This book explores the growing interests of China in the Arctic and examines the nature of its interests and motivations in maintaining its involvement and presence in the region. The new geopolitical landscape of the Arctic today is a significant departure from the great power politics that existed in the region during the Cold War era. Apart from traditional Arctic states, more and more international organizations and non-Arctic states are showing an increased interest in this region, not least China. Many have attempted to interpret China's intention in moving to the high north and this book aims to add to the existing literature from three approaches: China's participation in the international institutions, China's relationships with the Arctic stakeholders and China's sectoral engagement in the Arctic. In taking a three-dimensional approach to the analysis, the author builds a comprehensive picture of China's interests and activities in the Arctic, not only from the perspective of China but also from the viewpoint of other Arctic states (Russia, Canada, the U.S., Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland). One of the first books in English to cover the subject since the release of China's Arctic policy white paper in January 2018, this analysis will be of interest to academics, students of Arctic studies, maritime law and international law, as well as policy makers in Arctic and non-Arctic states.

Cold war geopolitics may be dead, but struggles over space and power are more important than ever in a world of globalizing economies and instantaneous information. Using insights from contemporary cultural theory, the contributors address questions of political identity and popular culture, state violence and genocide, speed machines and militarism, gender and resistance, cyberwar and mass media - connecting each question to a generalized re-thinking of the spaces of politics at the global scale. This book argues that the concept of geopolitics needs to be reconceptualized as the 21st century approaches. Challenging conventional geopolitical assumptions, the diverse chapters include analyses of: theories of post-modern geopolitics, historical formulations of states and cold wars, the geopolitics of the Holocaust, the gendered dimension of Kurdish insurgency, the cold war world, political cartoons concerning Bosnia, Time magazine representations of the Persian Gulf, the Zapatistas and the Chiapas revolt, the new cyber politics, conflict simulations in the US military, and the emergence of a new geopolitics of global security.

The nation-states and peoples of South and Central America, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, that together form the political geographical region of Latin America, encompass a wide range of societies, politics and economies. This text exposes the differences between places, regions and countries, individuals and societies, offering an invaluable insight into the themes of political and economic development, and provides a guide to understanding power and space relations. From the Antarctic to the tropical jungles, the coastal communities to the highland villages, the mega-cities to isolated rural existence, the political geographies of lives, localities, cities and rurality are too sophisticated to be subjected to generalizations. Adopting a critical human geography perspective, Jonathon Barton provides an understanding of similarities, difference and sophisticated human geographies.

Developing an original theoretical approach to understanding the roots of regional conflict and cooperation, International Relations in the Middle East explores domestic and international foreign policy dynamics for an accessible insight into how and why Middle Eastern regional order has changed over time. Highlighting interactions between foreign policy trajectories in a range of states including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, Ewan Stein identifies two main drivers of foreign policy and alignments: competitive support-seeking and ideological externalisation. Clearly linking political, ideological and foreign policy dynamics, Stein demonstrates how the sources of regional antagonisms and solidarities are to be found not in the geopolitical chessboard, but in the hegemonic strategies of the region's pivotal powers. Making the case for historical sociology - in particular the work of Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser - as the most powerful lens through which to understand regional politics in the Middle East, with wider implications for the study of regional order elsewhere.

'An intimate portrait ... Critical, generous and heartfelt' Ahdaf Soueif, Guardian 'An intriguing account of an alluring but evasive character' Daily Telegraph Drawing on extensive archival sources and hundreds of interviews, Timothy Brennan's Places of Mind is the first comprehensive biography of Said, one of the most controversial and celebrated intellectuals of the 20th century. In Brennan's masterful work, Said, the pioneer of post-colonial studies, a tireless champion for his native Palestine, and an erudite literary critic, emerges as a self-doubting, tender, and eloquent advocate of literature's dramatic effects on politics and civic life. Places of Mind charts the intertwined routes of Said's intellectual development, revealing him as a study in opposites: a cajoler and strategist, a New York intellectual with a foot in Beirut, an orchestra impresario in Weimar and Ramallah, a raconteur on national television, a Palestinian negotiator at the State Department, and an actor in films in which he played himself. Brennan traces the Arab influences of Said's thinking along with his tutelage under Lebanese statesmen, off-beat modernist auteurs, and New York literati, as Said grew into a scholar whose influential writings changed the face of university life forever. With both intimidating brilliance and charm, Said turned these resources into a groundbreaking counter-tradition of radical humanism, set against the backdrop of techno-scientific dominance and religious war. With unparalleled clarity, Said gave the humanities a new authority in the age of Reaganism that continues today. Drawing on the testimonies of family, friends, students, and antagonists alike, and aided by FBI files, unpublished writing, and Said's drafts of novels and personal letters, Places of Mind captures Said's intellectual breadth and influence in an unprecedented, intimate, and compelling portrait of one of the great minds of the twentieth century.

