This text analyses the political and ethnical tensions that characterize Nigeria, which derive both from colonial and contemporary conflicts. It points out three major factors why Nigeria has not yet collapsed like many other African states: ethnic power sharing amongst the political elite, the military with its national outlook, and oil wealth.

This up-to-date collection analyzes Romania's experiences of the transition form the harsh realities of the Ceausescu dictatorship to the uncertainties of the efforts to consolidate democracy and introduce a market economy. This volume focuses on Romania's progress in coming to terms with the legacy of its communist past, the realities of pluralism, the introduction of a market economy, and the challenge of European integration.

The 1970s were difficult years for the United States, a time when long-held convictions were challenged and the nation experienced a collective identity crisis. Women and minorities called into question the belief that freedom and equality are the birthright of all Americans. The civil rights movements of the 1970s argued that American history is full of racism and violence against women and people of color. Watergate and related scandals of the Nixon administration damaged the country's faith in politicians and the political system. The Arab oil boycott, the energy crisis, the environmental movement, and years of stagflation raised doubts about the future of the nation's economy, and in the jungles of Vietnam, many Americans began to doubt their ability to protect the world from Communism.

An encyclopedic overview of the era, this book includes entries on the prominent people and significant events, issues and controversies of the decade, and entries on the film, music, and culture of the period. A chronology provides a time line for the events of the 1970s.

During his political career, Helmut Kohl used his own life story to promote a normalization of German nationalism and to overcome the stigma of the Nazi period. In the context of the cold war and the memory of the fascist past, he was able to exploit the combination of his religious, generational, regional, and educational (he has a PhD in History) experiences by connecting nationalist ideas to particular biographical narratives. Kohl presented himself as the embodiment of "normality": a de-radicalized German nationalism which was intended to eclipse any anti-Western and post-national peculiarities. This book takes a biographical approach to the study of nationalism by examining its manifestation in Helmut Kohl and the way he historicized Germany's past.

By looking at state-sponsored memory projects, such as memorials, commemorations, and historical museums, this book reveals that the East German communist regime obsessively monitored and attempted to control public representations of the past to legitimize its rule. It demonstrates that the regime's approach to memory politics was not stagnant, but rather evolved over time to meet different demands and potential threats to its legitimacy. Ultimately the party found it increasingly difficult to control the public portrayal of the past, and some dissidents were able to turn the party's memory politics against the state to challenge its claims of moral authority.

This landmark study of economic history since World War II systematically explores why postwar trade and payments have evolved as they have, the prospects for their future evolution, and the range of policy adjustments likely to be required. Through a rigorous examination and analysis of historical records, the author makes two significant and unique contributions to the scholarship on the subject. First, he reveals the existence of distinct cycles in world trade and payments, beginning in 1959. While scholars have recognized postwar business cycles, none have identified--until now--trade and payments cycles which seem to run parallel. Second, Cohen utilizes newly researched data to explore the much-heralded J-curve and its relevance in relating exchange rates to trade balances, and he identifies several important factors which have slowed the maturation of the J-curve effect on U.S. balances.

The study is divided into four parts and begins by looking at the forces that have shaped the postwar trade and payments order. Cohen then turns to an investigation of the period of advance in the trade and payments order from 1945-1967, describing three distinct stages that reflect the emergence, the establishment, and the peak of this period. Section three begins with an analysis of the structure and causes of the four postwar trade and payments cycles and includes an examination of the differences among them. Subsequent chapters address the different cycles themselves, reviewing the history of each and evaluating the growing challenges to the postwar trade and payments order. In the concluding section, Cohen explores why the J-curve in the U.S. has been so weak during the current cycle and assesses the likely consequences of the failure of existing policies to reduce external imbalances. Finally, the author offers a set of recommendations to reduce such imbalances through a new Cycle of Adjustment. Students of economic history, policy makers, and investors will find in Cohen's work significant new insights into economic processes and the probable future economic terrain.

"British Political Facts Since 1979" is the definitive record of the who, the what and the when of British political history from the election of Thatcher as Prime Minister to the present day. It is a comprehensive reference work that will be invaluable to students of Contemporary British Politics.

