a state of intolerance not only to the image of the enemy but also to the Other as a whole. This required more than half a century of overcoming and purifying in the media space.

Death on the Roads: Motoring with Agatha Christie

Over the course of her autobiography, Agatha Christie makes some fascinating observations about cars, and what their growing ubiquity meant to a young woman transitioning from Victorian girlhood to interwar modernity. In her interwar novels, meanwhile, the car functions variously as a marker of status, an index of character and a symbol of female agency. However, this initially optimistic embrace of motoring modernity began to change in the second half of Christie's career, with the result that the car would come to signify not just a changing relationship between gender and mobility, but also a transition in detective methodology. Exploring novels from the interwar, war and postwar periods – including Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1934), The Hollow (1946) and By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) – this article follows the car to map transitions in how, why, and what Christie detects.

Selected aspects of monuments protection in Poland in the inter war period

The article concerns research on the history of the conservation of architectural monuments in Poland in the interwar period. A comparison of the first post-independence resolutions covering the protection of Polish monuments shows that the content of the provisions is based on the findings and assumptions developed while the partitions were still in progress. Undoubtedly, the work of societies and conservationist groups, for the purpose of popularizing knowledge about historical objects and making the public aware of the need to undertake conservation activities, became the foundation for the organization of future conservation services.
 The article presents an analysis of the process of forming Polish conservation structures in the independent state and presents the methods of work of district conservators adopted at that time. This paper pays attention to the attitude of the clergy, scientific circles and the general public to the formed concept of conservation. It should be emphasized that many of the organizational assumptions and legal regulations of the time have influenced the practice and methods of contemporary conservators today.

Wartime Trade Policy Measures in Comparison of the Historical Periods of the First World War and the Special Military Operation

With the beginning of the special military operation (SMO), a new type of foreign trade policy is forming, based on restrictions. History shows that the practice of restrictions on trade operations is not new. The article compares Russia’s trade policy measures introduced during the First World War of 2014–2018 and the SMO, which began in 2022. The goal is to identify tools that are not currently used. Restrictions on exports and imports, measures to stimulate imports, and measures to build new trade routes are considered. Even before the start of the SMO, from the moment of political aggravation, Russia limited the export of wood and fertilizers, which contradicted the Protocol on Accession to the WTO and the refusal of quantitative restrictions. Unfriendly countries that applied preventive sanctions against Russia, with the beginning of the SMO, denied Russia most favored nation treatment. As during the First World War, grains, flour and sugar were among the food products subject to government export restrictions. Both periods were characterized by measures to stimulate imports in an effort to provide industry with raw materials and equipment. Import restriction measures in the first period applied to luxury goods, in the second they took the form of sanctions against unfriendly countries. The war period was characterized by growing interest in the northern sea routes. Compared with World War I, modern export restriction policies were more varied in terms of product coverage, but lacked the specific details by export directions that were developed a century ago. Many of the modern measures allow exemptions only in relation to EAEU countries. In our opinion, exemptions from restrictions on the export of humanitarian goods could be made for the developing countries which are most in need of grain or fertilizers.

The Effect of War on STEMI Incidence: Insights from Intensive Cardiovascular Care Unit Admissions.

(1) Background: The impact of armed conflicts on public health is undeniable, with psychological stress emerging as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Nevertheless, contemporary data regarding the influence of war on CVD, and especially on acute coronary syndrome (ACS), are scarce. Hence, the aim of the current study was to assess the repercussions of war on the admission and prognosis of patients admitted to a tertiary care center intensive cardiovascular care unit (ICCU). (2) Methods: All patients admitted to the ICCU during the first three months of the Israel-Hamas war (2023) were included and compared with all patients admitted during the same period in 2022. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. (3) Results: A total of 556 patients (184 females [33.1%]) with a median age of 70 (IQR 59-80) were included. Of them, 295 (53%) were admitted to the ICCU during the first three months of the war. Fewer Arab patients and more patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infraction (STEMI) were admitted during the war period (21.8% vs. 13.2%, p < 0.001, and 31.9% vs. 24.1%, p = 0.04, respectively), whereas non-STEMI (NSTEMI) patients were admitted more frequently in the pre-war year (19.3% vs. 25.7%, p = 0.09). In-hospital mortality was similar in both groups (4.4% vs. 3.4%, p = 0.71; HR 1.42; 95% CI 0.6-3.32, p = 0.4). (4) Conclusions: During the first three months of the war, fewer Arab patients and more STEMI patients were admitted to the ICCU. Nevertheless, in-hospital mortality was similar in both groups.

Reframing Revolution and Solidarity: Photography and Visual Culture in ospaaal Poster Art (1967–1990)

Abstract This article analyses the uses of photography in the posters produced and distributed by the Organisation of solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (ospaaal) between 1967 and 1990. Founded during the Tricontinental Conference of 1966, ospaaal was active until 2019 and had as one of its main tasks the creation of propaganda materials helping promote causes supported by the Cuban government across the three continents. The organisation produced over 300 posters distributed globally along with its official magazine, the Tricontinental. We combine thematic and visual perspectives in examining how ospaaal posters published during the Cold War period made use of photography. Our goal is to understand how ospaaal contributed to a reframing of ‘solidarity’ and ‘revolution’ through tricontinental lenses. The article is structured to provide an overview of how the organisation utilised photography in its poster production, to demonstrate how this body of work is connected to inter-war photographic traditions and contemporary left-wing visual culture, and to reflect on ospaaal’s contributions to revolutionary iconography.

The War on the North American Left-Wing Labor Movement From World War I Through the Post-World War II Period

Repression of the North American trade union movement dates to the late nineteenth century. Much of this repression has occurred in response to union militancy during strikes, some of which were directed against political radicals of various orientations. Peaks of repression against radical trade unionism occurred during World War I and in the immediate postwar years as well as in the early Cold War period, after World War II’s conclusion into the early 1950s. Through the analysis of three recently published volumes, I argue that the repression of North American left-wing unions was intentionally severe because of the strength of these labor organizations and the threat they were perceived to pose to employers and the government. Given that these left-wing unions were much more militant than the American Federation of Labor unions, this governmental repression (as well as that of other forces) can be viewed as a conscious set of tactics invoked that were meant to break, or at a minimum tame, these radical unions in the service of capital. Such behavior also acted as a warning to nonradical unions that repression could be directed against them as well.

INTERMUNICIPAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITIES IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD

The article is devoted to the problems of inter-municipal cooperation, practical foreign experience of administrative-territorial reform. The experience of European countries shows that local self-government bodies are endowed with broad powers in the field of spatial development. The aspect of the delegation of powers of European countries, the peculiarities of the functioning of the municipalities of France, the Netherlands, and the communes of Spain are considered. Attention is paid to the statistics of concluded agreements between communities from 2016 to 2023, the issue of concluding cooperation agreements is highlighted. The author examines the financial capacity of communities in the economic crisis, taking into account the changes to the Budget Code of Ukraine regarding the creation of the Rural Development Fund. Advantages for communities that participate in cooperation due to pooling of resources and delegation of authority are analyzed. The main risks that stand in the way of fruitful cooperation are identified: the insufficient level of competence of the heads of territorial communities; low legal education of representatives of local self-government bodies, which in turn is an obstacle when choosing a form of cooperation and legal drafting of agreements; budget conflicts of communities, which thereby create unreliable conditions for more capable communities when pooling resources with less capable communities. An assessment of the potential of community cooperation, indicators related to security issues, and an increase in the population share due to the influx of temporarily displaced persons during the war period was provided. Based on the best domestic and foreign practices, recommendations for communities were formed, which will be useful for further inter-municipal cooperation.