[aaus-list] CfP: Subj. Security in Comm. States, 10.4.09

[Andreas Umland]

Call for Contributions: (Subjective) Security in Communist States
Call for Papers Date:	2009-04-10

Issue 2/2010 of Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History (www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de) is dedicated to research on security.

In the framework of the topic “(Subjective) Security in Communist States,” the editors are looking for an article treating the relation between “objective” security and the subjective sense of security as manifest in the specific conditions of the Cold War. The article can either focus on a single communist society or take a comparative perspective.

Possible themes:

- The need for and both expectations and promises regarding security in communist states and societies
- The communist state as a “welfare dictatorship”
- Symbolic representations of security and/or insecurity
- Security at society’s margins/through clientele-structures
- The planned economy as a strategy for risk limitation
- Breaks and continuities in the sense of security at work in the transformational process since 1989/1991

The editors are looking for an article written from the perspective of social or cultural history or the history of mentalities. Its argument should be pointedly formulated and may be based on a case study. The article may be written in English or German.

The starting point of the entire volume is one observation:
although in the second half of the twentieth century the world seems increasingly manageable, simultaneously subjective feelings of security seem to diminish. On the one hand, control systems are developed to limit contingencies (for example, in the fields of crisis management, insurance, and medical prevention). On the other hand, phenomena like poverty, illness, terrorism, and natural and environmental catastrophes are perceived as representing a failure of such control systems.

An abstract (maximum: 300 words) should be sent to Tatjana Toensmeyer (ToensmeyerT at aol.com) and Annette Vowinckel (vowinckel at zzf-pdm.de) before 10 April 2009. We will contact you before April 30th. The accepted paper (maximum: 45,000 characters) should be submitted by 30 November 2009.

Annette Vowinckel
Zentrum fuer Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam
Am Neuen Markt 1
D-14467 Potsdam
Phone: (+49)331/74510-129
Fax: (+49)331/74510-143

Tatjana Toensmeyer
Berliner Kolleg für
Vergleichende Geschichte Europas
Goßlerstr. 2-4, 14195 Berlin
Tel.: (+49)30-838 56819
Email: vowinckel at zzf-pdm.de; toensmeyert at aol.com