Kashmir as a Borderland: The Politics of Space and Belonging across the Line of Control examines the Kashmir dispute from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and within the theoretical frame of border studies. It draws on the experiences of those living in these territories such as divided families, traders, cultural and social activists. Kashmir is a borderland, that is, a context for spatial transformations, where the resulting interactions can be read as a process of 'becoming' rather than of 'being'. The analysis of this borderland shows how the conflict is manifested in territory, in specific locations with a geopolitical meaning, evidencing the discrepancy between 'representation' and the 'living'. The author puts forward the concept of belonging as a useful category for investigating more inclusive political spaces.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Drawing on decolonial perspectives on peace, statehood and development, this illuminating book examines post-liberal statebuilding in Central Asia. It argues that, despite its emancipatory appearance, post-liberal statebuilding is best understood as a set of social ordering mechanisms that lead to new forms of exclusion, marginalization and violence. Using ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Kyrgyzstan, the volume offers a detailed examination of community security and peacebuilding discourses and practices. Through its analysis, the book highlights the problem with assumptions about liberal democracy, modern statehood and capitalist development as the standard template for post-conflict countries, which is widespread and rarely reflected upon.

Addressing and conceptualizing the changing character of borders in contemporary Europe, this book examines developments occurring in the light of European integration processes and an on-going tightening of Europe's external borders. Moreover, the book suggests new ways of investigating the nature of European borders by looking at border practices in the light of the mobility turn, and thus as dynamic, multiple, diverse and best expressed in everyday experiences of people living at and with borders, rather than focusing on static territorial divisions between states and regions at geopolitical level. It provides border scholars and researchers as well as policymakers with new empirical and theoretical evidence on the de- and re-bordering processes going on in diverse border regions in Europe, both within and outside of the EU.

A new focus on international diplomacy and cooperation as the race for polar resources escalates As the race for resources in distant parts of the planet gathers momentum, the Arctic and Antarctic have taken on a more prominent role in international relations. Discussion has mostly centered on the potential for conflict, environmental destruction, and upheaval from climate change. This important book shifts the conversation from conflict to cooperation, bringing to light various underappreciated facets of diplomacy. Expert contributors from a wide variety of disciplines provide a more nuanced view of emerging cooperation in the poles than ever before. The authors discuss the complexities of governing the Arctic and Antarctic, addressing such issues as energy development, indigenous peoples' rights, tourism, invasive species, ship traffic, commercial fishing, military patrols, and mineral exploration. Will we repeat history and do lasting damage to fragile arctic ecosystems and traditional ways of life? Or can we create governance structures to protect these irreplaceable zones of discovery and awe, and usher in a new era of cooperation at the ends of the earth? This compelling book points the way toward finding the best answers.

Through the main concepts of 'the coloniality of asylum' and 'solidarity as method', this book links the question of the state to the one of civil society; in so doing, it questions the idea of 'autonomous politics', showing how both refugee mobility and solidarity are intimately marked by the coloniality of asylum, in its multiple ramifications of objectification, racialisation and victimisation. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, The Coloniality of Asylum bridges border studies with decolonial theory and the anthropology of the state, and accounts for the mutual production of 'refugees' and 'Europe'. It shows how 'Europe' politically, legally and socially produces 'refugees' while, in turn, through their border struggles and autonomous movements, 'refugees' produce the space of 'Europe'. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Hamburg in the wake of the 2015 'long summer of migration', the book offers a polyphonic account, moving between the standpoints of different subjects and wrestling with questions of protection, freedom, autonomy, solidarity and subjectivity.

The European Union (EU) is often portrayed as sacrificing national diversity for European unity. This book explores the alternative of a flexible EU based on differentiated rather than uniform integration. The authors combine normative theory with empirical research on political party actors to assess the desirability and political acceptability of differentiated integration as a means of accommodating heterogeneity in the EU. They examine the circumstances and institutional design needed for flexibility to promote rather than undermine fairness and democracy within and between member states. Clear, balanced, and accessible, the book provides fresh thinking on the future of the EU.