During the June 2020 territorial dispute over Kalapani, India blamed tensions on a newly assertive Nepal's deepening relations with China. But beyond the accusations and grandstanding, this reflects a new reality: the power equations in South Asia have been redrawn, to make space for China. Nepal did not turn northwards overnight. Its ties with China have deep historical roots built on Buddhism, dating to the early first millennium. While India's unofficial 2015 blockade provided momentum to the rift with Delhi, Nepal has long wanted deeper ties with Beijing, to counteract India's oppressive intimacy. With China's growing South Asian and global ambitions, Nepal now has a new primary bilateral partner-and Nepalis are forging a path towards modernity with its help, both in the remote borderlands and in the cities. All Roads Lead North offers a long view of Nepal's foreign relations, today underpinned by China's world-power status. Sharing never- before-told stories about Tibetan guerrilla fighters, failed coup leaders and trans- Himalayan traders, Nepal analyst Amish Raj Mulmi examines the histories binding mountain communities together across the Sino-Nepali border. Part history, part journalistic account, Mulmi's is a complex, compelling and rigorously researched study of a small country caught between two neighbourhood giants.

For centuries, China was confident in its role as the 'Middle Kingdom', the undisputed cultural, economic and political powerhouse of Asia. Today, with China once again a leading player on the world stage, countries across the continent are facing an uncertain future. Does China's rise threaten its neighbours? And what, ultimately, is its end goal? Nowhere are these questions more pressing than in the Pacific, where China's maritime neighbours find themselves directly in the path of the country's expanding territorial claims. In this rich historical exploration, Michael Tai finds answers to these and other questions through an in-depth exploration of China's past. Spanning thousands of years of Chinese and Asian history, China and Her Neighbours looks at China's evolving relations with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. While the disputes in the Pacific have attracted widespread attention, very few investigations have considered the wider historical context of these tensions.

The updated edition of this classic treatise on the behavior of great powers takes a penetrating look at the question likely to dominate international relations in the twenty-first century: Can China rise peacefully? In clear, eloquent prose, John Mearsheimer explains why the answer is no: a rising China will seek to dominate Asia, while the United States, determined to remain the world's sole regional hegemon, will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. The tragedy of great power politics is inescapable.

A Financial Times Economics Book of the Year A Times Business Book of the Year A Sunday Independent (Ireland) Book of the Year 'People who like horror films will love this book' Financial Times 'Roubini has surpassed even his high standards . . . Forewarned is forearmed. Read and pay attention' Martin Wolf 'Not only will the reader be better off after reading this book, but the world will be a better place' Nassim Nicholas Taleb We are heading towards the worst economic catastrophe of our lifetimes - unless we can defend against ten terrifying threats. World renowned economist Nouriel Roubini was nicknamed Dr. Doom until his warnings of the 2008 housing crisis and Great Financial Crisis came true - when it was too late. Now he's back with much scarier predictions, ones that we ignore at our peril. There are no fewer than ten overlapping, interconnected threats that are so serious Roubini describes them as megathreats - with each one potentially amplifying the others. From the worst debt crisis the world has ever seen, to governments pumping out too much money and causing inflation, to borders that are blocked to workers and many shipments of goods, to the rise of a new superpower competition between China and the US, to pandemics and climate change that strike directly at our most populated cities, to the threat to jobs coming from AI, we are facing not one, not two, but ten causes of disaster. Today, we are heading towards a Great Stagflation that will make the 1970s look moderate. There is a slight chance we can avoid it, if we come to our senses - but we must act now.

