Cold War Germany, the Third World, and the Global Humanitarian Regime

446 Pages·2015·11.93 MB·English

by  Young-sun Hong

Cold War Germany, the Third World, and the Global
Humanitarian Regime
This book examines competition and collaboration among Western
powers, the socialist bloc, and the Third World for control over
humanitarian aid programs during the Cold War. Young-sun Hong’s
analysis reevaluates the established parameters of German history. On
the one hand, global humanitarian efforts functioned as an arena for
athree-waypoliticalpowerstruggle.Ontheotherhand,theygaverise
to transnational spaces that allowed for multidimensional social and
cultural encounters. Hong paints an unexpected view of the global
humanitarian regime: Algerian insurgents flown to East Germany for
medicalcare,barefootChinesedoctorsinTanzania,andWestandEast
German doctors working together in the Congo. She also provides a
richanalysisoftheexperiencesofAfricantraineesandAsiannursesin
the two Germanys. This book brings an urgently needed historical
perspective to contemporary debates on global governance, which
largely concern humanitarianism, global health, South–North relation-
ships,andglobalmigration.
Young-sun Hong is Associate Professor of History at the State Univer-
sityofNewYorkatStonyBrookandtheauthorofWelfare,Modernity
andtheWeimarState,1919–1933(1998).ShehasbeenaFellowatthe
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Harvard
CenterforEuropeanStudies,andNewYorkUniversity’sInternational
Center for Advanced Studies. She has also received fellowships from
the German Marshall Fund, the Max Planck Institute, the German
Academic Exchange Service, and the Social Science Research Council.
Honghascontributedtodebatesonmodernityandtransnationalismas
part of the H-German Forum on Transnationalism (2006) and the
GermanHistoryForumonAsia,Germany,andtheTransnationalTurn
(2010).In2008,sheorganizedasessiononAsian-Germanstudiesatthe
German Studies Association meeting. Currently, she serves on the edi-
torialboardofSocialHistory.
For my mentors and friends,
Geoff Eley and Michael Geyer,
and
In memory of my parents
Human Rights inHistory
Editedby
Stefan-LudwigHoffmann,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
SamuelMoyn,HarvardUniversity
This series showcases new scholarship exploring the backgrounds of human rights
today.Withanopen-endedchronologyandinternationalperspective,theseriesseeks
worksattentivetothesurprisesandcontingenciesinthehistoricaloriginsandlegacies
of human rights ideals and interventions. Books in the series will focus not only on
theintellectualantecedentsandfoundationsofhumanrightsbutalsoontheincorpor-
ation of the concept by movements, nation-states, international governance, and
transnationallaw.
AlsointheSeries
FehrenbachandRodogno HumanitarianPhotography:AHistory
Hoffmann HumanRightsintheTwentiethCentury
Snyder HumanRightsActivismandtheEndofthe
ColdWar:ATransnationalHistoryof
theHelsinkiNetwork
WinterandProst RenéCassinandHumanRights:Fromthe
GreatWartotheUniversalDeclaration

Cold War Germany, the Third World, and the
Global Humanitarian Regime
YOUNG-SUN HONG
StateUniversityofNewYorkatStonyBrook
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107095571
©Young-sunHong2015
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Hong,Young-Sun,1955–
ColdWarGermany,theThirdWorld,andtheglobalhumanitarianregime/
Young-sunHong(StateUniversityofNewYorkatStonyBrook).
pages cm.– (Humanrightsinhistory)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-09557-1(Hardback:alkalinepaper)
1. Humanitarianassistance,German–Developingcountries–History–20th
century. 2. Medicalassistance,German–Developingcountries–History–20th
century. 3. Germany(West)–Relations–Developingcountries. 4. Developingcountries–
Relations–Germany(West) 5. Germany(East)–Relations–Developing
countries. 6. Developingcountries–Relations–Germany(East) 7. Germany(West)–
Relations–Germany(East) 8. Germany(East)–Relations–Germany(West)
9. ColdWar. 10. Balanceofpower–History–20thcentury. I. Title.
hv555.g3h662015
361.206094309045–dc23 2014050305
isbn978-1-107-09557-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
urlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
List of Abbreviations pageix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
part i race, security, and cold war
humanitarianism
1 Bipolar (Dis)Order 13
part ii the global humanitarian regime
at arms
2 Through a Glass Darkly 51
3 Mission Impossible 83
4 Back to the Future inIndochina 110
5 “Solidarity IsMight!” 132
part iii global health, development,
and labor migration
6 Know Your BodyandBuildSocialism 177
7 TheTimeMachine“Development” 215
8 Far Away, but Yet SoClose 250
9 Things Fall Apart 287
Epilogue 317
Notes 321
Index 414
vii