Routledge Global 1960s and 1970s Series - Böcker

Relations between Western nations and their colonial subjects changed dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century. As nearly all of the West’s colonies gained their independence by 1975, attitudes toward colonialism in the West also changed, and terms such as empire and colonialism, once used with pride, became strongly negative. While colonialism has become discredited, precisely when or how that happened remains unclear. This book explores changing Western attitudes toward colonialism and decolonization by analyzing American, British, and French popular cinema and its reception from 1960 to 1973.

This volume is the first, comprehensive and balanced historical account of the momentous Nigeria-Biafra war. It offers a multi-perspectival treatment of the conflict that explores issues such as local experiences of victims, the massive relief campaigns by humanitarian NGOs and international organizations like the Red Cross, the actions of foreign powers with interests in the conflict, and the significance of the international public sphere, in which the propaganda and public relations war about the question of genocide was waged.

Relations between Western nations and their colonial subjects changed dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century. As nearly all of the West’s colonies gained their independence by 1975, attitudes toward colonialism in the West also changed, and terms such as empire and colonialism, once used with pride, became strongly negative. While colonialism has become discredited, precisely when or how that happened remains unclear. This book explores changing Western attitudes toward colonialism and decolonization by analyzing American, British, and French popular cinema and its reception from 1960 to 1973.

Eurocommunism constitutes a "moment" of great transformation connecting the past and the present of the European Left, a political project by means of which left-wing politics in Europe effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm. It rose in the wake of 1968 – that pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and came to be associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics forging a movement that would hold influence until the early 1980s. Eurocommunism thus wove an original political synthesis delineated against both the revolutionary Left and the social democracy: "party of struggle and party of governance".

African Political Activism in Postcolonial France engages with several areas of scholarly inquiry, ranging from the study of immigrants to the investigation of surveillance and the legacy of colonialism. Within migration studies, many important analyses have focused on integration, yielding critical contributions to our understanding of immigration and identity. This work moves in a different direction. Factoring in the dynamics of colonialism, decolonization, and their effect on immigrant political activism and state policy in the postcolonial, Cold War era reveals that immigrants from francophone Sub-Saharan Africa were key players who shaped the development of public policy toward immigrants. Through this approach, we can understand how republicanism, colonial ideology, immigration policy, and immigrant political activism intersected in the post-colonial era, shaping the reception of African workers and affecting their lives and experiences in France.

Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics argues that as much as the ‘Congo crisis’ (1960-1965) was a Cold War battleground, so too was it a battleground for Southern Africa’s decolonisation. This book provides a transnational history of African decolonisation, apartheid diplomacy, and Southern African nationalist movements. It answers three central questions. First, what was the nature of South African involvement in the Congo crisis? Second, what was the rationale for this involvement? Third, how did South Africans perceive the crisis? Innovatively, the book shifts the focus on the Congo crisis away from Cold War intervention and centres it around African decolonisation and regional geopolitics.

This volume is the first, comprehensive and balanced historical account of the momentous Nigeria-Biafra war. It offers a multi-perspectival treatment of the conflict that explores issues such as local experiences of victims, the massive relief campaigns by humanitarian NGOs and international organizations like the Red Cross, the actions of foreign powers with interests in the conflict, and the significance of the international public sphere, in which the propaganda and public relations war about the question of genocide was waged.

Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics argues that as much as the ‘Congo crisis’ (1960-1965) was a Cold War battleground, so too was it a battleground for Southern Africa’s decolonisation. This book provides a transnational history of African decolonisation, apartheid diplomacy, and Southern African nationalist movements. It answers three central questions. First, what was the nature of South African involvement in the Congo crisis? Second, what was the rationale for this involvement? Third, how did South Africans perceive the crisis? Innovatively, the book shifts the focus on the Congo crisis away from Cold War intervention and centres it around African decolonisation and regional geopolitics.

Eurocommunism constitutes a "moment" of great transformation connecting the past and the present of the European Left, a political project by means of which left-wing politics in Europe effected a definitive transition to a thoroughly different paradigm. It rose in the wake of 1968 – that pivotal year of social revolt and rethinking that caused a divide between radical, progressive and socialist thinking in western and southern Europe and the Soviet model. Communist parties in Italy, France, Spain and Greece changed tack, drew on the dynamics of social radicalism of the time and came to be associated with political moderation, liberal democracy and negotiation rather than contentious politics forging a movement that would hold influence until the early 1980s. Eurocommunism thus wove an original political synthesis delineated against both the revolutionary Left and the social democracy: "party of struggle and party of governance".

