Civil Aviation and the Globalization of the Cold War

Peter Svik is Erwin Schrödinger Fellow at the International History Department at the Graduate Institute in Geneva and the Institute for Eastern European History at the University of Vienna, Austria. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the British Academy, the École normale supérieure and the Leibniz Institute for European History, as well as a Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, Gerda Henkel Fellow at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich and Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Tartu.

“Svik’s work is well researched and adds important details to the story of aviation and globalization, particularly during the crucial post–World War II decades. … those interested in how the Cold War context complicated the history of post-war commercial aviation, driven by tensions not only between the United States and the Soviet Union, but also between the Unites States and its allies, will find this work valuable.” (Janet R. Daly Bednarek, Technology and Culture, Vol. 63 (2), April, 2022)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Chicago Regime and Early (Dis)Connectedness.- 3. Building an Empire of the Red Air.- 4. Raising the Stakes.- 5. Trading Bananas for Permafrost.- 6. In the Shadows of Backwardness.- 7. Relations Cool Down and KAL 007 Incident.- 8. Bloc Aviation under Late Socialism.- 9. Conclusion.