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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Post WWII: Imagining New Countries Notes taken on May 1, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
the state of the world in 1945
countries that have been completely defeated
ideologies that have been completely discredited
millions of people displaced
Jews of Europe migrating to Palestine, a territory under control of a British government mandate
dreams that have been deferred for a long time
1945 elected a labor government
was seen as time to build a new country that had been neglected them through years of depression and war
they are lonely because they don't have large institutions or large political parties, just a handful of people in several clusters trying to imagine a new country
they are trying to think of the new country they are going to build
Nationalist government has been badly bludgeoned by the war with the Japanese
his Chinese communists have been fighting the Japanese
trained in the elite British school system
able to function capably in both worlds, East and West
formerly Dutch East Indies
independence movement led by Sukarno
problems of nation building
Batavia (Jakarta) is capital
a very large are of geography
very different places and ethnic identities
Islam strong on island of Java
should it include Borneo?
what are their ladders of success?
they are living in environments designed by the colonial powers they are trying to overthrow
they are climbing a ladder that ends up leading to Paris or London, but actually they are trying to reach a level in a different kind of community that they are trying to create
what models are these leaders looking to?
seem to be able to take a large mass of poor people and make them pretty strong and independent pretty quickly
communism has a strong anti-imperialist rhetoric
anti-communists who think democracy is unappealing or too hard
deeply religious but the doctrine of communism scorns religion
but not interested in democracy because of their religion
difficult to look toward Turkey, because it had ostentatiously pointed itself toward secularism, limiting the role of Islam
a pan-Arab ideology was popular
we are on a journey going from here to here to here
words and phrases that other people will understand and recognize
recipes to build your country
Fascism is profoundly discredited
Italy and Germany both in ruins
Japan was flirting with a kind of Holy Fascism ideology, also in ruins
Fascism now doesn't seem to extend beyond Franco's Spain
Social Democracy strong
new countries taking these family of ideas to create their own
countercyclical macroeconomics
the notion that we can influence supply and demand with governmental action
a strong role in government management of the economy
provide people with more personal security in their lives
government in partnership with labor
big government supports big corporations and big unions
Walther Reuther, president of United Auto Workers
powerful union offsetting the big three auto manufacturers: Ford, Chrysler, General Motors
distinctive vision between United States with England
money 1.0 = old gold standard
money 2.0 = gold-dollar standard
instead of relying on a finite amount of metal, you rely on a finite amount of metal linked to paper called dollars
dollars became a hard currency on which people could set exchange rates
Bretton Woods Conference, 1944
730 delegates from 44 Allied nations
American treasury official
accused of being sympathetic and being an active agent for the Soviet Union
sympathetic to the big government, managed economy approach of the Soviet Union
the Bretton Woods system is about very managed economies with big governments
United States supported free trade
but carefully regulated the movement of money across borders
not like the monetary system we have today
World Bank and United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)
for governments to have a bank to help other countries
saved hundreds of thousands of lives distributing assistance to people in need