Austin Jersild – författare

The complex and troubled history of Russia's relationship with the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus.

The academic debate in Western social science about the growing “convergence” or similarities between American and Soviet society acquired political significance in the diverse relationships that made up the global Cold War. Convergence and Cold War, 1953–1964 explores the consequences and challenges of convergence through a discussion of U.S.–Soviet relations, Sino-Soviet relations, and East–South relations.The book argues that the debate about convergence was a debate about the character of the broader Cold War itself, and the background to the more recent experience of contemporary globalization and its shared practices and norms. The volume begins by addressing how Americans debated the prospect of a less threatening socialist world shaped by the challenges of industrial modernity, while the Soviets hoped to imitate Western standards of living alongside developing supposedly more elevated forms of consumption, leisure, culture, trade, and economic exchange. The second section analyzes the way supporters of Chairman Mao in China associated the socialist bloc’s engagement with the West as an example of its deterioration and dangerous abandonment of socialist values and practices. The closing chapters examine how the Chinese communicated their frustration with the Soviets and East Europeans to postcolonial states in the Global South. Jersild unpacks this through a case study of Guinea-Conakry, which posed questions about the common practices and policies of the superpowers.This volume is a valuable resource to students and scholars of the Cold War and International Relations, as well as all those interested in postcolonial studies and the history of globalization.

In 1950 the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China signed a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance to foster cultural and technological cooperation between the Soviet bloc and the PRC. While this treaty was intended as a break with the colonial past, Austin Jersild argues that the alliance ultimately failed because the enduring problem of Russian imperialism led to Chinese frustration with the Soviets. Jersild zeros in on the ground-level experiences of the socialist bloc advisers in China, who were involved in everything from the development of university curricula, the exploration for oil, and railway construction to piano lessons. Their goal was to reproduce a Chinese administrative elite in their own image that could serve as a valuable ally in the Soviet bloc's struggle against the United States. Interestingly, the USSR's allies in Central Europe were as frustrated by the ""great power chauvinism"" of the Soviet Union as was China. By exposing this aspect of the story, Jersild shows how the alliance, and finally the split, had a true international dimension.

In 1950 the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China signed a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance to foster cultural and technological cooperation between the Soviet bloc and the PRC. While this treaty was intended as a break with the colonial past, Austin Jersild argues that the alliance ultimately failed because the enduring problem of Russian imperialism led to Chinese frustration with the Soviets.Jersild zeros in on the ground-level experiences of the socialist bloc advisers in China, who were involved in everything from the development of university curricula, the exploration for oil, and railway construction to piano lessons. Their goal was to reproduce a Chinese administrative elite in their own image that could serve as a valuable ally in the Soviet bloc's struggle against the United States. Interestingly, the USSR's allies in Central Europe were as frustrated by the ""great power chauvinism"" of the Soviet Union as was China. By exposing this aspect of the story, Jersild shows how the alliance, and finally the split, had a true international dimension.

This volume examines how numerous international transfers, circulations, and exchanges shaped the world of socialism during the Cold War.