Theoretically expansive yet historically well-grounded, ""Post-Wall Berlin: Borders, Space and Identity"" offers a powerful lens through which to view this city's latest self-reinvention. Presenting a trans-disciplinary approach to understanding one of the world's most iconic cities, the book relates to recent trends in post-Cold-War cultural history, memory studies, visual culture, and border studies. Through a focus on the moving boundaries of Berlin, Janet Ward reshapes the parameters of urban enquiry and sheds new light on debates surrounding the city's division and rebuilding, post-1989 and post-9/11 globalization, the new Europe, urban preservation and 'memory sites'. This book is, in short, a bold reassessment of the modern and postmodern urban condition.

This book illuminates British imperial policy after World War II in the context of economic policy and offers a novel argument about the end of the British empire. Economic discrimination in the empire in the late 1940s and early 1950s sustained Britain's recovery, when political control in the colonies was feasible. Subsequently, economic liberalization and the move towards financial cosmopolitanism, combined with rising constraints for economic and political management in the colonies, loosened and ultimately severed Britain's imperial link.

The 1970s saw the Aboriginal people of Australia struggle for recognition of their postcolonial rights. Rural communities, where large Aboriginal populations lived, were provoked as a consequence of social fragmentation, unparalleled unemployment, and other major economic and political changes. The ensuing riots, protests, and law-and-order campaigns in New South Wales captured the tense relations that existed between indigenous people, the police, and the criminal justice system. In Protests, Land Rights, and Riots, Barry Morris shows how neoliberal policies in Australia targeted those who were least integrated socially and culturally, and who enjoyed fewer legitimate economic opportunities. Amidst intense political debate, struggle, and conflict, new forces were unleashed as a post-settler colonial state grappled with its past. Morris provides a social analysis of the ensuing effects of neoliberal policy and the way indigenous rights were subsequently undermined by this emerging new political orthodoxy in the 1990s.

During the Cold War, Britain had an astonishing number of contacts and connections with one of the Soviet Bloc's most hard-line regimes: the German Democratic Republic. The left wing of the British Labour Party and the Trade Unions often had closer ties with communist East Germany than the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). There were strong connections between the East German and British churches, women's movements, and peace movements; influential conservative politicians and the Communist leadership in the GDR had working relationships; and lucrative contracts existed between business leaders in Britain and their counterparts in East Germany. Based on their extensive knowledge of the documentary sources, the authors provide the first comprehensive study of Anglo-East German relations in this surprisingly under-researched field. They examine the complex motivations underlying different political groups' engagement with the GDR, and offer new and interesting insights into British political culture during the Cold War.

This text concerns the origins, organization and method of British, American and Soviet propaganda during the 1950s. It discusses propaganda's international and domestic dimensions, and charts the development of a shared Cold War culture. The book demonstrates how the structures of propaganda which were organized at this time endured, giving shape and meaning to the remaining years of the Cold War.

Providing an indispensable resource for students, educators, businessmen, and officials investigating the transformative experience of modern China, this book provides a comprehensive summary of the culture, institutions, traditions, and international relations that have shaped today's China. In Modern China, author Xiaobing Li offers a resource far beyond a conventional encyclopedia, providing not only comprehensive coverage of Chinese civilization and traditions, but also addressing the values, issues, and critical views of China. As a result, readers will better understand the transformative experience of the most populous country in the world, and will grasp the complexity of the progress and problems behind the rise of China to a world superpower in less than 30 years. Written by an author who lived in China for three decades, this encyclopedia addresses 16 key topics regarding China, such as its geography, government, social classes and ethnicities, gender-based identities, arts, media, and food, each followed by roughly 250 short entries related to each topic. All the entries are placed within a broad sociopolitical and socioeconomic contextual framework. The format and writing consistency through the book reflects a Chinese perspective, and allows students to compare Chinese with Western and American views. Covers contemporary Chinese politics, economy, geography, law, education, culture, and history, providing readers with a breadth of insights into modern China and its people Addresses a variety of current issues such as pollution, corruption, human trafficking, human rights, civil liberties, and the one-child policy Contains accessible information ideal for high school and college-level students, grade school teachers, and any readers interested in the general topics of Asia and China

Thirty-six years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, these declassified documents stand as testament to just how dangerously close the world came to nuclear destruction in 1962, and challenge the official history of the event as a model of crisis management.

