French Intellectuals Against the Left ― The Antitotalitarian Moment of the 1970s

The concept of political risk is the unifying theme in this collection of ten historical case studies exploring business decision-making related to European dictatorships in the inter-war period and presented by Kobrak (finance, ESCP-EAP, European School of Management, France) and Hansen (business history, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark). After a pair of introductory chapters treating political risk in the aftermath of World War I and general investment patterns during 1920-194, the case studies are organized around the economic concepts of competitive advantage and disadvantage, outward investment from realized or potential dictatorships and capital flight, and inward investment into dictatorships. Individual topics include competition and collaboration among the Axis multinational insurers, mulinational Jewish businesses and the transfer of capital abroad in the face of German "Aryanization," British business with Germany in the 1930s, and the relationship between IBM and its German subsidiary. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael Scott Christofferson was educated at Carleton College and Columbia University. He currently is Assistant Professor of History at the Pennsylvania State University, Erie and lives in the Cleveland, Ohio.