This book investigates US foreign policy and tests the hypothesis that transition-inspired democracy promotion will successfully establish liberal democracy around the world, and thus fulfil the aims of the American mission and its application of the democratic peace. It features two detailed case studies exploring political liberalization in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and suggests that the conclusions are applicable to other cases by highlighting the US mission in Iraq. The author critically examines US foreign policy in a theoretical and historical context, focusing on the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) democracy assistance. It demonstrates that if liberal democracy is the end-goal of USAID's strategy then the theoretical and practical limitations of transition-inspired assistance will impede the attainment of this goal. In examining US democracy promotion in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq during the Clinton and Bush administrations, the book concludes by considering its future during the Obama administration. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, US Foreign Policy and Democratization Studies. A video of a panel discussing Matthew Hill's book and associated topics in more detail can be found here: http://www.sas.ac.uk/videos-and-podcasts/politics-development-human-rights/old-wine-new-bottle-democratisation-lessons-af

In this enlightening analysis, Julia Gurol unpicks the complex security relations between the European Union (EU) and China. She investigates the principles, rationales and shifting dynamics of collaboration on a range of security issues, and their consequences for China, the EU and other regions. She pays particular attention to EU-China relations in the realm of anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and energy security, and disentangles their cooperation efforts in the context of increasing political and economic tensions. Systematic and accessible, this is an essential guide to the past, present and future of one of the world's most important, yet most complicated, security relationships.

Moving from a historical and cultural perspective, this book examines the geo-political and socio-economic changes involving the enlarged Mediterranean. Organised into two main sections, the first section (The new centrality of the Mediterranean Basin: Trends and Dynamics) is devoted to the analysis of the most relevant drivers and interdisciplinary broader issues, and the second section (Hotspots of Crisis and Regional Interferences in the Mediterranean) assesses the situation in some areas interested by the waves of uprisings since 2011-12. The book aims to uncover this new, critical centrality of the Mediterranean in the global scenario through the analysis of the interactions and intertwining of those trends and dynamics offering a historical holistic broad view. What follows is an Italian perspective that is the result of the research of a group of scholars who have been working for years on the first-hand sources of the countries examined. A peculiar vision connected not only to its unique geographical position at the center of the basin, but also to its deep relations with the southern shore throughout its long history.

This volume brings together international experts to provide fresh perspectives on geopolitical concerns in the South China Sea. The book considers the interests and security strategies of each of the nations with a claim to ownership and jurisdiction in the Sea. Examining contexts including the region's natural resources and China's behaviour, the book also assesses the motivations and approaches of other states in Asia and further afield. This is an accessible, even-handed and comprehensive examination of current and future rivalries and challenges in one of the most strategically important and militarized maritime regions of the world.

Nearly thirty years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy's Nuclear Folly offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground. In breathtaking detail, Plokhy vividly recounts the young JFK being played by the canny Khrushchev; the hotheaded Castro willing to defy the USSR and threatening to align himself with China; the Soviet troops on the ground clearing jungle foliage in the tropical heat, and desperately trying to conceal nuclear installations on Cuba, which were nonetheless easily spotted by U-2 spy planes; and the hair-raising near misses at sea that nearly caused a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine to fire its weapons. More often than not, the Americans and Soviets misread each other, operated under false information, and came perilously close to nuclear catastrophe. Despite these errors, nuclear war was ultimately avoided for one central reason: fear, and the realization that any escalation on either the Soviets' or the Americans' part would lead to mutual destruction. Drawing on a range of Soviet archival sources, including previously classified KGB documents, as well as White House tapes, Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama and anxiety of those tense days, and provides a way for us to grapple with the problems posed in our present day.

Co-authored by four high-profile International Relations scholars, this book investigates the implications of the global ascent of China on cross-Strait relations and the identity of Taiwan as a democratic state. Examining an array of factors that affect identity formation, the authors consider the influence of the rapid military and economic rise of China on Taiwan's identity. Their assessment offers valuable insights into which policies have the best chance of resulting in peaceful relations and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and builds a new theory of identity at elite and mass levels. It also possesses implications for the United States-led world order and today's most critical great power competition.

Why is Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, involved in a costly and merciless war against its mountainous southern neighbour Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East? When the Saudis attacked the hitherto obscure Houthi militia, which they believed had Iranian backing, to oust Yemen's government in 2015, they expected an easy victory. They appealed for Western help and bought weapons worth billions of dollars from Britain and America; yet two years later the Houthis, a unique Shia sect, have the upper hand.In her revealing portrait of modern Yemen, Ginny Hill delves into its recent history, dominated by the enduring and pernicious influence of career dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled for three decades before being forced out by street protests in 2011. Saleh masterminded patronage networks that kept the state weak, allowing conflict, social inequality and terrorism to flourish.In the chaos that follows his departure, civil war and regional interference plague the country while separatist groups, Al-Qaeda and ISIS compete to exploit the broken state. And yet, Yemen endures.

