A. Kemp-Welch (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198278665
- eISBN:
- 9780191684227
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198278665.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. ...
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Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. This collection of chapters provides is a systematic study of his ideas. The book analyses three major areas of his thought: economics and the peasantry, politics and international relations, and culture and science, and examines his influence both on his contemporaries and on subsequent thinkers. The introduction establishes the context for this discussion, and also provides a historical evaluation of Bukharin's role in relation to the emergence of Stalinism, the phenomenon that finally removed him from the political stage. Contributors include Anna diBiagio, John Biggart, V. P. Danilov, Peter Ferdinand, Neil Harding, A. Kemp-Welch, Robert Lewis, and Alec Nove.Less
Nikolai Bukharin was a pioneer and founder member of Soviet Communism. An Old Bolshevik and a close comrade of Lenin, he was shot by Stalin, but eventually reinstated, posthumously, under Gorbachev. This collection of chapters provides is a systematic study of his ideas. The book analyses three major areas of his thought: economics and the peasantry, politics and international relations, and culture and science, and examines his influence both on his contemporaries and on subsequent thinkers. The introduction establishes the context for this discussion, and also provides a historical evaluation of Bukharin's role in relation to the emergence of Stalinism, the phenomenon that finally removed him from the political stage. Contributors include Anna diBiagio, John Biggart, V. P. Danilov, Peter Ferdinand, Neil Harding, A. Kemp-Welch, Robert Lewis, and Alec Nove.
Hal Brands
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124629
- eISBN:
- 9780813134925
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124629.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book ...
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Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book dissects numerous attempts, after the collapse of Communism, to devise a new grand strategy that could match containment's moral clarity and political efficacy. In the 1990s, the Bush and Clinton administrations eventually acknowledged that they could not reduce America's multifaceted post-Cold War objectives to a single fundamental precept. After 9/11, George W. Bush promoted the war on terror as America's new global mission, but this potential successor to containment lost much of its strength as conflicts in the Middle East weakened public morale. This book aims to shed new light on America's search for purpose in the politically volatile new world of the twenty-first century.Less
Containing Communism was the primary goal of American foreign policy for four decades, allowing generations of political leaders to build consensus atop a universally accepted foundation. This book dissects numerous attempts, after the collapse of Communism, to devise a new grand strategy that could match containment's moral clarity and political efficacy. In the 1990s, the Bush and Clinton administrations eventually acknowledged that they could not reduce America's multifaceted post-Cold War objectives to a single fundamental precept. After 9/11, George W. Bush promoted the war on terror as America's new global mission, but this potential successor to containment lost much of its strength as conflicts in the Middle East weakened public morale. This book aims to shed new light on America's search for purpose in the politically volatile new world of the twenty-first century.
Alex Pravda (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199276141
- eISBN:
- 9780191603341
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199276145.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
This book features a collection of essays on Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics. The essays focus on the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, his policies, how he compares with his ...
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This book features a collection of essays on Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics. The essays focus on the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, his policies, how he compares with his predecessors, as well as changes in Russia’s political landscape. This volume is a present from colleagues and friends to Archie Brown on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of St. Antony’s College. Brown has gained international recognition for his studies on the politics of Communist and post-Communist states, particularly Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. A bibliography of Brown’s complete works from the mid-1960s to the present is included.Less
This book features a collection of essays on Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics. The essays focus on the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, his policies, how he compares with his predecessors, as well as changes in Russia’s political landscape. This volume is a present from colleagues and friends to Archie Brown on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of St. Antony’s College. Brown has gained international recognition for his studies on the politics of Communist and post-Communist states, particularly Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. A bibliography of Brown’s complete works from the mid-1960s to the present is included.
Henning Grunwald
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199609048
- eISBN:
- 9780191744280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609048.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an ...
