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'Secret Science' traces, for the first time, the history of chemical and biological weapons research by the former Allied powers, particularly in Britain, the United States, and Canada. It charts the ethical trajectory and culture of military science, from its initial development in response to Germany's first use of chemical weapons in the First World War to the ongoing attempts by the international community to ban these types of weapons once and for all. It asks whether Allied and especially British warfare trials were ethical, safe, and justified within the prevailing conditions and values of the time. By doing so, it helps to explain the complex dynamics in top-secret Allied research establishments: the desire and ability of the chemical and biological warfare corps, largely comprised of military officials, scientists, and expert civil servants, to construct and identify a never-ending stream of national security threats which served as flexible justification strategies for the allocation of enormous resources to conducting experimental research with some of the most deadly agents known to man.

Charting the ethical trajectory and culture of military science from its development in 1915 in response to Germany's first use of chemical weapons in WW1 to the ongoing attempts by the international community to ban these weapons, Secret Science offers a comprehensive history of chemical and biological weapons research by former Allied powers.

Allied political and military leaders have frequently been credited both with considerable foresight and with strategic and moral leadership for avoiding chemical warfare during the Second World War. Scholars have not, however, fully acknowledged how close Allied forces came to launching a full-scale chemical onslaught in various theatres of war. The paper offers a thorough reconstruction of Allied chemical warfare planning which takes a close look at the development of Britain's chemical weapons program since the First World War. The findings suggest that no "lack of preparedness," as it existed in the initial stages of the conflict in 1939/1940, would have deterred the Allies from launching chemical warfare if the military situation had required it. Allied forces were planning to launch retaliatory chemical warfare ever since they had been attacked with chlorine gas in 1915. Just War theorists at first opposed the use of this new weapon and campaigned for an internationally enforced legal ban. The paper argues, however, that post-war military and political exigencies forced the advocates of the Just War tradition to construct new arguments and principles which would make this type of war morally and militarily acceptable. The paper explores the ways in which military strategists, scientists, and government officials attempted to justify the development, possession, and use of chemical weapons, and contextualizes Britain's delicate balancing act between deterrence and disarmament in the interwar period.

National bezogener Standpunkt des Autors

Untersuchung der politisch-ideologischen Entwicklung in der VR Kongo seit 1969: Entwicklung der Arbeiterpartei (PCT), ihrer Fraktionskonflikte und der Bedetung ihrer marxistisch-leninistischen Orientierung. Die Rolle der Partei wird bezogen auf wirtschaftliche Probleme, entstanden durch die Einbindung in den kapitalistischen Weltmarkt, sowie gesellschaftliche Probleme der Integration von Arbeitern und Bauern. (DÜI-Wsl)

Die wichtigsten ideologischen Strömungen - revolutionär-demokratische und bürgerliche - vermischen sich mit den spezifischen politischen Traditionen und den historischen Erfahrungen (z.B. Unabhängigkeitskampf) der jeweiligen Staaten. (DÜI-Spe)

Aus politischer Sicht + Aus osteuropäischer Sicht

Die Autoren stellen dar, welchen Werdegang Madagaskar in den eineinhalb Jahrzehnten seit Proklamierung eines sozialistisch orientierten Entwicklungsweges genommen hat, welches Bild die gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse heute bieten, welche sozialen Kräfte Einfluß auf die Entwicklung des Landes genommen haben (und nehmen) und wie die aktuellen Probleme mit Blick auf die weitere gesellschaftliche Perspektive gelöst werden sollen. (DÜI-Sen)

Aus Sicht der DDR