Western European Economic Recovery and Unity Flashcards
What is the Liberal democratic governments
Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism. It is characterized by fair, free, and competitive elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, and the equal protection of human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms for all persons. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. After a period of sustained expansion throughout the 20th century, liberal democracy became the predominant political system in the world.
What was the “Economic Miracle”?
A period of rapid economic growth that exceeds expectations. The term is often applied to the economic growth of Germany and Japan after World War II. In more recent times, it has been used to describe the rapid economic expansion of China
The terms “economic miracle”, “economic boom”, “tiger economy” or simply “miracle” have come to refer to periods of dramatic economic development in the recent histories of a number of countries:Record years in Sweden, from World War II to early 1970s
Wirtschaftswunder - Post-World War II economic growth in Austria and West Germany
Trente Glorieuses - Post World War II economic growth in France (c. 1945-1975)
Greek economic miracle (c. 1950s-1970s)
Japanese post-war economic miracle (c. 1950-1975)
Italian economic miracle (c. 1950-1973)
What was the European Unity?
The idea of European unity is a historically recent idea.
The word ‘Europe’ originally referred to the south-eastern part of Europe, in the same way that ‘Asia’ originally referred to western Anatolia, and ‘Africa’ referred to northern Africa, and it was the Greek civilisation who used the words to mean the continents as they do today.
After the Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, the first proposal for peaceful methods of unifying Europe against a common enemy emerged. George of Podebrady, a Hussite king of Bohemia proposed the creation of a union of Christian nations against the Turks in 1464. However, there is no evidence that he viewed Europe as being anything other than a geographical place where those Christian nations resided.[citation needed]
The Frankish Empire of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire united large areas of Germany, Italy and France under a loose administration for hundreds of years without articulating an ‘idea of European unity’. However, the idea of Europe, of those parts of Europe occupied by Germanic peoples, representing ‘Europe’ had become common by the 19th century. That the 19th century idea of Europe was essentially a Germanic one can be witnessed from the counterblast by the Russia philosopher Danilevsky in his Russia and Europe. The idea of Germany and Europe being coterminous was taken to its fateful conclusion under Hitler.
What was the Society?
The Marshall Plan was,as you mentioned, a huge reason for Europe’s recovery, but another reason was simply the fact that Europe was no longer at war. The end of the war meant that Europe was reopened to foreign investment, and could sell to anyone in the world. During the war, occupied Europe’s opportunity to export was significantly reduced.
Also in terms of exports and manufacturing, occupied Europe was cut off from many world markets, including the oil markets. Once Europe’s isolation was ended, it could more easily access commodities from the rest of the world, and use those to rebuild and grow its economy.
A third reason that Europe came back so strongly was that without the damage that the Allies inflicted all over Europe and without the demands of the wartime economy, it could start growing again. The Axis had stifled the economic growth for 6 years, and so there were years of pent up demand built up. Also, Europe had been the manufacturing center of Europe, and although the U.S. had definitely become the economic leader of the world, Europe still had a strong presence in the economy.
I hope this answers your question; I realize it is a bit of a laundry list, but those were the factors that helped Europe bounce back.
What was the New Science?
SCIENCE AFTER WORLD WAR II
Taught by Alexei Kojevnikov at California Institute of Technology, 1997.
Textbooks Synopsis
Schedule of readings and topics
Textbooks
Science After ‘40, ed. A.Thackray, - Osiris, vol. 7 (1992);
James D.Watson, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery and the Structure of DNA. (Mentor, 1969);
Big Science: The Growth of Large-Scale Research, eds. P.Galison, B.Hevly (Stanford 1992);
David Dickson, The New Politics of Science (Chicago, 1984)
Synopsis
The practice of science and its social role changed dramatically as a result of World War II. The course offers a comparative perspective on the development of sciences in different countries and political systems - the USA, Soviet Union, Europe - during the Cold War. The topics considered include the emergence of big science, new sources of funding, political and military influences on science, the international competition, environmental crisis and response to it, criticism of science at the end of the century. The Cold War era has recently come to an end - what changes for science may follow from this?