For decades, Hong Kong has maintained precarious freedom at the edge of competing world powers. In City on the Edge, Ho-fung Hung offers a timely and engaging account of Hong Kong's development from precolonial times to the present, with particular focus on the post 1997 handover period. Through careful analysis of vast economic data, a myriad of political events, and intricate networks of actors and ideas, Hung offers readers insight into the fraught economic, political, and social forces that led to the 2019 uprising, while situating the protests in the context of global finance and the geopolitics of the US-China rivalry. A provocative contribution to the discussion on Hong Kong's position in today's world, City on the Edge demonstrates that the resistance and repression of 2019-2020 does not spell the end of Hong Kong but the beginning of a long conflict with global repercussions.

Without resolute counteraction, climate change will overstretch many societies' adaptive capacities within the coming decades. This could result in destabilization and violence, jeopardizing national and international security to a new degree. However, climate change could also unite the international community. This is provided that we recognize climate change as a threat to humankind and so set the course for adopting a dynamic and globally coordinated climate policy. If we fail to do so, climate change will draw ever-deeper lines of division and conflict in international relations, triggering numerous conflicts between and within countries over the distribution of resources - especially water and land, and over the management of migration, or over compensation payments between the countries mainly responsible for climate change and those countries most affected by its destructive effects.

With Climate Change as a Security Risk, WBGU has compiled a flagship report on an issue that quite rightly is rising rapidly up the international political agenda. The authors pull no punches on the likelihood of increasing tensions and conflicts in a climatically constrained world and spotlight places where possible conflicts may flare up in the 21st century unless climate change is checked. The report makes it clear that climate policy is preventative security policy.

The Papuan conflict has been on the international radar screen since Indonesia became an independent state in 1945. Since the surrender of the territory of Papua to Indonesia in 1962, a low-intensity military conflict has been building. Most Papuans believed that their right to self-determination was sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics. Later, when East Timor seceded peacefully from Indonesia, Papuans expected the same right. When this did not happen, the conflict intensified. In this pivotal work, Bilveer Singh examines the history of the Papuan struggle, and approaches to conflict resolution through the framework of its geopolitical implications. Asserting that the Papuans were treated unjustly by Indonesia and the international community, it is not surprising that many have come down squarely on the side of Papuan independence as a way out of the imbroglio.

While to some extent the Papuan's case cannot be denied, definite political and strategic realities should not be ignored. Unfortunately for the Papuans, their territory has immense geopolitical, geostrategic, and economic significance--not only for Indonesia, but also for others such as the United States, China, Australia, and a number of European countries. Papua is wealthy, under-populated and backward in terms of human resource development. Its future as a distinct entity is in real danger as the Papuans are becoming the minority in their own homeland. Due to the asymmetry of power, the Papuans' struggle has not made a breakthrough that would force Indonesia to rethink the future of the territory in any fundamental way.

In order to unravel the dynamics involving Papuan separatism, this study describes the Papuan political landscape. Singh explains what makes Papua unique, and how its makeup has affected the territory's political dynamics. He analyzes the emergence of Papua as a geopolitical trophy, calling into question the degree to which Papuan nationalism has crystallized. Finally, he questions whether Papua is emerging as a regional flashpoint, and, in view of its geopolitical importance, the various options available. "Papua: Geopolitics and the Quest for Nationhood" will be of interest to scholars of international relations, comparative politics of Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific, and policymaking.

A timely primer on the conflict between the United States and Iran by scholars of Middle Eastern politics who advocate diplomacy and de-escalation. The United States and Iran seem to be permanently locked in a dangerous cycle of brinkmanship and violence. Both countries have staged cyber attacks and recently shot down one another's aircraft. Why do both countries seem intent on escalation? Why did the U.S. abandon the nuclear deal (which, according to the UN, was working)? Where can Washington and Tehran find common ground? To address these questions and the political and historical forces at play, David Barsamian presents the perspectives of Iran scholars Ervand Abrahamian, Noam Chomsky, Nader Hashemi, Azadeh Moaveni, and Trita Parsi. A follow-up to the previously published Targeting Iran, this timely book continues to affirm the goodwill between Iranian and American people, even as their respective governments clash on the international stage. Praise for ReTargeting Iran: "In a Q&A format about the continued demonization of Iran by the U.S., [David] Barsamian gets at the key to the deterioration of the relationship between the two nations. ... [T]he discussion is astute and relevant."-Kirkus Reviews "A necessary and timely education on one of the most politically fraught and historically significant relationships of our time. I devoured these smart, insightful interviews with five important Iran scholars, about the struggle between two countries that have both been our home."-Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You "This little book contains more wisdom about Iran than exists in the White House, Congress, the State Department, and the Pentagon combined. Anyone who wants to understand the world's most misunderstood country will find no better source."-Stephen Kinzer, Author of All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror "Many journalists and academics have written books about Iran. But ReTargeting Iran fills an important gap, a book sharply critical of U.S. policy and the Iranian government. David Barsamian provides timely interviews with major analysts that sets the record straight. It's a highly accessible read and a great introduction to the U.S.-Iran conflict."-Reese Erlich, author of The Iran Agenda Today: The Real Story Inside Iran and What's Wrong with U.S. Policy. "ReTargeting Iran is a facts-only objective account of where America has gone wrong, stupidly wrong-yet again-in its foreign policy, dominated by a mythical belief that Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. All one needs to know about the threat is this: as of mid-2020, the United States had no less than thirty-five military bases, manned by 65,000 soldiers, ready go to war in the nations immediately surrounding our feared adversary."-Seymour M. Hersh, author of Reporter: A Memoir

