Rocky IV as a Groundbreaking Film (2023-2024)

In this research inquiry example, Croote analyzes a later film in the Rocky franchise in order to argue for its understanding as a groundbreaking film. His argument takes up three major points—that Rocky IV is an effective reflection of Cold War events of the time, that Rocky IV deftly uses sport as a vehicle for its narrative, and that Rocky IV maintains its main message and cohesion within the franchise by entertaining audiences. Within the research and sources cited in this piece, Croote unpacks visual representations of characters, stereotypes and possible propaganda, and the metaphors of training to explore Cold War tensions. Ultimately, Croote also acknowledges but argues against the idea of the film as purely propaganda, but instead a popular film exerting its influence in delivering a slightly different message ahead of Cold War de-escalation.https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/rhetdragonsresearchinquiry/1012/thumbnail.jp

The United States, Romania, and the New Transatlantic Security Framework at the End of the Cold War (1990-1991)

This paper attempts to analyze how Romania has made its own choices about its future in Europe at the end of the Cold War, in the period between the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Throughout the paper it can be observed that the first two years of post-communist Romania’s political evolution were marked by a false start in relation with the West. On the one hand, the domestic events in Romania maintained a negative perception of the West, and the government in Bucharest was not able to change this image. Furthermore, the imprecision and reluctance of Romania’s foreign policy gestures deepened this negative perception. Unlike other states in the region that have sent specific signals about the willingness to embrace rapidly the values of democracy and market economy, and to get closer to the Euro-Atlantic community, Romania’s gestures have created confusion, causing its late integration into the new European security system

'Grow your own': Cold War intelligence and history supermarkets

Most of the records of the three British secret services relating to the Cold War remain closed. Nevertheless, the Open Government initiative in the UK and the Clinton Executive Order of 1995 have resulted in some disclosures, often from consumer agencies who were in receipt of intelligence material. There have also been limited releases from other countries. Against that background, this essay considers two questions: First, how far has the study of intelligence affected the broad context of Cold War history during the last decade? And second, how effective have we been in probing the institutional history of secret services during the Cold War? The essay concludes that while some secret services are breaking new ground by recording their own oral history, academic historians have been less than enterprising in their investigations and tend towards a culture of archival dependency

A New Hope: The Idea of a Strategic Defense

Since August 1953, when the Soviet Union detonated its own "Super Bomb" (multimegaton thermonuclear device), the best national defense against nuclear attack was to have so many nuclear weapons that no enemy would dare risk a retaliatory strike. This idea soon became policy. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was the heart of all policies of Deterrence; and (at least initially)1 all the players in the Cold War seemed to agree with Robert Oppenheimer that starting World War III would soon lead to a world where the only way super powers could resolve their conflicts would be "with sticks and stones."2 By 1983, the possibility of a sudden - no, instantaneous - nuclear holocaust had become the whole planet's worst nightmare. President Reagan stumbled onto a way to give humanity an alternative

A Fortuitous Hegemon: Cold War Presidential Foreign Policies

Following the Cold War, the United States attained the pinnacle of global influence; however, new threats and challenges have arisen that possess the potential to unseat America from its position of global dominance. While the United States’ global power has remained unchallenged since the end of the Cold War, threats have formed that take the form of both maverick upstart nations, such as Iran and China, as well as foreign powers that are clamoring to retain the status of their former glory, such as Russia. In plotting the course with which the United States should address these new threats, an examination of the lessons learned from presidents during the Cold War would provide invaluable lessons that might prove useful in addressing the contemporary threats America faces today

Great Blunders?: The Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, and the Proposed United States/Mexico Border Fence

This article presents an analysis of the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall which reveals that both grew from unique political, historical, geographical, cultural, and economic circumstances. The purpose of this article is to provide new arguments for a debate that all too often has been waged with emotions, polemics, and misinformation. The idea for this article evolved from discussions with colleagues and students who have asked the author on his opinion on the Berlin Wall and the proposed United States/Mexico border fence. This article could be useful for a variety of teaching activities in World History and United States History survey courses. It provides a starting point for evaluating the arguments for and against the wall under construction across the southwestern United States. It offers a basis for demonstrating how knowledge of the past and a historical perspective are invaluable for formulating questions about the present and making a whole range of political, economic, and cultural decisions. Furthermore, the article provides a set of case studies for asking questions about the self-perception of civilizations and how they chose to defend themselves from internal and external threats. (Contains 56 notes.