Punishing German Soldiers during the Cold War: The Case of Erich von Manstein

Bloxham examines the events and rhetoric surrounding the trial and premature release from custody of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. Von Manstein was convicted of involvement in atrocities on the Eastern Front, yet his story aroused the sympathy of many in Britain, including influential politicians, who believed the Wehrmacht to be innocent of the crimes of Nazism. His trial also fell squarely into a period, the onset of the Cold War, when Britain was attempting to restore relations with West Germany. Pressure both from the nascent West German elite and from within the Conservative government (re-elected in 1951) and its foreign diplomatic corps ensured that a series of dubious legal devices would be used to accelerate the liberation of von Manstein at a time of negotiations about a German contribution to a Western European army. Similar contrivances abetted the early release of another field marshal, Kesselring, and a senior general, Falkenhorst. The releases, and the obfuscations of the soldiers' war-time records that were an essential part of justifying the releases, constitute a substantial British contribution both to the undermining of the process of war crimes trials and to the rewriting of the Second World War.     

Baltic Refugees and Policy Formation in Sweden 1940–1950

The Baltic refugees of the Second World War, in Sweden, were part of the opening up of Sweden to immigration. New research, after the turn of the century, has shown how this change of policy was part of the emerging welfare state, embracing a wider geographical area. Still, the opening was conditioned by degrees of “Nordicness” and the conditions of neutrality toward Germany and not least the Soviet Union. This review article highlights some of the new insights of Swedish historiography.     

‘Two children to make ends meet’: the ideal family size,parental responsibilities and costs of children on two sides of the Iron Curtain during the post-war fertility decline

One of the major corollaries of the post-war fertility boom and decline is that two-child families became common across Europe after the 1970s. Despite the general agreement on the convergence of fertility trends, there is still little understanding of how this change took place in a comparative perspective of Western and Eastern Europe, which at that time were characterised by Cold War tensions of different ideological regimes. This study addresses this aspect by focusing on individual decisions around childbearing, child-rearing and family size. Based on 104 oral histories from Switzerland and Ukraine, this study illuminates that the urban setting provided parents with a similar set of constraints and opportunities, which eventually resulted in strikingly similar perceptions of the costs of childrearing on two sides of the Iron Curtain. Individuals’ motives to postpone first birth in Switzerland and second birth in Ukraine rested on a similar aspiration to invest in the well-being of children by ensuring material security for the family. This aim was increasingly achieved through female labour-force participation and adoption of modern contraception – the pill in Switzerland and abortion in Ukraine. While the timing of returning to the labour market and the share of women working after entering parenthood might have varied across the two contexts, a good mother became increasingly defined in both contexts in terms of providing emotionally and financially for her children. Although the introduction of modern birth control methods allowed couples to plan family size more carefully, it also made Swiss and Ukrainian women increasingly carry the major costs and actual burden of birth control. Altogether, this study challenges the common assumption around the persistence of strikingly different demographic realities in post-war Western and Eastern Europe by uncovering the mechanisms behind the stabilisation of family size around the two-child family ideal.     

The Response of Chinese Intellectuals to the US War on Terror

Studying the Chinese intellectual response to the US War on Terror, and how the battle between the Chinese liberals and nonliberals fitted into the above debate, the article focuses on two cases, 9-11 and the war in Iraq. Each will be divided into the expressive response (i.e., how the intellectuals reacted physically); the ideological response (i.e., how they interpreted the incidents in ideologically); and the strategic response (i.e., how they proposed the right strategies for the party-state to manage global affairs). After studying the cases, we should discover how the Chinese intellectuals used nationalist rhetoric to disguise their real disagreements, i.e., their views on domestic politics as well as to advance their own national importance. Simon Shen is Research Assistant Professor in the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Dr. Shen is author or editor of Redefining Nationalism in Modern China: Sino–American Relations and the Emergence of Chinese Public Opinions in the 21st Century, Chinese Response to Anti-terrorism, Non-state Actors and Foreign Affairs of the Greater China Region (with Joseph Cheng). His articles have appeared in the East Asia, Journal of Comparative Asian Development, Pacific Review, Politics, Asian Perspective, and Journal of East Asian History. Research for this article was partially funded by a grant from the South China Program, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong. The author thanks Dr. Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on the earlier drafts of this article.     

From Blair to Brown: The Condition of British Government

Peter Hennessy examines the conduct of central government since 1997, especially Cabinet processes during the build-up to the Iraq war of 2003. He discusses the degree to which both Blair and Brown over the past months have appeared to run against aspects of the governing style of the administrations they have jointly dominated. He assesses what Gordon Brown's floated idea of a written constitution might mean in practical terms and makes a particular case for a War Powers Act.     

Changing Horses in Wartime? The 2004 Presidential Election

The literature makes clear that foreign policy affects voting, but it does not lead to clear expectations as to how a war will affect voting. Will views about the advisability of the war predominate? Or will the indirect effect through the incumbent’s image be more important? Will a war crowd out other potential issues, particularly domestic ones? This paper addresses these questions through a series of focused analyses of NES survey data. We find that an increase in strong Republican partisans clinched the election for President Bush. The Iraq War was not a direct vote gainer for the President, but the larger War on Terrorism burnished his image as a leader, at least long enough to win the election. Likewise, the cultural war allowed President Bush to retain some of the votes that he might otherwise have lost due to the unpopularity of the Iraq War.     

美国内战的国际法实践及其当代启示

美国内战期间,联邦政府为维护联邦的统一,进行了许多卓有成效的国际法实践从海上封锁的一系列国际法斗争到"亚拉巴马"号案对英国变相干涉内战的对抗.美国联邦政府敢于和善于运用国际法原则,与英、法等外部干涉势力作针锋相对的斗争,并根据需要,依据国际法解决内政问题,其国际法成功实践的背后是以军事实力和战役胜利作为强大后盾.我在对台斗争中,一旦外部势力实施干涉,须坚决运用国际法原则和国际社会对国际法实行的强制力、牵制力,加大法律威慑,与干涉势力进行有理、有利、有节的斗争.     

抗战时期全球化视野下的中国国际地位

中国抗日战争是世界反法西斯战争的重要组成部分,它为中国确立大国地位提供了历史的契机。尽管战时中国成为世界四大国之一,但它只是“理论上”的大国,并未真正享有与之相称的国际地位。     

抗日战争时期毛泽东群众观的成熟和完善

只有人民才是创造世界历史的动力,战争的伟力之最深厚的根源存在于民众之中,共产党员无论何时何地都应把民族的和人民群众的利益放在第一位,密切联系群众的作风是共产党区别于其他政党的显著标志之一,统一战线是战胜敌人的重要法宝,从群众中来、到群众中去等重要思想,是抗日战争时期毛泽东的主要群众观。认真总结、深刻认识和努力把握抗日战争时期毛泽东的群众观,不仅具有重要的历史意义,而且对于今天巩固党的执政地位、实现党的执政使命具有重要的现实指导意义。     

艾森豪威尔政府的对华禁运政策

艾森豪威尔政府时期,美国对华政策为全面遏制思想所主导,因此,在欧洲盟国废除“巴统”管制体系中的“中国差别”的情况下,美国依然单独坚持对华禁运政策。