One of the most unfortunate aspects of the global conflicts of the mid to late 20th century was that several generations of academics and researchers had little if any direct interaction with their peers across the political and ideological east/west divide. The natural ebb and flow of ideas, and professional cross-fertilisation that are characteristic of academic research were significantly impeded at the time. This, along with the weight of the prevailing state ideologies, and institutional (and personal) adaption to them, contributed much to a significant east/west divergence in theory, method, interests and overall approach within the social and natural sciences.