scholarly journals Review article: Is war necessary for economic growth?

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgen Brauer

The article reviews Vernon Ruttan's new book, Is Growth Necessary for Economic Growth? Military Procurement and Technological Development (Oxford University Press, 2006). The subject matter is limited to the post-world war II United States only. Studying six general-purpose technologies emerging from war environments, the book claims that much of the U.S. post-war growth experience can be attributed to them. The reviewer finds that this is not Prof. Ruttan's best work, in part because the underlying research is too casual to support the conclusions drawn.

Author(s):  
Lyn Ragsdale ◽  
Jerrold G. Rusk

Abstract: The chapter considers nonvoting after World War II, a unique electoral period in American history with the lowest nonvoting rates of any period from 1920–2012. The post-war period also boasts the highest economic growth rate of any of the four periods, coupled with the early days of television which transformed politics in the 1950s. In general, economic growth and the introduction of television move nonvoting rates downward. The chapter also considers in detail the struggles leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the law’s impact on nonvoting rates among African Americans. It also uncovers that in the 1960s the Vietnam War increased nonvoting. The chapter begins an analysis of nonvoting at the individual level. The less individuals know about the campaign context and the less they form comparisons between the candidates, the more likely they will say home on Election Day.


Author(s):  
Oskar Stanisław Czarnik

The subject of this article is an overview of Polish publishing in the exile during the World War II and first post-war years. The literary activity was mostly linked to the cultural tradition of the Second Polish Republic. The author describes this phenomenon quantitatively and presents the number of books published in the respective years. He also tries to explain which external factors, not only political and military, but also financial and organizational, affected publications of Polish books around the world. The subject of the debate is also geography of the Polish publishing. It is connected with a long term migration of different groups of people living in exile. The author not only points out the areas where Polish editorial activity was just temporary, but also the areas where it was long-lasting. The book output was a great assistance to Polish people living in diasporas, as well as to readers living in Poland. The following text is an excerpt of the book which is currently being prepared by the author. The book is devoted to the history of Polish publishing in exile.


1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Snyder

The complicated and violent interactions between Ukrainians and Poles during and after World War II have been the subject of competing Ukrainian and Polish historical interpretations. This article sifts through the historical evidence to determine why Ukrainian and Polish memories of that period are so much at odds. The fate of the contested territories of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia was decided ultimately by the Soviet Union, which imposed new borders on Poland. Once those borders had been established, the transfer of Poles from the newly enlarged Soviet Ukraine and the forced removal of Ukrainians from eastern Poland consolidated an “ethnically cleansed” post-war order.


2021 ◽  
pp. 127-144
Author(s):  
Jacek Ziaja

The article is a very modest reason for the history of the religious house of the Congregation of the Grey Sisters of St. Elizabeth in Świebodzice during the years 1866-1945. The author briefly describes the origins of the order, as well as the circumstan-ces of the appearance of the sisters and the location of the religious institution in the city based on cartographic material (map) and iconographic (photos, old postcards). He goes on to mention the subject matter of Elizabethan activities. In addition, it reconstructs the personnel of the religious house during the 1930s in the light of the data contained in the pre-war address books (residents) of the city. Finally, he briefly discusses the history of the religious house during World War II (1939-1945), as well as the tragic post-war fate of individual sisters based on private arrangements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-215
Author(s):  
Janusz Myszczyszyn

Abstract The post-war economic policy of West Germany (FRG) is largely associated with the so-called economic miracle (German: Wirtschaftswunder) and therefore its causes are the subject of many different analyzes. They include the correlation between the rate of economic growth in Germany and the development and transport potential of transport, including rail and road-car transport. This position prompted the author to try to search for long-term interdependencies and thus verify the thesis using the analysis of time series (1950–1989) available for West Germany and using original econometric methods in this field, e.g. unit root test to determine the stationarity and the Engle-Granger cointegration test. In addition to the introduction, the article consists of three parts and conclusions. The broadest one includes the description of the assumptions and stages of the research procedure and its results, both on the empirical and methodological level. It is based on synthetic theoretical foundations presented on the basis of a review of international literature on the subject and review of the essence of the German economic miracle and the main trends in changes in the field of economic growth and transport development in Germany after World War II. The research presented in this way fits into the principles of the new economic history paradigm, which is still not very popular in Europe.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-81
Author(s):  
A. V. Zorin

The article is devoted to one of the aspects of the US European policy after World War II: the issue of loans and credits to affected countries. Using the example of Czechoslovakia, the author tries to answer a number of important questions: did Washington have a sound financial and economic policy towards this country, what goals did it pursue, what were its results? The study is based on the US Department of State archive documents and papers of the American ambassador to Czechoslovakia L.A. Steinhardt. The US financial policy towards Czechoslovakia in the early post-war years was the subject of intense debate in the United States. The author reveals evidence of serious disagreement between economic and political divisions of the State Department about providing of financial assistance to Prague, its size and terms of lending. Particular attention is paid to Steingardt’s position and his attempts to determine American loans and credits to Prague by upholding the property interests of American citizens. These disagreements hindered the development of a single thoughtful course regarding the Czechoslovak Republic and complicated diplomatic relations with Prague; negotiations on the allocation of large loans for the economic recovery of the Czechoslovak Republic dragged on. A fundamental role in the establishment of a new US political course had Secretary of State James Byrnes’ decision, made in the fall of 1946, on the inadmissibility of providing assistance to countries that have taken anti-American positions. This approach was finally entrenched after the Communists coup in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, when the country entered the Soviet sphere of influence. The article concludes that the post-war US policy was not distinguished by integrity and thoughtfulness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 23-70
Author(s):  
Safet Bandžović ◽  

