Desmond Morton

Bio: Desmond Morton is an academic researcher from Wilfrid Laurier University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Politics & World War II. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 49 publications receiving 694 citations.

The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism 1867-1914

Abstract: Prior to the publication of The Sense of Power most studies of the Canadian movement for imperial unity focused on commercial policy and military and naval cooperation. This influential book demonstrated that the movement - which held that Canada could only become a great nation within the British Empire - was significantly influenced by its leading advocates' belief in nationalism. Carl Berger explores the emotional appeal and intellectual context of this belief, arguing that these advocates' support of imperial unity can be grasped only in terms of their commitment to certain conservative values and in relation to their conception of Canada. The Sense of Power was commended by the Toronto Star when it was first published as \"entertaining as well as brilliant,\" and in 2011 Ramsay Cook noted that \"few first books, or for that matter few books, have made as marked an impact on the interpretation of a major theme in Canadian history.\" This second edition brings to life the work's incisive analysis and its important contribution to Canadian intellectual history.

The Empire Project: The Rise and Fall of the British World-System, 1830-1970

Abstract: Introduction: the project of an Empire Part I Towards 'The Sceptre of the World': The Elements of Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century: 1 Victorian origins 2 The octopus power 3 The commercial republic 4 The Britannic experiment 5 'Un-British rule' in 'Anglo-India' 6 The weakest link: Britain and South Africa 7 The Edwardian transition Part II 'The Great Liner is Sinking': The British World-System in the Age of War: 8 The War for Empire, 1914-19 9 Making imperial peace, 1919-26 10 Holding the centre, 1927-37 11 The strategic abyss, 1937-42 12 The price of survival, 1943-51 13 The third world power, 1951-9 14 Reluctant retreat, 1959-68 Conclusion

Social movements : identity, culture, and the state

Abstract: Why do social movements take the forms they do? How do activists' efforts and beliefs interact with the cultural and political contexts in which they work? Why do activists take particular strategic paths, and how do their strategies affect the course and impact of the movement? Social Movements aims to bridge the gap between "political opportunities" theorists who look at the circumstances and effects of social movement efforts and "collective identity theorists" who focus on the reconstruction of meaning and identity through collective action. The volume brings together scholars from a variety of perspectives to consider the intersections of opportunities and identities, structures and cultures, in social movements. Representing a new generation of social movement theory, the contributors build bridges between political opportunities and collective identity paradigms, between analyses of movements' internal dynamics and their external contexts, between approaches that emphasize structure and those that emphasize culture. They cover a wide range of case studies from both the U.S. and Western Europe as well as from less developed countries. Movements include feminist organizing in the U.S. and India, lesbian/gay movements, revolutionary movements in Burma, the Philippines, and Indonesia, labor campaigns in England and South Africa, civil rights movements, community organizing, political party organizing in Canada, student movements of the left and right, and the Religious Right. Many chapters also pay explicit attention to the dynamics of gender, race, and class in social movements. Combining a variety of perspectives on a wide range of topics, the contributors' synthetic approach shifts the field of social movements forward in important new directions.

Reading 1.2 Why We Will Soon Miss the Cold War

Abstract: The Cold War, with two super-powers serving to anchor rival alliances of clearly inferior powers, is model of bipolarity. Europe in 1914, with France, Germany, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, and Russia positioned as great powers, is model of multipolarity. During the Cold War both superpowers were drawn into Third World conflicts across the globe, often in distant areas of little strategic importance. The most probable scenario in the wake of the Cold War is further nuclear proliferation in Europe. This outcome is laden with dangers, but it also might just provide the best hope for maintaining stability on the Continent. Without a common Soviet threat or an American night watchman, Western European states will do what they did for centuries before the onset of the Cold War—look upon one another with abiding suspicion. There are good reasons for being skeptical about the claim that a more powerful EC can provide the basis for peace in a multipolar Europe.

Preemployment Predictors of Union Attitudes: The Role of Family Socialization and Work Beliefs

Abstract: A process model of the preemployment predictors of union attitudes was developed and tested. Fifty-nine high school and 143 university students completed questionnaires on family socialization, work beliefs, union attitudes, and willingness to join a union. Linear structural equation modeling showed that union attitudes predicted willingness to join a union and were predicted by humanist and Marxist work beliefs and by subjects' perceptions of their parents' union attitudes. Subjects' perceptions of their parents' union attitudes were predicted by perceptions of parents' involvement in union activities. The results extend findings that union attitudes are of critical importance to unionization in a sample of individuals not yet employed. In addition, several predictors of union attitudes prior to entry into the workplace were identified.