The present study was carried out to examine long-term psychological difficulties associated with war experience. 731 World War Two and Korean War veterans completed a questionnaire supplying biographical details, war-related experience, and present day psychological health. A significant proportion had war-related psychological difficulties, these problems correlating more strongly with war-related intrusive thoughts and avoidance than with actual combat experiences. A subgroup of 25 veterans were selected for depth interview. The results of these interviews supported the finding that many veterans have war-related problems, and that they related more to intrusion and avoidance than to actual experiences. For some veterans these problems have been present since the war, but for many they only started after retirement, when they have had more time to think about their past experiences. The problems include nightmares, intrusive thoughts, depression and anxiety. Coping is expressed by these veterans in terms of a) developing a narrative about their experiences which allows them to consciously control their traumatic recollections, or b) avoidance, where veterans avoid potential stimulus material, eg war films. Other forms of coping such as social support are secondary. Even after 50 years, veterans still experience traumatic recollections, memories which, to them at least, are accurate and detailed pictures of the events that occurred. The findings are explained in terms of a theoretical model which examines the role of traumatic recollections as conditioned responses that are out of conscious control, and likely to emerge into consciousness when the veteran is reminded of the war through some stimulus, eg the anniversary of a battle. Implications for post-traumatic stress disorder, ageing, and treatment models are considered.

This thesis concerns the economic dimensions of the Marshall Plan in Greece from 1947 to 1952. The Marshall Aid Program and Mission contributed to the reconstruction and development of the Greek economy after the destruction of World War II and the Greek Civil War. However, because of the shortcomings of its backward economy, Greece was a special case in the implementation of the Marshall Plan in Europe. In particular, the problems of inefficiency and corruption influenced political and social issues on the decision-making process, while uniquely, the Marshall planners tried to create institutions in order to facilitate reconstruction and to improve Greek people's life. The implementation of the Marshall Plan aimed at the development of the Greek economy parallel to the economic development of the other European countries. The Marshall Plan tried to help the backward Greek economy participate in international trade, and created the foundations for the post-war development of the Greek economy. The principal argument of the thesis is that the Greek economy was too weak to absorb fully the enormous aid granted because private and state investments were too negligible to meet further economic development, while a number of Greek politicians and bourgeoisie prevented the implementation of the economic programme. This forced the American Marshall planners to 'freeze' a great part of the aid in order to cover the budget deficit and to hold inflation. The 'frozen' aid 'counterpart funds' were utilised in the two fiscal years following June 1952. Therefore, in the post-war period, the Marshall Plan was the first systematic effort to stabilise the Greek economy, thereby in due course enabling Greece to join the European Economic Community in 1980.

This thesis examines the evidence for the decline and survival of historic landed estates since the end of the nineteenth century. The focus is on the processes of adaptation undergone by those estates that have survived over the post-war period. These processes are described in this study as a 'compromise' of 'traditional' landed estate characteristics. The particular approach taken by this research is to focus on the manipulation of property rights as a way of comprehending estate survival strategies. The work observes how various forms of legislation and the emergence of other powerful interest groups have acted to increasingly constrain the rights of rural landowners. A conceptual framework indicates how wide-ranging political, economic and social changes, and alterations to family circumstances, are reflected in the changing division and sub-division of owner, occupier and user rights over historic landed estates. The research is based on a micro-level investigation of an estate in south-east Devon. It examines how the political activities of the estate's owners represent attempts made by them to publicise their position and to defend their property rights. Subsequently, the study investigates the evolution of the estate over the post-war period in terms of its ownership and management, size, occupancy, economic activities, and local relations. Particular attention is paid to a series of 'critical' moments when changing circumstances required the formulation of major survival strategies. The study examines the central place of property rights and their accompanying responsibilities, observing how the allocation and re-allocation of property rights has become particularly fluid, complex and contested, and how the manipulation of property rights represents the response of estate owners to both opportunities and threats. The findings of the case study are also considered more broadly, that is, in relation to the position of rural landowners in general in the late twentieth century countryside

This study is devoted to politics of nationalism under Bulgarian communism (1944-89). The research aims to analyse the actual content of the Bulgarian communist policies on three main national questions and the ideas behind them. How did Bulgarian communism understand nation and nationalism? How did the Bulgarian Communist Party policy on issues of nationalism change over time? What was the legacy of communist politics of nationalism after the fall of the regime in 1989? This thesis focuses on three national questions in Bulgaria: `the Macedonian Question', the position of the ethnic Turkish minority, and the politics of Jewish identity. It argues that revealing the ideas behind the communist policies in relation to these questions explains how communism understood national identity in Bulgaria. Chapter 1 provides an overview of theories of nationalism and communism in relation to Bulgarian communism. Chapter 2 analyses the understanding of communist internationalism and nationalism of the founders of Bulgarian communism and their followers in the contest of Marxism, Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism. Chapter 3 discusses Bulgarian communist mythology and argues that under communism Bulgarian national mythology was at the basis of promoting cultural nationalism which in its own turn was used for political mobilisation against ethnic diversity. Chapters 4,5 and 6 are dedicated to the three national questions mentioned above and their development under communism. Chapter 7 examines politics of nationalism after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria in 1989 and argues that by promoting cultural nationalism based on ethnic homogeneity the policies of the BCP in relation to ethnic minorities determined the politics of nationalism during post-communism in Bulgaria. The chapters are linked by the argument that Bulgarian communism changed its original idea of building a communist ration-State as a political community with class identity at its core to building an ethnically homogenous nation-state with ethnic Bulgarian identity as its organising principle.

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By integrating an electrochemical deposition process and a silicon chip manufacturing process, a chemical sensor based on a floating gate field-effect transistor was developed. The sensor was fabricated using the standard 0.35μm CMOS process with minimal post-processing. A pH-sensitive organic polymer was electrochemically deposited on the “pseudo” floating gate extension. This “pseudo” floating gate extension was an external area connected to the floating gate of the testing device. By monitoring the change of the current-voltage characteristics during exposure to the gas phase of the chemical aqueous solution, the sensor was shown to be feasible with a reasonable sensitivity.