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The editorial development of the Encyclopedia of the Cold War, currently being produced by MTM Publishing for the academic and reference publisher Routledge, is underway. The encyclopedia aims to be the first reference work on the Cold War to take advantage of advances in Cold War studies following the fall of the Soviet Union and the opening up of various national archives.
Editorial Structure
Its editorial development is lead by a team of cutting-edge scholars in this newly-transformed field. They are:
Ruud van Dijk, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Will Gray, Purdue University Svetlana Savranskaya, National Security Archive Jeremi Suri, University of Wisconsin-Madison Qiang
Zhai, Auburn University Montgomery
To be published in three volumes and organized alphabetically, the encyclopedia will analyze the Cold War from a range of perspectives which, taken together, form a full and comprehensive study of the international environment that shaped—and was shaped by—the Cold War. The material, in roughly 500 individual articles, includes events, individuals, movements, and concepts relating to political, military, and diplomatic history; economic, social, and cultural phenomena; and artistic and intellectual trends. The third volume will be rounded out with a set of appendices including a comprehensive chronology of the period and an extensive group of primary documents. The document appendix will be compiled with the help of Christian Ostermann, Director of the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The
Encyclopedia’s New Cold War Studies Methodology
Traditional approaches to the study of Cold War history emphasize United States–Soviet relations, political and diplomatic affairs, and the arms race; and scholars working before 1990 relied heavily—out of necessity—on Western archives (especially in the United States). However, the so-called "new" Cold War history, while not ignoring earlier approaches, has vastly increased the archival, geographical, and analytical scope of what now is also called "Cold War studies." While most scholars continue to see the Cold War as lasting, with periods of varying intensity, from roughly 1945 until 1991, the complete or partial opening of new archives (first and foremost in formerly communist countries or their successor states) has led to an internationalization of the field. Traditional scholarship (most prominently the study of United States foreign relations) has continued to produce valuable work, but most of the pathbreaking work in the study of Cold War history has been done by an increasingly international community of scholars using archival collections, oral history, and other sources all over the world and writing genuinely international histories. Indeed, one of the prominent ways in which Cold War history has changed since 1990 is in the increased attention it now pays to the roles of actors other than those in leadership positions in major capitals, such as Washington and Moscow, including participants in social and other movements in East, West, and the developing world. Widening the archival and geographical scope of Cold War studies also has led to analytical innovation and disciplinary expansion. These changes have not replaced the earlier framework of Cold War history, as its contours are still quite visible in new Cold War scholarship. Rather, these changes have widened and deepened our understanding of how the East–West conflict, which started at the end of World War II over the future of the postwar world, shaped the postwar era (and continues to shape our own times). They also have added to our understanding of the complexity of the interactions among a multitude of actors. This new encyclopedia is designed to reflect this new Cold War history. By drawing from the international community of Cold War scholars for its editorial board and authors, and by including a significant section of primary documents reflecting, among other things, a representative choice of the most important archival findings from newly opened Cold War era archives around the world, the encyclopedia aims to be the new reference work of choice on Cold War studies for practicing historians and academics as well as high school and college students. In developing the encyclopedia along these lines, the articles—arranged in A to Z order in the final printed work—will consider and analyze events, trends, and individuals in the following chronological categories. Our aim in establishing the era-by-era categories as the basis for the first stage of developmental work is to encourage the creation of fully textured international “stories” of these topics, aiming to avoid fracturing the analysis into perspectives focused on individual disciplines—diplomatic affairs, political history, military history, etc. We have also included a general category to cover topics that range across time periods as well as disciplines. Categories
of Coverage Era
I: 1945-1953
The Truman–Stalin years, including the Cold War's "pre-history." These are the formative years, when the conflict not only takes shape (in Europe), but also spreads and heats up (in Asia), begins to engender an arms race, and starts to influence participants' domestic affairs. Era II: 1954-1964 The so-called “crisis years,” coinciding with Khrushchev's years in power, during which Khrushchev is a focus in much of what happens, either as initiator or as responder. Key events are: Hungary/Poland and Suez, 1956; the Berlin Crisis, 1958-1963; the Sino-Soviet rift; the Cuban Missile Crisis; growing upheaval in the developing world (Cuba, Vietnam, Laos). At the same time, this era sees smaller nations and groups assert their own roles: European integration; East European challenges to Soviet rule; independence movements in the developing world, the rise of the non-aligned movement. Era III: 1965-1979 The rise and fall of detente. This era is shaped by the stabilization between the main powers (the "North"), in spite of the events in Czechoslovakia and escalating turmoil in the developing world, especially Vietnam, but also in China (the Cultural Revolution), Africa, and the Middle East. Efforts to control, maybe even overcome, the East–West rivalry between the great powers (through arms control initiatives), as well as efforts by various European countries and activists (Ostpolitik, students, the push for what becomes "Helsinki") come into play. Also covered here will be turmoil on the "periphery" (Afghanistan, Central America), and domestic challenges to the governments of major Cold War powers. Era IV: 1980-1991
Renewed East–West tension, including a new phase in the arms race. This coincides with overextension (i.e., Afghanistan) of an increasingly fragile (Poland, for example) Soviet empire, while communist China begins to liberalize its economy. By the middle of the decade the Soviet side begins, first, to withdraw and, next, to disintegrate (Eastern Europe): what started as a conflict based on two competing visions for the postwar world sees the main representative of one negotiate a surrender. General: Ideas, Culture,
Institutions, and Entities While specific events and individuals have shaped the contours of the Cold War, ideas and culture have played a significant role as well. Most of the articles to be covered under this rubric, therefore, relate to general intellectual, political, and cultural trends, many of which have been a source of reenergized analysis taking place under the umbrella of the new “Cold War studies” emerging in the last few years. This category, therefore —given its overarching thematic thrust—encompasses entries that don’t fit into individual eras. It also includes entries on some countries and institutions that reach across the chronological scope of the Cold War. |
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