The land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Valley has been one of the most disputed territories in history. Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Palestinians and Israelis have each sought claim to the national identity of the land through various martial, social, and scientific tactics, but no method has offered as much legitimacy and national controversy as that of the map. The Politics of Maps delves beneath the battlefield to unearth the cartographic strife behind the Israel/Palestine conflict. Blending science and technology studies, sociology, and geography with a host of archival material, in-depth interviews and ethnographies, this book explores how the geographical sciences came to be entangled with the politics, territorial claim-making, and nation-state building of Israel/Palestine. Chapters chart the cartographic history of the region, from the introduction of Western scientific and legal paradigms that seemingly legitimized and depoliticized new land regimes to the rise of new mapping technologies and software that expanded access to cartography into the public sphere. Maps produced by various sectors like the "peace camps" or the Jewish community enhanced national belonging, while others, like that of the Green Line, served largely to divide. The stories of Israel's many boundaries reveal that there is no absolute, technocratic solution to boundary-making. As boundaries continue to be controversial and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains intractable and unresolved,The Politics of Maps uses nationally-based cartographic discourses to provide insight into the complexity, fissures, and frictions within internal political debates, illuminating the persistent power of the nation-state as a framework for forging identities, citizens, and alliances.

Gathering researchers from or towards Global South epistemologies, this book enriches the debate on crucial questions for liberation in the South and the improvement of South relations. It argues that coloniality and colonialism are not outdated phenomena of the historical past, but contemporary marks that remain repressed. The dominance of Eurocentric paradigm in the social sciences explains the long-lasting detachment between thinkers and politicians from the Global South, which have been historically presented according to their respective relations with the West (Europe and North America). The dialogue on common problems and challenges to people and societies in the South, largely derived from their colonial past and condition, is still sparing. This book actively promotes and demonstrates the value of intercultural dialogue and debate amongst voices from within the Global South on issues to do with decoloniality, cultural rights, law and politics.

Karl Haushofer, a Bavarian general and professor, is widely recognized as the "father of geopolitics." In 1945 the United States sought to put him on trial at Nuremberg as a major war criminal for being "Hitler's intellectual godfather" and the true author of Mein Kampf. In this definitive biography, noted historian Holger H. Herwig assesses the fiction and reality behind these claims. Making comprehensive use of Haushofer's previously unavailable private papers, Herwig analyzes Haushofer's geopolitical concepts, his relations with his student Rudolf Hess, and his mentorship of Hitler and Hess at Landsberg Prison in 1924. Herwig offers unique insights into Haushofer's crucial behind-the-scenes influence in providing the Nazis with his theories of Autarky and Lebensraum, the rationale for Germany's control of Europe and the world. This riveting book ends with Haushofer's final verdict on himself: "I want to be forgotten and forgotten." But the author concludes with the admonition that the "demon" of Geopolitik demands much closer scrutiny in this new age of geopolitics.

Building on the recent initiative to truly globalize the field of international relations, this book provides an innovative interrogation of regionalism. The book applies a globalizing framework to the study of regional worlds in order to move beyond the traditional conception of regionalism, which views regions as competing blocs dominated by great powers. Bringing together a wide range of case studies, the book shows that regions are instead dynamic configurations of social and political identities in which a variety of actors, including the less powerful, interact and partake in regionalization processes and have done so through the centuries.

