Publications [#312048] of Prasenjit Duara

Journal Articles

1. Duara, P, The Cold War as a historical period: An interpretive essay, Journal of Global History, vol. 6 no. 3 (November, 2011), pp. 457-480, Cambridge University Press (CUP), ISSN 1740-0228 [doi]
   (last updated on 2025/06/15)

   Abstract:
   As a historical period, the Cold War may be seen as a rivalry between two nuclear superpowers that threatened global destruction. The rivalry took place within a common frame of reference, in which a new historical relationship between imperialism and nationalism worked in remarkably parallel ways across the superpower divide. The new imperial-national relationship between superpowers and the client states also accommodated developments such as decolonization, multiculturalism, and new ideologies, thus producing a hegemonic configuration characterizing the period. The models of development, structures of clientage, unprecedented militarization of societies, designs of imperial enlightenment, and even many gender and racial/cultural relationships followed similar tracks within, and often between, the two camps. Finally, counter-hegemonic forces emerged in regions of the non-Western world, namely China and some Islamic societies. Did this portend the beginning of the end of a long period of Western hegemony? © 2011 London School of Economics and Political Science.