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What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an exclusive focus on reactionary judges and a preoccupation with number-crunching verdicts has obscured precisely that aspect of trials most fascinating to contemporary observers: its drama. Drawing on untapped sources and material previously inaccessible in English, it shows how an innovative group of party lawyers transformed dry legal proceedings into spectacular ideological clashes. Supported by powerful party legal offices (hitherto almost entirely disregarded), they developed a sophisticated repertoire of techniques at the intersection of criminal law, politics, and public relations. Harnessing the emotional appeal of tens of thousands of trials, Communists and (emulating them) National Socialist institutionalized party legal aid in order to build their ideological communities. Defendants turned into martyrs, trials into performances of ideological self-sacrifice, and the courtroom into a ‘revolutionary stage’, as one prominent party lawyer put it. This political justice as ‘revolutionary stage’ powerfully impacted Weimar political culture. This book's argument about the theatricality of justice helps explain Weimar's demise but transcends interwar Germany. Trials were compelling not because they offered instruction about the revolutionary struggle, but because in a sense they were the revolutionary struggle, admittedly for the time being played out in the grit-your-teeth, clench-your-fist mode of the theatrical ‘as if’. The ideological struggle, their message ran, left no room for fairness, no possibility of a ‘neutral platform’: justice was unattainable until the Republic was destroyed.Less
What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an exclusive focus on reactionary judges and a preoccupation with number-crunching verdicts has obscured precisely that aspect of trials most fascinating to contemporary observers: its drama. Drawing on untapped sources and material previously inaccessible in English, it shows how an innovative group of party lawyers transformed dry legal proceedings into spectacular ideological clashes. Supported by powerful party legal offices (hitherto almost entirely disregarded), they developed a sophisticated repertoire of techniques at the intersection of criminal law, politics, and public relations. Harnessing the emotional appeal of tens of thousands of trials, Communists and (emulating them) National Socialist institutionalized party legal aid in order to build their ideological communities. Defendants turned into martyrs, trials into performances of ideological self-sacrifice, and the courtroom into a ‘revolutionary stage’, as one prominent party lawyer put it. This political justice as ‘revolutionary stage’ powerfully impacted Weimar political culture. This book's argument about the theatricality of justice helps explain Weimar's demise but transcends interwar Germany. Trials were compelling not because they offered instruction about the revolutionary struggle, but because in a sense they were the revolutionary struggle, admittedly for the time being played out in the grit-your-teeth, clench-your-fist mode of the theatrical ‘as if’. The ideological struggle, their message ran, left no room for fairness, no possibility of a ‘neutral platform’: justice was unattainable until the Republic was destroyed.
Alex Pravda
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199276141
- eISBN:
- 9780191603341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199276145.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
This chapter begins with descriptions of the life and accomplishments of Archie Brown, Britain’s foremost expert on Russian politics. In the last 40 years, Brown has gained international recognition ...
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This chapter begins with descriptions of the life and accomplishments of Archie Brown, Britain’s foremost expert on Russian politics. In the last 40 years, Brown has gained international recognition for his scholarly work on leadership and political change in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Brown’s insights into the sources of within-system reform, the role of Gorbachev in transforming Soviet Communism, and leadership and democratisation in post-Communist Russia are discussed.Less
This chapter begins with descriptions of the life and accomplishments of Archie Brown, Britain’s foremost expert on Russian politics. In the last 40 years, Brown has gained international recognition for his scholarly work on leadership and political change in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Brown’s insights into the sources of within-system reform, the role of Gorbachev in transforming Soviet Communism, and leadership and democratisation in post-Communist Russia are discussed.
Isaiah Berlin
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199249893
- eISBN:
- 9780191598807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924989X.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This essay examines the origins of three political doctrines of the twentieth‐century—Communism, Fascism, and Marxism—which Berlin linked through attributing to them the assumption that human life ...
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This essay examines the origins of three political doctrines of the twentieth‐century—Communism, Fascism, and Marxism—which Berlin linked through attributing to them the assumption that human life tended in ‘only one direction’. He contrasted this briefly with his own view that human goals were really various and ‘at times incompatible’.Less
This essay examines the origins of three political doctrines of the twentieth‐century—Communism, Fascism, and Marxism—which Berlin linked through attributing to them the assumption that human life tended in ‘only one direction’. He contrasted this briefly with his own view that human goals were really various and ‘at times incompatible’.
George Schöpflin
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199248155
- eISBN:
- 9780191602955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924815X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This paper explores the problems of liberal pluralism in post-Communist Central and South-Eastern Europe. It argues that the Anglo-Saxon analyses of post-Communism are hampered by the analysts’ own ...
