Introduction: Machines of peace -- Invention, interdependence, and the lag : conceptualizing international relations in the age of the machine -- Controlling scientific war : international air police and the reinvention of disarmament -- The shape of things to come : aviation, the League of Nations, and the transformation of world order -- Air power for a United Nations : the international air force during the Second World War -- Wings for peace : planning for the postwar internationalization of civil aviation -- A battle for atomic internationalism : United States and the international control of atomic energy -- A blessing in disguise : Britain and the international control of atomic energy -- Conclusion : science, technology, and internationalism into the Cold War and beyond.
Summary:
"Between 1920 and 1950, British and US internationalists called for aviation and atomic energy to be taken out of the hands of nation-states, and instead used by international organizations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations. An international air force was to enforce collective security and internationalized civil aviation was to bind the world together through trade and communication. The bomber and the atomic bomb, now associated with death and devastation, were to be instruments of world peace. Drawing on rich archival research and focusing on public and private discourse relating to the control of aviation and atomic energy, Waqar H. Zaidi highlights neglected technological and militaristic strands in twentieth-century liberal internationalism, and transforms our understanding of the place of science and technology in twentieth-century international relations"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.