The Journal of Cold War Studies features peer-reviewed articles based on archival research in the former Communist world and in Western countries. Articles in the journal draw on declassified materials and new memoirs to illuminate and raise questions about numerous historical and theoretical concerns: theories of decision-making, deterrence, bureaucratic politics, institutional formation, bargaining, diplomacy, foreign policy conduct, and international relations.
Editor's Note
Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 1–3. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_e_00923?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Articles
Strategic Culture and Thailand's Response to Vietnam's Occupation of Cambodia, 1979–1989: A Cold War Epilogue Gregory V. Raymond Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 4–45. Thailand's role in the Cold War is often seen through the prism of its support for U.S. operations during the Vietnam War. Yet after the departure of U.S. troops from Thai territory in 1976, the Thai government was largely left to fend for itself. Soon after the U.S. withdrawal, a serious crisis arose for Thailand: Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia from 1979 to 1989. Scholars have examined Thailand's diplomacy during this period but have devoted scant attention to Thailand's defense planning. This article considers both the strategic and the operational dimensions of that planning. The analysis shows that Thailand's strategic culture can explain its adroit strategic-level decision-making and its ability to use its relationships with China, the United States, and the Association of South East Asian Nations to make the costs of Vietnam's occupation unsustainably high. In contrast, Thai military organizational culture can help explain why, at the operational level, Thailand's defense planning was compromised by unclear and incoherent military doctrine, materiel procurement, preparedness planning, and resource allocation. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_a_00924?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Alger Hiss at Yalta: A Reassessment of Hiss's Arguments against Including Any of the Soviet Republics as Initial UN Members Henry D. Fetter Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 46–88. Amid the voluminous documentary record of the Alger Hiss case, one document is especially noteworthy: a short memorandum Hiss drafted during the Yalta conference in early 1945 setting forth “Arguments against Inclusion of Any of the Soviet Republics among Initial Members” of the proposed postwar United Nations (UN) organization. Drafted when the Soviet Union was pressing for UN membership for two or three Soviet republics, the memorandum has been cited to challenge claims that Hiss acted as a Soviet agent at Yalta (or at any time) while constituting a “puzzling anomaly” for those who believe that Hiss was indeed a spy (as indicated in Soviet intelligence documents). By considering the circumstances of the memorandum's preparation and closely examining its text, this article demonstrates that the memorandum does not contravene the notion that Hiss was a Soviet agent at the time of the Yalta conference. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_a_00925?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
“I Am Afraid Americans Cannot Understand”: The Congress for Cultural Freedom in France and Italy, 1950–1957 Andrea Scionti Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 89–124. This article examines the nature and significance of the activities carried out in France and Italy by the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), an international organization that was secretly funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to support anti-Communist intellectuals, including those on the left end of the political spectrum. These two West European countries, with their large and politically influential Communist parties, were central to the CCF's work in Europe. The organization's task was complicated by domestic concerns and traditions that forced local intellectuals to stress their autonomy from the CCF International Secretariat and its U.S. patrons. The article uses the cultural Cold War and the competing interpretations of anti-Communism and cultural freedom within the CCF as a lens to explore the limits of U.S. influence and persuasion among the intellectual classes of Europe. By repeatedly asserting their independence and agency, the French and Italian members of the CCF helped redefine the character and limits of U.S. cultural diplomacy. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_a_00927?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
The Cold War and Chinese Policy toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1963–1975 Gangzheng She Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 125–174. This article explores the key issues in China's changing relations with the Arab countries and Israel from 1963 to 1975. Based on interviews, archival sources, and other materials, the article shows Beijing's attempts to justify its self-portrait as the only genuine patron of “national liberation movements” and to help foster the conditions for revolution in the Middle East by supporting a “people's war” against Israel. Although this radical design failed after the liquidation of Palestinian guerrillas in Jordan in the 1970s and the U.S.-Chinese rapprochement soon thereafter, the Sino-Soviet competition in the 1970s still gave enormous impetus to the visibility of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the international arena. The article discusses the roles of Chinese Communist leaders and diplomats in formulating Beijing's policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, which also served Mao Zedong's domestic mobilization before and during the Cultural Revolution. The article thus highlights a special connection across the international and domestic dimensions of China's Cold War experience. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_a_00928?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Soviet-Brazilian Relations and the Cuban Missile Crisis James G. Hershberg Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 175–209. Using materials from the Russian Foreign Ministry archive in Moscow (combined with previously obtained Brazilian and U.S. sources), this research note presents fresh evidence about Soviet-Brazilian relations and the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, supplementing a detailed, two-part article published in the Journal of Cold War Studies in 2004 exploring Brazil's secret mediation between John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro at the height of the crisis. The new evidence illuminates a previously hidden “double game” that Brazil's president, João Goulart, played during the crisis as he alternated between meetings with the U.S. ambassador and Nikita Khrushchev's recently arrived envoy (Brazil and the Soviet Union had just restored diplomatic relations after a fifteen-year break). The new evidence from Moscow suggests that Goulart, who vowed solidarity with Washington and even toasted Kennedy's “victory” when talking to the U.S. ambassador, took a completely different approach when speaking to Soviet officials, expressing strong sympathy and even support for Khrushchev. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_a_00930?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Forum
Perspectives on The Soviet Union and the Horn of Africa during the Cold War Robert H. Donaldson, Jeremy Friedman, Edward A. Kolodziej, Margot Light, Robert G. Patman, Sergey Radchenko, and Radoslav A. Yordanov Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 210–242. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_c_00931?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Book Reviews
Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control Steven Aftergood Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 243–245. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00932?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage: The Declassified Stories of Cold War Reconnaissance Flights and the Men Who Flew Them John Prados Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 245–246. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00933?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Defending the American Way of Life: Sport, Culture and the Cold War John Soares Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 247–249. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00934?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969 A. Ross Johnson Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 249–252. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00935?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Stalin's Secret Weapon: The Origins of Soviet Biological Warfare Philip C. Shackelford Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 252–253. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00936?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
The Balkans in the Cold War Radoslav Yordanov Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 253–255. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00913?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev David C. Engerman Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 256–257. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00914?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Confronting America: The Cold War between the United States and the Communists in France and Italy Roy Domenico Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 257–259. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00915?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Ideologies of American Foreign Policy Mark L. Haas Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 260–262. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00922?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia Sergei I. Zhuk Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 262–263. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00916?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Pan-Asian Sports and the Emergence of Modern Asia, 1913–1974 John Soares Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 264–265. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00917?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945 Esther Gitman Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 266–268. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00918?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Underdogs: The Making of the Modern Marine Corps Colonel Jon T. Hoffman Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 268–270. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00919?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
The Foreign Policy of Lyndon B. Johnson: The United States and the World, 1963–1969 John Dumbrell Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 271–272. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00920?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T
Die UdSSR und der Nahe Osten: Zionismus, ägyptischer Antikolonialismus und sowjetische Außenpolitik bis 1956 Rolf Steininger Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1: 272–274. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/jcws_r_00921?ai=s7&ui=s96v&af=Tamp;af=T