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This paper explores the problems of liberal pluralism in post-Communist Central and South-Eastern Europe. It argues that the Anglo-Saxon analyses of post-Communism are hampered by the analysts’ own cultural baggage – the assumptions they make on the nature of democratic best practice. Central and South Eastern Europe will develop their own democratic norms, concepts, and patterns which will be unique and democratic. Deeper and more thoughtful assessments of the success and failure criteria of democracy are needed than those offered by Anglo-Saxon analysis.Less
This paper explores the problems of liberal pluralism in post-Communist Central and South-Eastern Europe. It argues that the Anglo-Saxon analyses of post-Communism are hampered by the analysts’ own cultural baggage – the assumptions they make on the nature of democratic best practice. Central and South Eastern Europe will develop their own democratic norms, concepts, and patterns which will be unique and democratic. Deeper and more thoughtful assessments of the success and failure criteria of democracy are needed than those offered by Anglo-Saxon analysis.
Russell Hardin
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198290841
- eISBN:
- 9780191599415
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198290845.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly ...
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The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly right. What capitalism mainly needed was free markets, and the US Constitution went very far toward providing that interstate commerce would not be trammeled by the states acting for narrow interests against farmers and producers in other states. In the conflicts between commerce, small farming, and plantation agrarianism, nearly neutral government was good for the longer‐run workability of the constitution and its government. The fundamentally important issue in the design of constitutions is to enable rather than hinder economic transitions that are not well understood in advance. When the economies of eastern socialist regimes ceased to benefit from centrally controlled mobilization to do what was already well done elsewhere, their Communist governments were an obstacle to developing in other ways and, in particular, to making the transition to market economies.Less
The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly right. What capitalism mainly needed was free markets, and the US Constitution went very far toward providing that interstate commerce would not be trammeled by the states acting for narrow interests against farmers and producers in other states. In the conflicts between commerce, small farming, and plantation agrarianism, nearly neutral government was good for the longer‐run workability of the constitution and its government. The fundamentally important issue in the design of constitutions is to enable rather than hinder economic transitions that are not well understood in advance. When the economies of eastern socialist regimes ceased to benefit from centrally controlled mobilization to do what was already well done elsewhere, their Communist governments were an obstacle to developing in other ways and, in particular, to making the transition to market economies.
Geir Lundestad
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266685
- eISBN:
- 9780191601057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266689.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
In the late 1960s, the wider framework for and the basic structure of the North Atlantic alliance was being challenged on virtually all fronts at the same time, causing the need for a reappraisal of ...
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In the late 1960s, the wider framework for and the basic structure of the North Atlantic alliance was being challenged on virtually all fronts at the same time, causing the need for a reappraisal of relationships. These challenges included: the continuing Cold War with the Soviet Union and its allies, where the confrontation continued, but was now being combined with détente (i.e. cooperation on important military, political, and economic issues); the change in the American–European relationship resulting from Europe striking out more on its own; the perceived decline of the US by the Nixon administration and its resulting need to cooperate with the other economic centres of the world; outside Europe, the combination of the rise of OPEC and the volatility of the Middle East, which highlighted a growing energy problem that was to prove quite troublesome in Atlantic relations; and the effect of the rise of Japan and the Pacific rim in redefining the role and importance of Western Europe in the world. All these redefinitions imposed a strain on American–European relations in the period 1969–1977, but even though the resulting conflicts were now more structural than they had been earlier, they were still contained within the alliance framework, for both the US and Western Europe still needed a certain degree of cooperation and mutual dependence. The four main sections following the explanatory preamble to this chapter discuss various aspects of this conflict and cooperation between the US and Western Europe. They are: The US, Western Europe, and Détente; Nixon–Kissinger's Reappraisal of European Integration, 1969–1976; The Southern Flank [of Europe], Communism, and the US—a discussion of the political situations in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Italy (and Iceland); and Conflict, but Still Primarily Cooperation.Less
In the late 1960s, the wider framework for and the basic structure of the North Atlantic alliance was being challenged on virtually all fronts at the same time, causing the need for a reappraisal of relationships. These challenges included: the continuing Cold War with the Soviet Union and its allies, where the confrontation continued, but was now being combined with détente (i.e. cooperation on important military, political, and economic issues); the change in the American–European relationship resulting from Europe striking out more on its own; the perceived decline of the US by the Nixon administration and its resulting need to cooperate with the other economic centres of the world; outside Europe, the combination of the rise of OPEC and the volatility of the Middle East, which highlighted a growing energy problem that was to prove quite troublesome in Atlantic relations; and the effect of the rise of Japan and the Pacific rim in redefining the role and importance of Western Europe in the world. All these redefinitions imposed a strain on American–European relations in the period 1969–1977, but even though the resulting conflicts were now more structural than they had been earlier, they were still contained within the alliance framework, for both the US and Western Europe still needed a certain degree of cooperation and mutual dependence. The four main sections following the explanatory preamble to this chapter discuss various aspects of this conflict and cooperation between the US and Western Europe. They are: The US, Western Europe, and Détente; Nixon–Kissinger's Reappraisal of European Integration, 1969–1976; The Southern Flank [of Europe], Communism, and the US—a discussion of the political situations in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Italy (and Iceland); and Conflict, but Still Primarily Cooperation.
David Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198275282
- eISBN:
- 9780191598739
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198275285.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
International society in the nineteenth century witnessed the assertion of special rights for great powers and some strengthening of the Westphalian bases of international order in the Concert of ...
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International society in the nineteenth century witnessed the assertion of special rights for great powers and some strengthening of the Westphalian bases of international order in the Concert of Europe. The system collapsed with the First World War and faced its strongest challenge to date from the Russian Revolution. The ideological challenge of Marxism and the Russian Revolution stemmed from its claim that class was the motive force of history and that the Communist Party possessed a unique insight into the laws of history. However, revolutionary internationalism in Soviet foreign policy was soon accompanied by more cautious policies, amounting to a partial socialization. This process reached a peak under Mikhail Gorbachev who brought to a crisis point the central paradox of the Soviet state: that its legitimacy rested upon its claim to be the ‘socialist fatherland’ but it could not avoid an identity as an orthodox state.Less
International society in the nineteenth century witnessed the assertion of special rights for great powers and some strengthening of the Westphalian bases of international order in the Concert of Europe. The system collapsed with the First World War and faced its strongest challenge to date from the Russian Revolution. The ideological challenge of Marxism and the Russian Revolution stemmed from its claim that class was the motive force of history and that the Communist Party possessed a unique insight into the laws of history. However, revolutionary internationalism in Soviet foreign policy was soon accompanied by more cautious policies, amounting to a partial socialization. This process reached a peak under Mikhail Gorbachev who brought to a crisis point the central paradox of the Soviet state: that its legitimacy rested upon its claim to be the ‘socialist fatherland’ but it could not avoid an identity as an orthodox state.
Richard Heeks and Mihaiela Grundey
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199241057
- eISBN:
- 9780191714290
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199241057.003.0014
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology
The Communist Party took power in Romania after the Second World War and Romania formed part of the ‘Eastern bloc’ of Soviet satellite states. The dramatic events of December 1989 overthrew the ...
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The Communist Party took power in Romania after the Second World War and Romania formed part of the ‘Eastern bloc’ of Soviet satellite states. The dramatic events of December 1989 overthrew the authoritarian regime, and led to the country's transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy. This chapter examines the pre-transitional and transitional development of one particular part of the Romanian economy — the IT industry, focusing on the hardware and software industries.Less
The Communist Party took power in Romania after the Second World War and Romania formed part of the ‘Eastern bloc’ of Soviet satellite states. The dramatic events of December 1989 overthrew the authoritarian regime, and led to the country's transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy. This chapter examines the pre-transitional and transitional development of one particular part of the Romanian economy — the IT industry, focusing on the hardware and software industries.
Jennifer M. Miller and Udi Greenberg
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266915
- eISBN:
- 9780191938177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter examines the constitutive role of nineteenth and early twentieth-century anti-Catholic polemics in shaping anti-Communist rhetoric during the early Cold War. It charts how crucial ...
