Domination and Resistance : The United States and the Marshall Islands during the Cold War / Martha Smith-Norris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith-Norris, Martha, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nuclear weapons--Environmental aspects--Marshall Islands.

Nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons testing victims--Marshall Islands.

Nuclear weapons testing victims.

Nuclear weapons--Marshall Islands--Testing.

United States--Foreign relations--Marshall Islands.

United States.

Marshall Islands--Foreign relations--United States.

Marshall Islands.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (231 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Domination and Resistance illuminates the twin themes of superpower domination and indigenous resistance in the central Pacific during the Cold War, with a compelling historical examination of the relationship between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. For decision makers in Washington, the Marshall Islands represented a strategic prize seized from Japan near the end of World War II. In the postwar period, under the auspices of a United Nations Trusteeship Agreement, the United States reinforced its control of the Marshall Islands and kept the Soviet Union and other Cold War rivals out of this Pacific region. The United States also used the opportunity to test a vast array of powerful nuclear bombs and missiles in the Marshalls, even as it conducted research on the effects of human exposure to radioactive fallout.Although these military tests and human experiments reinforced the US strategy of deterrence, they also led to the displacement of several atoll communities, serious health implications for the Marshallese, and widespread ecological degradation. Confronted with these troubling conditions, the Marshall Islanders utilized a variety of political and legal tactics-petitions, lawsuits, demonstrations, and negotiations-to draw American and global attention to their plight. In response to these indigenous acts of resistance, the United States strengthened its strategic interests in the Marshalls but made some concessions to the islanders. Under the Compact of Free Association (COFA) and related agreements, the Americans tightened control over the Kwajalein Missile Range while granting the Marshallese greater political autonomy, additional financial assistance, and a mechanism to settle nuclear claims.Martha Smith-Norris argues that despite COFA's implementation in 1986 and Washington's pivot toward the Asia-Pacific region in the post-Cold War era, the United States has yet to provide adequate compensation to the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the extensive health and environmental damages caused by the US testing programs.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Historical Context, Themes, Approach, and Research

Chapter One. American Cold War Policies and the Enewetakese: Community Displacement, Environmental Degradation, and Indigenous Resistance

Chapter Two. US Nuclear Experiments and the Bikinians: The "Nuclear Nomads" Revisited

Chapter Three. US Nuclear Tests, the Environment, and Medical Research: Case Studies of the Rongelapese and Utirikese

Chapter Four. US Missile Testing and the Creation of a Pacific Slum: The Kwajalein Missile Range and the Island of Ebeye

Chapter Five. Negotiating a Cold War Treaty: The United States, the Marshall Islands, and the Compact of Free Association

Epilogue: Legacies of US Cold War Policies and the Ongoing Quest for Justice in the Marshall Islands

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824869014

082486901X

9780824858148

082485814X

9780824858124

0824858123

OCLC:

947837875