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Conference
Cold War as the Periphery: Global Change in the 1960s and Beyond
Friday-Saturday
April 18-19, 2008
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43201
See conference photos
Organizers
Paul Chamberlin, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Ursula Gurney, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Ryan Irwin, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History
Robert McMahon, Ralph D. Mershon Professor of History
Overview
In his 1972 essay "The Diffusion of Power," Walt Rostow noted the shift in power in the world community away from Washington and Moscow. Particularly concerned with the developing world, he asked a question that has yet to be fully answered: "Are men capable of organizing this fragile global community of diffusing power in reasonably stable and peaceful ways, or will the diffusion of power lead to more violence and disorder than we already know?"
This conference will explore how this "diffusion of power" transformed global politics in the 1960s and beyond. Bringing together graduate students and junior faculty, it will examine the connections between three broad conceptual questions:
• How did the political and material terrain of the pan-European world change during this period?
• How
did actors inside and outside government bureaucracies interpret and value these changes?
• How
did geopolitical "flashpoints" in the global South rally, reflect, and reconstitute understandings of global power after 1960?
Taken together, these points aim to explore the assumptions underlying Rostow's query, as well as investigate the paradoxes of change in the postcolonial era. Space no doubt emerged for the articulation of alternative visions of world order –- visions often rooted in themes of racial justice, national sovereignty, and human rights -– but questions remain over the depth, nature, and permanence of these transformations.
Conference Schedule
Friday, April 18, 2008
8:30-9 a.m. – Coffee and Pastries
9-9:30 a.m. – Introductions and Opening Remarks
9:30-11:30 a.m. – Session 1: The Western Project
Commentator: Carole Fink, The Ohio State University
Chris Dietrich, University of Texas-Austin, "Emerging Vulnerability in U.S. Foreign Policy: The Strait of Tiran Crisis, May 22 – June 6, 1967"
Patrick Sharma, UCLA, "Robert McNamara, the World Bank Group and the Transformation of the International Development in the 1970s"
Ursula Gurney, The Ohio State University, "The Politics of Change: American Power in the Year of Europe, 1973"
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Lunch
12:30-1:30 p.m. – Plenary Address
Mark Lawrence, University of Texas-Austin, "Containing Globalism: Explaining U.S. Foreign Policy toward the Third World from Kennedy to Kissinger"
1:30-2 p.m. – Break
2-4 p.m. – Session 2: Visions of a Third World
Commentator: Jonathan Winkler, Wright State University
David Webster, University of Toronto, "Managing the New Emerging Forces: State, Non-State and Semi-State Approaches to Maritime Southeast Asia, 1960-1966"
Phil Muehlenbeck, George Washington University, "Seeing Castro in Africa"
Paul Chamberlin, The Ohio State University, "Anarchy and Violence Will Rule the Middle East: Washington Confronts the PLO"
Saturday, April 19, 2008
9:30-11:30 a.m. – Session 3: Looking Beyond Binaries
Commentator: Mytheli Sreenivas, The Ohio State University
Eric Morgan, University of Colorado, "To Thread the Conscience: American Youth and Apartheid"
Thomas Robertson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, "Thinking Globally: Environmentalism, the Cold War, and the Developing World"
Alan McPherson, Howard University, "Empowering Peripheral Men: Rioting and Gender in the 1960s"
11:30-1:30 p.m. – Light Lunch and Roundtable Discussion
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Paul Chamberlin
Ph.D. Candidate in History
Ursula Gurney
Ph.D. Candidate in History
Ryan Irwin
Ph.D. Candidate in History
Robert McMahon
Ralph D. Mershon Professor of History
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