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This chapter examines the constitutive role of nineteenth and early twentieth-century anti-Catholic polemics in shaping anti-Communist rhetoric during the early Cold War. It charts how crucial anti-Catholic tropes, according to which Catholicism denied free will, perpetuated psychological and spiritual enslavement, and perverted follower’s emotional lives, resurfaced as an anti-Communist tropes in 1940s and 1950s. Anti-communist writers, both consciously and unconsciously, drew on these anti-Catholic tropes to declare that Communism denied free thought through brainwashing, expectations of total obedience, and spiritual enslavement. These conceptual and rhetorical continuities, we argue, help explain why many thinkers conceived Communism as a threat not only to economic or political orders, but also to the psychological and emotional foundations of civilization itself.Less
This chapter examines the constitutive role of nineteenth and early twentieth-century anti-Catholic polemics in shaping anti-Communist rhetoric during the early Cold War. It charts how crucial anti-Catholic tropes, according to which Catholicism denied free will, perpetuated psychological and spiritual enslavement, and perverted follower’s emotional lives, resurfaced as an anti-Communist tropes in 1940s and 1950s. Anti-communist writers, both consciously and unconsciously, drew on these anti-Catholic tropes to declare that Communism denied free thought through brainwashing, expectations of total obedience, and spiritual enslavement. These conceptual and rhetorical continuities, we argue, help explain why many thinkers conceived Communism as a threat not only to economic or political orders, but also to the psychological and emotional foundations of civilization itself.
Uta Andrea Balbier
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266915
- eISBN:
- 9780191938177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Anti-Communism constituted a core feature of Billy Graham’s preaching in the 1950s. In Graham’s sermons Communism did not just stand for the anti-religious thread of an atheistic ideology, as it was ...
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Anti-Communism constituted a core feature of Billy Graham’s preaching in the 1950s. In Graham’s sermons Communism did not just stand for the anti-religious thread of an atheistic ideology, as it was traditionally used in Protestant Fundamentalist circles, but also for its opposition to American freedom and Free Market Capitalism. This article argues that the term Communism took on significantly new meaning in the evangelical milieu after the Second World War, indicating the new evangelicals’ ambition to restore, defend, and strengthen Christianity by linking it into the discourse on American Cold War patriotism.
This article will contrast the anti-Communist rhetoric of Billy Graham and other leading evangelical figures of the 1950s, such as Harold Ockenga, with the anti-Communist rhetoric used by early Fundamentalists in the 1910s and 1920s. Back then, Communism was predominantly interpreted as a genuine threat to Christianity. The term also made appearances in eschatological interpretations regarding the imminent end-times. The more secular interpretation of Communism as a political and economic counter-offer by evangelical preachers such as Billy Graham will be discussed as an important indicator of the politicization and implied secularization of the evangelical milieu after the Second World War.Less
Anti-Communism constituted a core feature of Billy Graham’s preaching in the 1950s. In Graham’s sermons Communism did not just stand for the anti-religious thread of an atheistic ideology, as it was traditionally used in Protestant Fundamentalist circles, but also for its opposition to American freedom and Free Market Capitalism. This article argues that the term Communism took on significantly new meaning in the evangelical milieu after the Second World War, indicating the new evangelicals’ ambition to restore, defend, and strengthen Christianity by linking it into the discourse on American Cold War patriotism.
This article will contrast the anti-Communist rhetoric of Billy Graham and other leading evangelical figures of the 1950s, such as Harold Ockenga, with the anti-Communist rhetoric used by early Fundamentalists in the 1910s and 1920s. Back then, Communism was predominantly interpreted as a genuine threat to Christianity. The term also made appearances in eschatological interpretations regarding the imminent end-times. The more secular interpretation of Communism as a political and economic counter-offer by evangelical preachers such as Billy Graham will be discussed as an important indicator of the politicization and implied secularization of the evangelical milieu after the Second World War.
Clemens Six
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266915
- eISBN:
- 9780191938177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
Decolonisation in South and Southeast Asia after 1945 was a period of intense negotiations over the role of religion in postcolonial society. For many witnesses in the religious field, religion had ...
