This collection offers new insights into the aftermath of the Second World War. Contributors explore key arenas, such as the the re-foundation of the state, its legitimacy and its monopoly of armed force, the legacies of empire, the treatment of dislocated populations and refugees, and the role of international organisations.

Preface ; Reconstruction: The Historiographical Issues ; War, Reconstruction, and the Nationalization of Britain, 1939-1951 ; Reassessing the Moral Economy of Post-war Reconstruction: The Terms of the West German Settlement in 1952 ; Reconstruction in East-Central Europe: Clearing the Rubble of Cold War Politics ; The Soviet Union after 1945: Economic Recovery and Political Repression ; Stalin and the European Communists after World War Two (1943-1948) ; Establishing Order in Post-war Eastern Germany ; At the Borders of Force: Violence, Refugees, and the Reconfiguration of the Yugoslav and Italian States ; Regaining the Monopoly of Force: Agents of the State Shooting Fugatives in and around Belgium, 1940-1950 ; Reconstructing Empire in British and French Africa ; Reconstructing Europe through Rejuvenating Empire: The British, French, and Dutch Experiences Compared ; Reconstructing the 'Plural Society': Asian Migration Between Empire and Nation, 1940-1948 ; Internationalism in Relief: The Birth (and Death) of UNRRA ; The Multiple Contexts of Bretton Woods ; 'A Blessing in Disguise': Reconstructing International Relations Through Atomic Energy, 1945-1948 ; 'A Human Treasure': Europe's Displaced Children Between Nationalism and Internationalism