Schedule of Readings and Topics
- The Bomb.
Lawrence Badash, Scientists and the development of nuclear weapons: from fission to the Limited Test Ban Treaty 1939-1963 (Atlantic Highlands, 1995)
“The Crucibles of Farm Hall,” - in: Mark Walker, Nazi Science: Myth, Truth, and the German Atomic Bomb (New York, 1995), 207-241
Alexei Kojevnikov, “Soviet Project before and after the American Bomb”, - Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 19 (1996), 165-167, 173-177.
- “Swords into Ploughshares”: War’s Legacy.
“Scientific Activities in the Government, 1940-1962,” - NSF Report 62-37;
Roger Geiger, “Science, Universities, and National Defense, 1945-1970” - Osiris 7 (1992) 26-48
Paul Forman, “Inventing the Maser in Postwar America” - Osiris 7 (1992) 105-134
- Molecular Biology
Lily Kay, The Molecular Vision of Life. Caltech, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Rise of the New Biology (Oxford 1993) Ch. 7-8.
James D.Watson. The Double Helix. (1968)
Pnina Abir-Am, “The Politics of Macromolecules: Molecular Biologists, Biochemists, and Rhetoric” - Osiris 7 (1992) 164-191
- The Space Age
Walter A. McDougall. The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (Basic Books 1985);
Michael L. Smith, “Selling the Moon: The U.S. Manned Space Program and the triumph of commodity scientism,” - in: The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American history, 1880-1980, eds. Richard W. Fox, T. J. Jackson Lears. (New York 1983)175-236.
Ron Doel, “Evaluating Soviet Lunar Science in Cold War America” - Osiris 7 (1992) 238-264
- Changing Politics of Science
Derek J. de Solla Price. Little Science, Big Science (New York, 1963)
Daniel J. Kevles, “New revolt against science,” - The Physicists (Harvard 1995) 393-409. David Dickson. The New Politics of Science. (1984) Introduction and Ch.1,3.
- The Environment
Spencer Weart, “Global Warming, Cold War, and the Evolution of Research Plans,” - in press in: Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 27 (1997) 319-356.
Dorothy Nelkin, “Scientists and Professional Responsibility: The Experience of American Ecologists” - Social Studies of Science, 7 (1977) 75-95.
Samuel P. Hays, “The Politics of Environments Administration,” - in: The New American State, ed. L.Galambos (Baltimore 1987) 21-53;
Sheila Jasanoff, “Science, Politics, and the Renegotiation of Expertise at EPA” - Osiris 7 (1992) 195-217
- Big Science
Robert Seidel, “The Origins of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.”
Dominique Pestre, John Krige, “Some Thoughts on the early History of CERN.”
Robert W. Smith, “The Biggest Kind of Big Science: Astronomers and the Space Telescope.”
- all in: Big Science. The Growth of Large-Scale Research. (1992) 21-45, 78-99, 184-211
- Computing
Peter Galison, “The Ontology of the Enemy: Norbert Wiener and the Cybernetic Vision”, Critical Inquiry, 21 (1994) 228-66.
Stan Augarten, Bit by Bit: An Illustrated History of Computers. (New York, 1984)
- End of the Cold War Science
David Dickson, The New Politics of Science. (1984) Ch. 4.
Yakov M. Rabkin. Science between the Superpowers. (New York 1988)
Loren Graham, “Big Science in the Last Years of the Big Soviet Union” - Osiris. 7 (1992) 49-71 Daniel J. Kevles, “Reflections on the Death of the SSC and the Life of the Human Genome Project,” - in Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences
- In Search of New Agendas
“Chaos: a new paradigm,” - in: David Ruelle, Chance and Chaos, (Princeton, 1991) 66-79
“Genetics, Embryology and Gene Action,” - in: Evelyn Fox Keller, Refiguring Life: Metaphors of Twentieth-Century Biology (Columbia 1995)
Bruce V.Lewenstein, “Cold Fusion and Hot History,” - Osiris 7 (1992) 135-163
David Dickson, The New Politics of Science, (1984) Ch. 2, 5, 7.