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Decolonisation in South and Southeast Asia after 1945 was a period of intense negotiations over the role of religion in postcolonial society. For many witnesses in the religious field, religion had to be defended against primarily three threats: the changing power structures of imperial decline; communism; and secular nationalism. In this chapter I examine in how far the (Christian) concept of apologetics is suitable for world-historical research. My argument is that apologetics can indeed broaden our conceptual and empirical understanding of the twentieth century and deepen our understanding of religion and decolonisation. To do so, I propose to distinguish between three different forms of apologetics in word and deed: transnational forms of apologetics (illustrated by the theologies and institutional practices of the Church Missionary Society), national-majoritarian apologetics (discussed with the example of the Hindu-nationalist RSS in post-Partition India), and national-adaptive apologetics (as practices by Muhammadiyah in early-postcolonial Indonesia).Less
Decolonisation in South and Southeast Asia after 1945 was a period of intense negotiations over the role of religion in postcolonial society. For many witnesses in the religious field, religion had to be defended against primarily three threats: the changing power structures of imperial decline; communism; and secular nationalism. In this chapter I examine in how far the (Christian) concept of apologetics is suitable for world-historical research. My argument is that apologetics can indeed broaden our conceptual and empirical understanding of the twentieth century and deepen our understanding of religion and decolonisation. To do so, I propose to distinguish between three different forms of apologetics in word and deed: transnational forms of apologetics (illustrated by the theologies and institutional practices of the Church Missionary Society), national-majoritarian apologetics (discussed with the example of the Hindu-nationalist RSS in post-Partition India), and national-adaptive apologetics (as practices by Muhammadiyah in early-postcolonial Indonesia).
Victoria Smolkin
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266915
- eISBN:
- 9780191938177
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
In the Soviet Union, the figure of the “atheist apologist”—a propagandist charged with publicly denouncing religion and spreading atheism—emerged during Nikita Khrushchev’s antireligious campaign ...
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In the Soviet Union, the figure of the “atheist apologist”—a propagandist charged with publicly denouncing religion and spreading atheism—emerged during Nikita Khrushchev’s antireligious campaign (1958-1964). When Khrushchev came to power, he denounced Stalin’s more pragmatic approach to religious affairs and called for a return to ideological purity. The Soviet Union had entered a new historical stage – “Building Communism” – which again made religion a problem and atheism a priority. Yet, as the party mobilised for a new antireligious campaign, it realized that it lacked the institutions, expertise, and cadres to conduct atheist work, and that it had to build an atheist apparatus. This made the figure of the religious apostate turned atheist apologist especially valuable., and under Khrushchev, hundreds of believers and clergy publicly broke with religion. Among them, Evgraf Duluman (1928-2013) and Aleksandr Osipov (1911-1967) were the most prominent. These figures transformed a private spiritual crisis into a public vocation, in the process becoming the party’s atheist apologists. Based on archival sources and the author’s interviews with former atheist cadres, this chapter looks at what atheist apologists can reveal about the Soviet atheist apparatus and the party’s struggle to overcome religion, spread atheism, and build Communism.Less
In the Soviet Union, the figure of the “atheist apologist”—a propagandist charged with publicly denouncing religion and spreading atheism—emerged during Nikita Khrushchev’s antireligious campaign (1958-1964). When Khrushchev came to power, he denounced Stalin’s more pragmatic approach to religious affairs and called for a return to ideological purity. The Soviet Union had entered a new historical stage – “Building Communism” – which again made religion a problem and atheism a priority. Yet, as the party mobilised for a new antireligious campaign, it realized that it lacked the institutions, expertise, and cadres to conduct atheist work, and that it had to build an atheist apparatus. This made the figure of the religious apostate turned atheist apologist especially valuable., and under Khrushchev, hundreds of believers and clergy publicly broke with religion. Among them, Evgraf Duluman (1928-2013) and Aleksandr Osipov (1911-1967) were the most prominent. These figures transformed a private spiritual crisis into a public vocation, in the process becoming the party’s atheist apologists. Based on archival sources and the author’s interviews with former atheist cadres, this chapter looks at what atheist apologists can reveal about the Soviet atheist apparatus and the party’s struggle to overcome religion, spread atheism, and build Communism.
Keith Robbins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198263715
- eISBN:
- 9780191714283
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263715.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
The book takes a wide-ranging look at all of the main bodies — Anglican, Free Church, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic — which collectively make up ‘the Christian Church’. Their distinctive beliefs, ...