Palestine Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Winner 2022 'Roy is humanely and professionally committed in ways that are unmatched by any other non-Palestinian scholar' - Edward W. Said Gaza, the centre of Palestinian nationalism and resistance to the occupation, is the linchpin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the key to its resolution. Since 2005, Israel has deepened the isolation of the territory, severing it almost completely from its most vital connections to the West Bank, Israel and beyond, and has deliberately shattered its economy, transforming Palestinians from a people with political rights into a humanitarian problem. Sara Roy unpacks this process, looking at US foreign policy towards the Palestinians, as well as analysing the trajectory of Israeli policy toward Gaza, which became a series of punitive approaches meant not only to contain the Hamas regime but weaken Gazan society. Roy also reflects on Gaza's ruination from a Jewish perspective and discusses the connections between Gaza's history and her own as a child of Holocaust survivors. This book, a follow up from the renowned Failing Peace, comes from one of the world's most acclaimed writers on the region.

A Wall Street Journal besteller and a USA Today Best Book of 2020 Named Energy Writer of the Year for The New Map by the American Energy Society "A master class on how the world works." -NPR Pulitzer Prize-winning author and global energy expert, Daniel Yergin offers a revelatory new account of how energy revolutions, climate battles, and geopolitics are mapping our future The world is being shaken by the collision of energy, climate change, and the clashing power of nations in a time of global crisis. Out of this tumult is emerging a new map of energy and geopolitics. The "shale revolution" in oil and gas has transformed the American economy, ending the "era of shortage" but introducing a turbulent new era. Almost overnight, the United States has become the world's number one energy powerhouse. Yet concern about energy's role in climate change is challenging the global economy and way of life, accelerating a second energy revolution in the search for a low-carbon future. All of this has been made starker and more urgent by the coronavirus pandemic and the economic dark age that it has wrought. World politics is being upended, as a new cold war develops between the United States and China, and the rivalry grows more dangerous with Russia, which is pivoting east toward Beijing. Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping are converging both on energy and on challenging American leadership, as China projects its power and influence in all directions. The South China Sea, claimed by China and the world's most critical trade route, could become the arena where the United States and China directly collide. The map of the Middle East, which was laid down after World War I, is being challenged by jihadists, revolutionary Iran, ethnic and religious clashes, and restive populations. But the region has also been shocked by the two recent oil price collapses--and by the very question of oil's future in the rest of this century. A master storyteller and global energy expert, Daniel Yergin takes the reader on an utterly riveting and timely journey across the world's new map. He illuminates the great energy and geopolitical questions in an era of rising political turbulence and points to the profound challenges that lie ahead.

'A riveting and illuminating tour of how nations deal with crises - which might hopefully help humanity as a whole deal with our present global crisis' YUVAL NOAH HARARI, author of SAPIENS ** NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** Author of the landmark international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond has transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, at a time when crises are erupting around the world, he explores what makes certain nations resilient, and reveals the factors that influence how nations and individuals can respond to enormous challenges. In a riveting journey into the recent past, he traces how six distinctive modern nations - Finland, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Germany and Australia - have survived defining catastrophes, and identifies patterns in their recovery. Looking ahead, he investigates the risk that the United States and other countries, faced by grave threat, are set on a course towards catastrophe. Adding a rich psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology and anthropology that underpin all of Diamond's writing, Upheaval is epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet. 'Fascinating ... I finished the book even more optimistic about our ability to solve problems than I started' BILL GATES 'Jared Diamond does it again: another rich, original and fascinating chapter in the human saga - with vital lessons for our difficult times' STEVEN PINKER

This book examines the development of bilateral energy relations between China and the two oil-rich countries, Kazakhstan and Russia. Challenging conventional assumptions about energy politics and China's global quest for oil, this book examines the interplay of politics and sociocultural contexts. It shows how energy resources become ideas and how these ideas are mobilized in the realm of international relations. China's relations with Kazakhstan and Russia are simultaneously enabled and constrained by the discursive politics of oil. It is argued that to build collaborative and constructive energy relations with China, its partners in Kazakhstan, Russia, and elsewhere must consider not only the material realities of China's energy industry and the institutional settings of China's energy policy but also the multiple symbolic meanings that energy resources and, particularly, oil acquire in China. China's Energy Security and Relations with Petrostates offers a nuanced understanding of China's bilateral energy relations with Kazakhstan and Russia, raising essential questions about the social logic of international energy politics. It will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, energy security, Chinese and post-Soviet studies, along with researchers working in the fields of energy policy and environmental sustainability.

