Transcript Chapter 1: The Past in the Present

Chapter 1:
The Past in the Present
Historical Interpretation in
International Conflict
Introduction
• Historical inquiry combines all disciplines of
international study:
– Geographical
– Economic
• Exchange of goods and services
• Labor history
– Political
• Power and power relationships
– Cultural and Social
• Music, art, sports, etc.
– Intellectual
• Influence of various ideologies (religion, nationalism, etc.)
– Environmental
• Human interaction with their natural surroundings
What is History?
• Objectivity
– Causation, interpretation, significance
• Mythical history
– Meant to explain the origins of the world
– Not usually accurate
• History before the 20th century
– Dominated by political history
• Von Ranke’s history
– “As it really was”
• Revisionist history
– Scientific truth inaccurate
• Postmodernist history
– No true history
Historians and Their Tools
• Primary Sources
– Direct evidence about the past
– Artifacts, diaries, letters, e-mails
• Secondary Sources
– Derived from primary sources
– Oral or written narratives
• Historiography
– A history of histories
Politics, Power, and History
• Christopher Columbus
– How do we know this story?
• Bias in history
– Most history from oppressor, not oppressed
– History from oppressed is just as biased
• Soviet glasnost (openness)
– Falsehoods of Soviet history revealed
History and International Conflicts
• History with an agenda
– Not always what it seems
• Nationalist histories
– Champion one nation over another
– Elicit demands for retribution
• Irish Catholic nationalist history
– British as imperial conquest, not as settlement
• Israeli/Palestine conflict
• “Freedom Fighters” rather than “Terrorists”
What is Good History?
• American Historical Association
– American Historical Review
• Society for Historians of American Foreign
Relations
– Diplomatic History
• University presses and research centers
• Popular histories
– Sometimes embellished
– Titanic, Enemy at the Gates, Saving Private Ryan
Theories of History
• Theories constructed to explain and understand
the human condition
• Europe’s rise to global ascendancy
– Geographical and climatic advantage?
– Balance of power among European states?
– What caused this rise to power?
•
•
•
•
Evolutionism vs. Creationism
Providential history
Progressive history
Pessimistic history
Are There Lessons of History?
• History doesn’t tell us to do anything
• We draw from history to make current
decisions
• Must adjust for the situation and use
history only as a guideline
• U.S. assumption about Vietnam based on
history
– Made for another lesson in history