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The book takes a wide-ranging look at all of the main bodies — Anglican, Free Church, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic — which collectively make up ‘the Christian Church’. Their distinctive beliefs, attitudes, structures, and personalities receive attention, but all are firmly set in social, political, and cultural contexts. The comparisons, connections, and contrasts across England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales that raise issues of identity and allegiance, particularly at moments of political change and conflict, are emphasized. The book identifies a series of underlying tensions. In charting the stuttering development of ecumenism, it stresses a place between ‘unity’ and ‘diversity’, both within and between the Churches. In considering ideologies, it notes contrasting attitudes to liberal democracy, communism, and fascism. In analysing attitudes during the two world wars, the Cold War, and decolonization, it detects a place between patriotism and pacifism. In considering social welfare, it observes support for ‘the Welfare State’ and some apprehension about its implications. These and other cognate matters, particularly the control and content of education, are manifestations of a wider issue which pervades the book: the ambiguous ending of ‘Christendom’. The context in which the churches functioned at the beginning of the 20th century, in both Britain and Ireland, was very different from that at its close. The final concern, therefore, is with countries variously described as Christian, multi-faith, post-Christian, or secular. The book concludes with an exploration of the puzzling and unresolved uncertainties which this ‘pluralism’ presents, both for the Churches and the wider society.Less
The book takes a wide-ranging look at all of the main bodies — Anglican, Free Church, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic — which collectively make up ‘the Christian Church’. Their distinctive beliefs, attitudes, structures, and personalities receive attention, but all are firmly set in social, political, and cultural contexts. The comparisons, connections, and contrasts across England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales that raise issues of identity and allegiance, particularly at moments of political change and conflict, are emphasized. The book identifies a series of underlying tensions. In charting the stuttering development of ecumenism, it stresses a place between ‘unity’ and ‘diversity’, both within and between the Churches. In considering ideologies, it notes contrasting attitudes to liberal democracy, communism, and fascism. In analysing attitudes during the two world wars, the Cold War, and decolonization, it detects a place between patriotism and pacifism. In considering social welfare, it observes support for ‘the Welfare State’ and some apprehension about its implications. These and other cognate matters, particularly the control and content of education, are manifestations of a wider issue which pervades the book: the ambiguous ending of ‘Christendom’. The context in which the churches functioned at the beginning of the 20th century, in both Britain and Ireland, was very different from that at its close. The final concern, therefore, is with countries variously described as Christian, multi-faith, post-Christian, or secular. The book concludes with an exploration of the puzzling and unresolved uncertainties which this ‘pluralism’ presents, both for the Churches and the wider society.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the ...
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In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the first comprehensive look at the far-reaching social engineering process that ensued. The book examines how collectivization assaulted the very foundations of rural life, transforming village communities that were organized around kinship and status hierarchies into segments of large bureaucratic organizations, forged by the language of “class warfare” yet saturated with vindictive personal struggles. Collectivization not only overturned property relations, the book argues, but was crucial in creating the Party-state that emerged, its mechanisms of rule, and the “new persons” that were its subjects. The book explores how ill-prepared cadres, themselves unconvinced of collectivization's promises, implemented technologies and pedagogies imported from the Soviet Union through actions that contributed to the excessive use of force, which Party leaders were often unable to control. In addition, the book shows how local responses to the Party's initiatives compelled the regime to modify its plans and negotiate outcomes. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and ethnographic data, the book sheds new light on collectivization in the Soviet era and on the complex tensions underlying and constraining political authority.Less
In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the first comprehensive look at the far-reaching social engineering process that ensued. The book examines how collectivization assaulted the very foundations of rural life, transforming village communities that were organized around kinship and status hierarchies into segments of large bureaucratic organizations, forged by the language of “class warfare” yet saturated with vindictive personal struggles. Collectivization not only overturned property relations, the book argues, but was crucial in creating the Party-state that emerged, its mechanisms of rule, and the “new persons” that were its subjects. The book explores how ill-prepared cadres, themselves unconvinced of collectivization's promises, implemented technologies and pedagogies imported from the Soviet Union through actions that contributed to the excessive use of force, which Party leaders were often unable to control. In addition, the book shows how local responses to the Party's initiatives compelled the regime to modify its plans and negotiate outcomes. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and ethnographic data, the book sheds new light on collectivization in the Soviet era and on the complex tensions underlying and constraining political authority.
Anne T. Mocko
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195394337
- eISBN:
- 9780199777358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394337.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter argues that the political position evident in the work of Mircea Eliade is an opposition to Communism. The chapter utilizes a combination of Eliade’s academic, fictional, personal, and ...