The struggle for independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde was shaped by a multiplicity of interactions and connections. Because of the intimate association between the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC – Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde) and Amílcar Cabral’s leadership, the existing scholarship has been discussing the fight led by the liberation movement and its Secretary-General’s role within a single analytical framework.While much has been written, most studies fail to break the many historiographical silences still existing around the subject. Amílcar Cabral and the PAIGC’s Binational Struggle for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde intends to evince a multiplicity of analytical itineraries through which Cabral’s figure can contribute to understand the rise to statehood of both territories and the construction of memory of the anti-colonial struggle.

As memories of the savage conflict inaugurated by the attack on Pearl Harbor recede, the ethical foundations that influenced postwar interpretations of Japan’s role during the Cold War era are crumbling on different fronts. Retracing Japanese history during the Sixties, this book locates the country’s role in Cold War history against the backdrop of the twentieth century, contextualizing older trends that shaped postwar changes. It also places Cold War Japan in the global context of America’s shifting hegemony and the corresponding structure of the international system. Given its nuanced approach, this book will prove instrumental for students and researchers working in studies of Cold War history, Japanese history, American history and international history.

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.

Year 1966 analyzes the breakthrough moment in the culture of the Polish People’s Republic when revolutionary social and cultural changes slowed down in the mid-1960s, leading to a turn toward the idea of a nation as a field of ideological dispute between different social actors.The book explores the question of what happened in Polish culture at that time: how social ties were defined, where sources of legitimization of power for the new order were sought beyond the slogans of the revolution (equality, advancement, or prosperity), how historical politics participated in this process, the fate of the great emancipation projects of the 1950s such as emancipation of women or equality for ethnic minorities, and how the meanings of the related narratives changed. It also shows how all important actors (the diverse power camp, the emerging opposition, the Church) participated in this process, adapted their own narratives, and built a new understanding of society, social ties, history, and collective identity, with effects that would weigh heavily on the democratic transformations of the 1990s.This volume is intended for researchers interested in the history and culture of Poland, communist Central and Eastern Europe, memory studies, cultural and literary history, social history, and sociology.

Initially, the 1960s was a time of understandable optimism. The civil rights movement and the legislation it inspired suggested an end to institutionalized racism in the United States, while in the Global South, the emergence of independent states anticipated political liberation and increased prosperity. So, when racial discrimination, entrenched privilege, cold war politics, and fiscal reality dashed these hopes later in the decade, the world experienced a wave of protests. Conventional narratives of 1968 focus on student strikes, revolutions and coups, assassinations, and the reactionary backlash that they inspired.The chapters of Black 1968 reveal the imperfectly documented and heretofore unrecognized bonds that led peoples of African descent around the world to articulate new global conceptions of Blackness as a way to mount local challenges to racism, segregation, colonialism, economic exploitation, generational authority, and cultural chauvinism.This book will be of interest to general readers interested in the global 1968 as well as scholars of Blackness and global history.

Initially, the 1960s was a time of understandable optimism. The civil rights movement and the legislation it inspired suggested an end to institutionalized racism in the United States, while in the Global South, the emergence of independent states anticipated political liberation and increased prosperity. So, when racial discrimination, entrenched privilege, cold war politics, and fiscal reality dashed these hopes later in the decade, the world experienced a wave of protests. Conventional narratives of 1968 focus on student strikes, revolutions and coups, assassinations, and the reactionary backlash that they inspired.The chapters of Black 1968 reveal the imperfectly documented and heretofore unrecognized bonds that led peoples of African descent around the world to articulate new global conceptions of Blackness as a way to mount local challenges to racism, segregation, colonialism, economic exploitation, generational authority, and cultural chauvinism.This book will be of interest to general readers interested in the global 1968 as well as scholars of Blackness and global history.

African Political Activism in Postcolonial France engages with several areas of scholarly inquiry, ranging from the study of immigrants to the investigation of surveillance and the legacy of colonialism. Within migration studies, many important analyses have focused on integration, yielding critical contributions to our understanding of immigration and identity. This work moves in a different direction. Factoring in the dynamics of colonialism, decolonization, and their effect on immigrant political activism and state policy in the postcolonial, Cold War era reveals that immigrants from francophone Sub-Saharan Africa were key players who shaped the development of public policy toward immigrants. Through this approach, we can understand how republicanism, colonial ideology, immigration policy, and immigrant political activism intersected in the post-colonial era, shaping the reception of African workers and affecting their lives and experiences in France.