'Fear' has greater currency in western societies than ever before. Through scares ranging from cot death, juvenile crime, internet porn, asylum seekers, dirty bombs and avian flu, we are bombarded with messages about emerging risks. In response, patterns of living and working are increasingly regulated. This book takes stock of the range of issues of 'fear' which have come to public and academic attention in recent years, and presents new theoretical arguments and new research findings on fear, covering topics as diverse as the war on terror, the immigration crisis, stranger danger, global disease epidemics and sectarian violence.To date, previous social science engagement with fear has taken two largely separate trajectories: fear in everyday life, and political geographies of fear at global and national levels. This book is the first to put forward a conceptual framework which emphasizes the connections between geopolitics and everyday life. It examines the ways in which fear may be manufactured and manipulated for political purposes and becomes a tool of repression, and charts the association of fear discourses with particular spaces, times and sets of geopolitical relations. But it also highlights the importance and sometimes unpredictability of lived experiences of fear - the many ways in which fear is made sense of, managed, resisted and reshaped, as well as the importance of hope and resistance in everyday life. It relates fear closely to political, economic and social marginalisation at different scales, and explores the more complex social identities and relations of which fear becomes a part.

In Media in New Turkey, Bilge Yesil unlocks the complexities surrounding and penetrating today's Turkish media. Yesil focuses on a convergence of global and domestic forces that range from the 1980 military coup to globalization's inroads and the recent resurgence of political Islam. Her analysis foregrounds how these and other forces become intertwined, and she uses Turkey's media to unpack the ever-more-complex relationships. Yesil confronts essential questions regarding: the role of the state and military in building the structures that shaped Turkey's media system; media adaptations to ever-shifting contours of political and economic power; how the far-flung economic interests of media conglomerates leave them vulnerable to state pressure; and the ways Turkey's politicized judiciary criminalizes certain speech. Drawing on local knowledge and a wealth of Turkish sources, Yesil provides an engrossing look at the fault lines carved by authoritarianism, tradition, neoliberal reform, and globalization within Turkey's increasingly far-reaching media.

The idea of civilization recurs frequently in reflections on international politics. However, International Relations academic writings on civilization have failed to acknowledge the major 20th-century analysis that examined the processes through which Europeans came to regard themselves as uniquely civilized - Norbert Elias's On the Process of Civilization. This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the significance of Elias's reflections on civilization for International Relations. It explains the working principles of an Eliasian, or process-sociological, approach to civilization and the global order and demonstrates how the interdependencies between state-formation, colonialism and an emergent international society shaped the European 'civilizing process'.

**A SUNDAY TIMES MUST-READ** 'Riveting and vitally important' - Steven Pinker 'A gripping narrative of a world on the cusp of profound change' - Anjana Ahuja, New Statesman Empty Planet offers a radical, provocative argument that the global population will soon begin to decline, dramatically reshaping the social, political and economic landscape. For half a century, statisticians, pundits and politicians have warned that a burgeoning planetary population will soon overwhelm the earth's resources. But a growing number of experts are sounding a different kind of alarm. Rather than growing exponentially, they argue, the global population is headed for a steep decline. Throughout history, depopulation was the product of catastrophe: ice ages, plagues, the collapse of civilizations. This time, however, we're thinning ourselves deliberately, by choosing to have fewer babies than we need to replace ourselves. In much of the developed and developing world, that decline is already underway, as urbanisation, women's empowerment, and waning religiosity lead to smaller and smaller families. In Empty Planet, Ibbitson and Bricker travel from South Florida to Sao Paulo, Seoul to Nairobi, Brussels to Delhi to Beijing, drawing on a wealth of research and firsthand reporting to illustrate the dramatic consequences of this population decline - and to show us why the rest of the developing world will soon join in. They find that a smaller global population will bring with it a number of benefits: fewer workers will command higher wages; good jobs will prompt innovation; the environment will improve; the risk of famine will wane; and falling birthrates in the developing world will bring greater affluence and autonomy for women. But enormous disruption lies ahead, too. We can already see the effects in Europe and parts of Asia, as aging populations and worker shortages weaken the economy and impose crippling demands on healthcare and vital social services. There may be earth-shaking implications on a geopolitical scale as well. Empty Planet is a hugely important book for our times. Captivating and persuasive, it is a story about urbanisation, access to education and the empowerment of women to choose their own destinies. It is about the secularisation of societies and the vital role that immigration has to play in our futures. Rigorously researched and deeply compelling, Empty Planet offers a vision of a future that we can no longer prevent - but that we can shape, if we choose to.