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This chapter argues that the political position evident in the work of Mircea Eliade is an opposition to Communism. The chapter utilizes a combination of Eliade’s academic, fictional, personal, and early political writings to trace out (1) an opposition to philosophical Marxism, (2) an opposition to invasive governments generally, and (3) an opposition to specific Communist and Fascist regimes. The chapter contends that the political sensibility available in Eliade’s writing is deeply conservative but not Fascist or paramilitary.Less
This chapter argues that the political position evident in the work of Mircea Eliade is an opposition to Communism. The chapter utilizes a combination of Eliade’s academic, fictional, personal, and early political writings to trace out (1) an opposition to philosophical Marxism, (2) an opposition to invasive governments generally, and (3) an opposition to specific Communist and Fascist regimes. The chapter contends that the political sensibility available in Eliade’s writing is deeply conservative but not Fascist or paramilitary.
Keith Robbins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198263715
- eISBN:
- 9780191714283
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263715.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
This chapter positions the churches in the European crisis of the 1930s. It notes a flourishing of Christian pacifism, strong Catholic support for Franco, broad approval of ‘appeasement’ of German ...
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This chapter positions the churches in the European crisis of the 1930s. It notes a flourishing of Christian pacifism, strong Catholic support for Franco, broad approval of ‘appeasement’ of German grievances but concern about the treatment of the German churches — all in the context of a European struggle between Fascism and Communism. Continental theologians had a divisive impact as Christian doctrine was again reconsidered. There was fresh thought on the relationship between church, community, and state worldwide. Protestant-Catholic relations are particularly considered in divided Ireland and in Scotland. The Second World War (and the Cold War) both raised issues about ‘the Christian West’. Finally, post-war, the churches had to rebuild, literally and metaphorically, in the new era of the Welfare State and Socialism. The 1953 Coronation showed that Christian Britain had appeared to overcome the crises of the two previous decades.Less
This chapter positions the churches in the European crisis of the 1930s. It notes a flourishing of Christian pacifism, strong Catholic support for Franco, broad approval of ‘appeasement’ of German grievances but concern about the treatment of the German churches — all in the context of a European struggle between Fascism and Communism. Continental theologians had a divisive impact as Christian doctrine was again reconsidered. There was fresh thought on the relationship between church, community, and state worldwide. Protestant-Catholic relations are particularly considered in divided Ireland and in Scotland. The Second World War (and the Cold War) both raised issues about ‘the Christian West’. Finally, post-war, the churches had to rebuild, literally and metaphorically, in the new era of the Welfare State and Socialism. The 1953 Coronation showed that Christian Britain had appeared to overcome the crises of the two previous decades.
Helena Waddy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195371277
- eISBN:
- 9780199777341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371277.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter Four discusses identifying the core Nazi membership and building biographies of the leading figures. The narrative continues with partial coordination of Oberammergau’s community council. As ...
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Chapter Four discusses identifying the core Nazi membership and building biographies of the leading figures. The narrative continues with partial coordination of Oberammergau’s community council. As party members introduced a specifically Nazi culture and Catholics maintained their public presence, new joiners flocked to the Nazi party. The chapter turns to the motives for joining revealed through the biographies of top Nazis, both Catholics and Protestants, beginning with the Nazi mayor and including his nemesis within the party, the Motorstorm commander. Two Nazi generations, war-scarred veterans and unemployed youth, made up the core members for whom both anti-Communism and anti-Semitism emerge in the biographies as driving factors. The Nazi leaders introduced in Chapter Four become the characters carrying the narrative of Oberammergau’s Nazi regime in the following chapters. That story resumes with the first Nazi May Day celebrations in Oberammergau and a confrontation over the Corpus Christi procession.Less
Chapter Four discusses identifying the core Nazi membership and building biographies of the leading figures. The narrative continues with partial coordination of Oberammergau’s community council. As party members introduced a specifically Nazi culture and Catholics maintained their public presence, new joiners flocked to the Nazi party. The chapter turns to the motives for joining revealed through the biographies of top Nazis, both Catholics and Protestants, beginning with the Nazi mayor and including his nemesis within the party, the Motorstorm commander. Two Nazi generations, war-scarred veterans and unemployed youth, made up the core members for whom both anti-Communism and anti-Semitism emerge in the biographies as driving factors. The Nazi leaders introduced in Chapter Four become the characters carrying the narrative of Oberammergau’s Nazi regime in the following chapters. That story resumes with the first Nazi May Day celebrations in Oberammergau and a confrontation over the Corpus Christi procession.
