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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

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Chapter 1: The Past in the Present

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  1. Chapter 1:The Past in the Present Historical Interpretation in International Conflict

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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”

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

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