The Sixties were a heady time for Africans. All over the continent colonial flags were being lowered and Africans looked forward to freedom and a glittering future. But for most of the continent the last forty years have been a shattering experience. Since independence Africans have been terribly betrayed by the Europeans, the superpowers, and tragically, by their own leaders.

Can a new generation of leaders turn the tide? Will they learn from their predecessors' mistakes and fuel a new African renaissance? Or is Africa doomed to further decades of turmoil?

In this witty and informative book, Alec Russell answers these questions by telling the stories of his encounters with Africa's Big Men. Each one represents a theme which has shaped the continent: Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, the "King of Kleptocracy" whose staggering corruption crippled Zaire; Jonas Savimbi, the life-long guerrilla and symbol of the Cold War's destructive legacy on the continent; the quixotic Hastings Banda, the ultimate product of colonialism; and, of course, Nelson Mandela, symbol of reconciliation and hope for an entire continent.

By any measure, this has been a terrible century for Africa. However Russell detects signs of hope in the fledgling human rights troupe he encounters deep in the steamy heart of the Congolese jungle and in the group of journalists keeping Moi's tottering regime in Kenya on its toes.

Big Men, Little People is a vividly written portrait of a continent, which avoids the usual stereotypes and dire prophecies and entertains from start to finish.

Sexual Revolutions explores the sexual revolution of the late twentieth century in several European countries and the USA by engaging with themes from sexual freedom and abortion to pornography and sexual variation. This work discusses the involvement of youth, feminism, left, liberalism, arts, science and religion in the process of sexual change.

For more than 40 years, NATO premised its defence on credible nuclear deterrence. Underwriting this deterrence was NATO's strategy, and the nuclear weapons and command and control systems intended to make the strategy an operational reality. This work examines NATO's attempts between 1952 and 1990 to achieve the political and military control of nuclear weapons operations in a multinational organization. By using case-studies of US, British, French and NATO nuclear weapons operations, and empirical evidence from Cold War crises, it provides an analysis of NATO's experience and offers insights for the present day.

This is an account of how one Labour Party politician, after suffering the biggest setback of his political career, used the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in Grosvenor Square, the battle over trade union reform and the troubles in Northern Ireland to propel himself to Number 10.

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces boldly invaded and occupied neighboring Kuwait. It was a move that shocked the world and threatened the interests of those countries, such as the USA and the nations of Europe, dependent on oil from the Middle East. The ensuing Gulf War signaled, for many, a new dawn in warfare: one based upon lethal technology, low casualties, and quick decisive victory. Incorporating the latest scholarship, William Thomas Allison provides a concise overview of the origins, key events and legacy of the first Gulf War, as well as the major issues and debates. Allison also examines the relevance of this war to other twentieth-century conflicts and the ongoing situation in the region.

The year "1968" marked the climax of protests that simultaneously captured most industrialized Western countries. The protesters challenged the institutions of Western democracies, confronting powerful, established parties and groups with an opposing force and public presence that negated tra ditional structures of institutional authority and criticized the basic assump tions of the post-war order. Exploring the effects the protest movement of 1968 had on the political, social, and symbolic order of the societies they called into question, this volume focuses on the consequences and echoes of 1968 from different perspectives, including history, sociology, and linguistics.

In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army commanded by General Ratko Mladic attacked the enclave of Srebrenica, a UN "safe area" since 1993, and massacred about 8,000 Bosniac men. While the responsibility for the massacre itself lays clearly with the Serb political and military leadership, the question of the responsibility of various international organizations and national authorities for the fall of the enclave is still passionately discussed, and has given rise to various rumors and conspiracy theories. Follow-up investigations by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and by several commissions have dissipated most of these rumors and contributed to a better knowledge of the Srebrenica events and the part played by the main local and international actors. This volume represents the first systematic, comparative analysis of those investigations. It brings together analyses from both the external standpoint of academics and the inside perspective of various professionals who participated directly in the inquiries, including police officers, members of parliament, high-ranking civil servants, and other experts. Evaluating how institutions establish facts and ascribe responsibilities, this volume presents a historiographical and epistemological reflection on the very possibility of writing a history of the present time.