Complex socio-historical processes and turning epochs, as well as numerous segments that are an integral part of people's lives, are the subject of interdisciplinary studies. War is one of the most dramatic, most complex social phenomena. In addition to armed operations, there are a number of other dimensions related to war, starting from psychological, legal, sociological, social, economic, cultural to others. Critical and multiple perspectives contribute to the completion of images of politics, wars and their relations. The disintegrations of the ideological paradigm and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were accompanied by the (re)construction of new national identities, the outbreak and duration of „wars“ of different memories, the reshaping of consciousness and the re-examination of history, especially those related to World War II. The history of that war in Yugoslavia was undoubtedly the history of several wars which were stacked on top of each other. The main issue with Bosniaks in that war is a multiperspectival topic that requires a multidimensional and deideologized presentation of the position and the position of all involved actors. Numerous issues related to that war, the complex position of Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sandžak, the emergence of civic responsibility, Bosniak protection of the vulnerable Serb Orthodox population, humanity and assistance, beyond post-war ideological premises and „official truths“ remained more or less marginalized, although they seek more objective and complete answers from multiple angles, for the sake of a more complete view of the past. What is called „local“ or „regional history“, as evidenced by diverse experiences, indicates the multidimensionality of the past, its features and specifics in a certain area. The Second World War in Sandžak could not be understood more objectively outside the broader Yugoslav context. This is also special for the history of Novi Pazar, the largest city in Sandžak which was the subject of many different political plans and conceptions. The history of this city has several sections. After the withdrawal of German forces from Novi Pazar, the Chetniks tried to conquer this city for three times in the fall of 1941. However, thanks to the dedicated defense and the help of Albanian armed groups from Kosovo, Bosniaks managed to defend themselves and Novi Pazar. Even in such a dramatic situation, numerous examples of humanity, solidarity and assistance of Bosniaks to the intimidated Serb urban population have been recorded. In the most difficult days of the war, when Novi Pazar was exposed to Chetnik attacks, a significant part of Bosniaks took actions to prevent anarchy, to save Serbs from terror and revenge. The task of science is to constantly discover forgotten and unknown parts of the past, to re-examine previous knowledge. Everything that happened has a whole range of perspectives. It is necessary to have a multidimensional understanding of the causes and course of events, circuits and time limits, to explain narrowed alternatives. Any reduction of historical totality to only one dimension is problematic. Every nation, every state, in a way, write their „histories“, remember different personalities, events, dates, emphasize various roles, perpetuates monuments, emphatize with different causes and consequences. Contemporary abuses of the interpretation of the war past, one-sided approaches, fierce prejucides and quasi-historical analyzes in the service of the politics damage interethic relations and lead to further growth of tensions and distancing between nations and states in their region.


2019 ◽  
pp. 162-179
Author(s):  
Kazimierz Łaski

Following the World War II, the advanced capitalist world, in Europe and North America, has evolved through three stages of development. The 1950s and 1960s saw unprecedented economic growth rates that can only partially be explained by post-war recovery, but was principally the result of demand management and a redistributive approach to fiscal policy that kept employment high and tended to equalize incomes. However, in the second stage, economic development slowed down to varying degrees in different countries as policies of demand management and redistribution were abandoned in favor of the market liberalization especially in the labor market. This led to high unemployment, growing economic inequality, and economic stagnation, eventually giving rise to growing indebtedness, culminating in the financial crisis of 2008. The third stage began with the financial crisis in 2008. In Europe, governments were forced to abandon counter-cyclical policies in favor of fiscal and trade balance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-191
Author(s):  
Danijela Trškan

In this paper the author tries to determine the influence of the disintegration of Yugoslavia of 1991 on the implementation of the subject of history in elementary and secondary schools in Slovenia. By analysing the curricula for elementary and secondary schools that were in force until 1990 and those that were issued immediately after Slovenia attained independence, the author has determined that significant changes occurred in these history curricula. Prior to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the curricula above all emphasised familiarisation with and understanding of the development of human society and the labour movement, as well as the history of the Yugoslav nations. They stressed the importance of the liberation struggle of the Yugoslav nations during World War II and the post-war socialist development of Yugoslavia. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia the Slovene curricula for elementary school no longer included the history of Yugoslav nations, while the secondary school curricula preserved the history of other Yugoslav nations for a few more years. The novelty in all history curricula after 1991 was the fact that Slovene history was included in special units or separated from European or world history and in later years gained an even greater role and scope in the Slovene curricula. The subject of history in elementary and secondary schools in Slovenia belonged to those sociological subjects that had undergone greater changes in content precisely due to the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the beginning of the 1990s.


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