Coups d'etat continue to present one of the most extreme risks to democracy and stable governance worldwide. This book examines the unique role played by regional organizations (ROs) following the occurrence of a coup d'etat. The book analyses the factors that influence the strength of reactions demonstrated by ROs and explores the different post-coup solutions ROs pursue. It argues that, when confronted with a coup, ROs take both basic democratic standards and regional stability into account before forming their responses. Using a mixed-methods approach, the book concludes that ROs' response to a coup depends on how detrimental it will be for the state of democracy in a country and how far it risks destabilizing the region.

The 21st century has been characterized by great turbulence, climate change, a global pandemic, and democratic decay. Drawing on post-structural political theory, this book explores two dominant concepts used to make sense of our disturbed reality: the state and the network. The book explains how they are inextricably interwoven, while showing why they complicate the way we interpret our present. In seeking a better understanding of today's world, this book argues that we need to pull apart the familiar lines of our maps. By looking beneath and across these lines, an 'unmapping' presents new insights and opportunities for a better future.

A bold call for the American Left to extend their politics to the issues of Israel-Palestine In this major work of daring criticism and analysis, scholar and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill and Israel-Palestine expert Mitchell Plitnick spotlight how one-sided pro-Israel policies reflect the truth-bending grip of authoritarianism on both Israel and the United States. Except for Palestine argues that progressives and liberals who oppose regressive policies on immigration, racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and other issues must extend these core principles to the oppression of Palestinians. In doing so, the authors take seriously the political concerns and well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians, demonstrating the extent to which U.S. policy has made peace harder to attain. They also unravel the conflation of advocacy for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel. Hill and Plitnick provide a timely and essential intervention by examining multiple dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conversation, including Israel's growing disdain for democracy, the effects of occupation on Palestine, the siege of Gaza, diminishing American funding for Palestinian relief, and the campaign to stigmatize any critique of Israeli occupation. Except for Palestine is a searing polemic and a cri de coeur for elected officials, activists, and everyday citizens alike to align their beliefs and politics with their values.

'one of the year's most exciting releases' - The Herald China is building the world's first digital totalitarian state, a system of hitherto unimaginable social and political control. Internet freedom has been eliminated and ubiquitous surveillance cameras employ the latest facial recognition technology. Through flagrant cyber espionage, it has plundered Western technology on a massive scale, bullied Western tech companies and academics (though many have been willing accomplices) and intimidated critics worldwide. In doing so, it has become a model for aspiring dictators everywhere. Ian Williams examines the extraordinary rise of the Chinese surveillance state, showing how it has been driven by the enigmatic Xi Jinping, now effectively president for life, and how it impacts the daily lives of Chinese citizens, particularly dissidents and those from ethnic minorities. Supporting interviews and first-hand accounts from those whose lives have been turned upside down or worse highlight the chilling and ruthless efficiency with which the government can now act. The book also considers the wider implications for the rest of the world. How to deal with an increasingly strident, aggressive Beijing is one of the biggest challenges facing the West in what has become a technological Cold War.

The Chinese Government s five-year strategy for social and economic development to 2015 includes the aim of making the southwestern province of Yunnan a bridgehead for opening the country to southeast Asia and south Asia. Yunnan - A Chinese Bridgehead to Asia traces the dynamic process which has led to this policy goal, a process through which Yunnan is being repositioned from a southwestern periphery of the People s Republic of China to a bridgehead between China and its regional neighbours. It shows how this has been expressed in ideas and policy frameworks, involvement in regional institutions, infrastructure development, and changing trade and investment flows, from the 1980s to the present.
Detailing the wider context of the changes in China's global interactions, especially in Asia, the book uses Yunnan's case to demonstrate the extent of provincial agency in global interactions in reform-era China, and provides new insights into both China s relationships with its Asian neighbours and the increasingly important economic engagement between developing countries.
Offers a new perspective on YunnanContains historical depth: understanding the background and developments over time means that this China watching book will not date quicklyTakes a provincial view of China s international relations"