British policy towards European integration has been one of the most divisive issues in British politics since 1945. Based on a detailed evaluation of the newly accessible government records, of the Conservative Party records, private papers and interviews, this timely book analyses British European policy between 1945 and de Gaulle's veto against British EEC membership in 1963. It explores, in particular, the ambiguities in Britain's first EEC application of 1961. The epilogue highlights some of the most important continuities in British European policy until the present.

The riveting story of a doomed presidential ticket and the truth behind this singular election-year drama No skeletons were rattling in his closet, Thomas Eagleton assured George McGovern's political director. But only eighteen days later-after a series of damaging public revelations and feverish behind-the-scenes maneuverings-McGovern rescinded his endorsement of his Democratic vice-presidential running mate, and Eagleton withdrew from the ticket. This fascinating book is the first to uncover the full story behind Eagleton's rise and precipitous fall as a national candidate. Within days of Eagleton's nomination, a pair of anonymous phone calls brought to light his history of hospitalizations for "nervous exhaustion and depression" and past treatment with electroshock therapy. The revelation rattled the campaign and placed McGovern's organization under intense public and media scrutiny. Joshua M. Glasser investigates a campaign in disarray and explores the perspectives of the campaign's key players, how decisions were made and who made them, how cultural attitudes toward mental illness informed the crisis, and how Eagleton's and McGovern's personal ambitions shaped the course of events. Drawing on personal interviews with McGovern, campaign manager Gary Hart, political director Frank Mankiewicz, and dozens of other participants inside and outside the McGovern and Eagleton camps-as well as extensive unpublished campaign records-Glasser captures the political and human drama of Eagleton's brief candidacy. Glasser also offers sharp insights into the America of 1972-mired in war and anxious about the economy, a time with striking similarities to our own.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Prologue.

aOne of the best illustrations of contemporary scholarsa fascination with the concept of memory as a concept closer to experience, a more human, subjective, and politically subversive notion than History.a
--"Critique of Anthropology"

aIn this fascinating ethnographic account, John Collins shows how Palestinians remember, re-shape, and reinvent in their popular imagination the first Inti-fada, or uprising, of 1987-1993.a
--Middle East Journal

"Theoretically sharp and well written, "Occupied by Memory" propels the scholarship on Palestinians and perpetual states of violence in new and promising directions.
--Julie Peteet, author of "Gender in Crisis: Women and the Palestinian Resistance Movement"

"The book will be of interest not only to scholars of the Middle East, but also to those interested in nationalism, discourse analysis, social movements and oral history."
--"Advance News"

""In Occupied by Memory," John Collins asks the 'intifada generation' to remember aloud the first intifada, what it might have meant, and what it has come to mean for them now. At once provocative and sensitive, John Collins's narrative probes deeply into the history of the last decade of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, human rights, and social justice."
--Barbara Harlow, author of "After Lives: Legacies of Revolutionary Writing"

"A powerfully honest work and a tremendous contribution to the literature on memory and violence in the Middle East. Superbly narrated, Occupied by Memory is compassionate but not sentimental, theoretically astute, and empathetically written.
--Ussama Makdisi, author of "TheCulture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon"

Occupied by Memory explores the memories of the first Palestinian intifada. Based on extensive interviews with members of the "intifada generation," those who were between 10 and 18 years old when the intifada began in 1987, the book provides a detailed look at the intifada memories of ordinary Palestinians.

These personal stories are presented as part of a complex and politically charged discursive field through which young Palestinians are invested with meaning by scholars, politicians, journalists, and other observers. What emerges from their memories is a sense of a generation caught between a past that is simultaneously traumatic, empowering, and exciting--and a future that is perpetually uncertain. In this sense, Collins argues that understanding the stories and the struggles of the intifada generation is a key to understanding the ongoing state of emergency for the Palestinian people. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of the Middle East but also to those interested in nationalism, discourse analysis, social movements, and oral history.

The history of the Swiss National Park, from its creation in the years before the Great War to the present, is told for the first time in this book. Unlike Yellowstone Park, which embodied close cooperation between state-supported conservation and public recreation, the Swiss park put in place an extraordinarily strong conservation program derived from a close alliance between the state and scientific research. This deliberate reinterpretation of the American idea of the national park was innovative and radical, but its consequences were not limited to Switzerland. The Swiss park became the prime example of a "scientific national park," thereby influencing the course of national parks worldwide.