This book explores the most important strategic questions about the emerging Indo-Pacific region by offering an incisive analysis on the current and future patterns of competition and cooperation of key nations in the region. Examining emerging policies of cooperation and conflict adopted by Indo-Pacific states in response to a rising China, the book offers insights into the evolving Indo-Pacific visions and strategies being developed in Japan, India, Australia and the US in reaction to shifting geopolitical realities. The book provides evidence of geopolitical advances in what some see as a spatially coherent maritime zone stretching from the eastern Pacific to the western Indian Ocean, including small island states and countries that line its littoral. It also analyzes the development and operationalization of Indo-Pacific policies and strategies of various key nations. Contributors provide both macro and micro perspectives to this critically significant topic, offering insights into the grand strategies of great powers as well as case studies ranging from the Philippines to the Maldives to Kenya. The book suggests that new rivalries, shifting alliances and economic ebbs and flows in the Indo-Pacific will generate new geopolitical realities and shape much else beyond in the twenty-first century. A timely contribution to the rapidly expanding policy and scholarly discussions about what is likely to be the defining region for international politics for coming generations, the book will be of interest to policymakers as well as students and academics in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Security Studies, Diplomacy and International Law, East and South Asian Studies, East African Studies, Middle East Studies, and Australian Studies.

'A well-written and thought-provoking account of the current crisis of globalization. Not everyone will agree with Eyal's interpretation, but few will remain indifferent.' -Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens Revolt is an eloquent and provocative challenge to the prevailing wisdom about the rise of nationalism and populism today. With a vibrant and informed voice, Nadav Eyal illustrates how modern globalization is unsustainable. He contends that the collapse of the current world order is not so much about the imbalance between technological advances and social progress, or the breakdown of liberal democracy, as it is about a passion to upend and destroy power structures that have become hollow, corrupt, or simply unresponsive to urgent needs. Eyal illuminates the forces both benign and malignant that have so rapidly transformed our economic, political, and cultural realities, shedding light not only on the globalized revolution that has come to define our time but also on the counterrevolution waged by those globalization has marginalized and exploited. With a mixture of journalistic narrative, penetrating vignettes, and original analysis, Revolt shows that within the mainstream the left and right have much in common. Teasing out the connections among distressed Pennsylvania coal miners, anarchists in communes on the outskirts of Athens, neo-Nazis in Germany, and Syrian refugee families whom he accompanied from the shores of Greece to their destination in Germany, Eyal shows how their stories feed our current state of unrest. More than just an analysis of the present, though, Revolt also takes a hard look at lessons from the past, from the Opium Wars in China to colonialist Haiti to the Marshall Plan. With these historical ties, Eyal shows that the roots of revolt have always been deep and strong. The current uprisings are no passing phenomenon-revolt is the new status quo.

This book examines India's foreign intelligence culture and strategic surprises in the 20th century. The work looks at whether there is a distinct way in which India 'thinks about' and 'does' intelligence, and, by extension, whether this affects the prospects of it being surprised. Drawing on a combination of archival data, secondary source information and interviews with members of the Indian security and intelligence community, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of Indian intelligence culture from the ancient period to colonial times and, subsequently, the post-colonial era. This evolutionary culture has played a significant role in explaining the India's foreign intelligence failure during the occurrences of strategic surprises, such as the 1962 Sino-Indian War and the 1999 Kargil War, while it successfully prepared for surprise attacks like Operation Chenghiz Khan by Pakistan in 1971. The result is that the book argues that the strategic culture of a nation and its interplay with intelligence organisations and operations is important to understanding the conditions for intelligence failures and strategic surprises. This book will be of much interest to students of intelligence studies, strategic studies, Asian politics and International Relations.

This book examines everyday borders in the UK and Calais as sites of ethical political struggle between segregation and solidarity. In an age of mobility, borders appear to be everywhere. Encountered more and more in our everyday lives, borders locally enact global divisions and inequalities of power, wealth, and identity. Critically examining everyday borders in the UK and Calais, Tyerman shows them to be sites of ethical political struggle. From the Calais 'jungle' to the UK's 'hostile environment', it shows how borders are carried out through practices of everyday segregation that make life for some but not others unliveable. At the same time, it reveals the practices of everyday solidarity with which people on the move confront these segregating borders. This book sheds light on the complex ways borders entrench themselves in our lives, the complicity of ordinary people in their enactment, and the seductive power they continue to assert over our political imaginations. Of general interest to scholars and students working on issues of migration, borders, citizenship, and security in international politics, sociology, and philosophy this book will also appeal to practitioners in areas of migrant rights, asylum advocacy, anti-detention or deportation campaigning, human rights, direct democracy, and community organising.