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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General
This volume is an important contribution to the empirical research on what globalization means in different world regions. "Resistance" here has a double meaning: - Active, intentional resistance to tendencies which are rejected on political or moral grounds by presenting alternative discourses and concepts founded in specific cultural and national traditions. - Resilience with regard to globalization pressures in the sense that traditional patterns of development and politics are resistant to change and transform the impulses originating from globalization processes in a way that their results are very different when compared across regions and are not conducive to globalization. The book points out the possibility that the local, sub-national, national, and regional patterns of politics and development will coexist with globalized structures for quite a while without yielding very much ground and in ways which may turn out to be a serious barrier to further globalization. Case studies presented focus on Venezuela (A. Boeckh), Brazil (J. Faust), the Middle East (M. Beck, S. Hegasy), Iran (H. Furtig), and Russia (A. S. Makarychev, A. Shastitko, N. Zubarevich).
Securing the World Economy explains how efforts to support global capitalism became a core objective of the League of Nations. Based on new research drawn together from archives on three continents, it explores how the world's first ever inter-governmental organization sought to understand and shape the powerful forces that influenced the global economy, and the prospects for peace. It traces how the League was drawn into economics and finance by the exigencies of the slump and hyperinflation after the First World War, when it provided essential financial support to Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, and Estonia and, thereby, established the founding principles of financial intervention, international oversight, and the twentieth-century notion of international 'development'. But it is the impact of the Great Depression after 1929 that lies at the heart of this history. Patricia Clavin traces how the League of Nations sought to combat economic nationalism and promote economic and monetary co-operation in a variety of, sometimes contradictory, ways. Many of the economists, bureaucrats, and policy-advisors who worked for it played a seminal role in the history of international relations and social science, and their efforts did not end with the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1940 the League established an economic mission in the United States, where it contributed to the creation of organizations for the post-war world - the United Nations Organization, the IMF, the World Bank, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - as well as to plans for European reconstruction and co-operation. It is a history that resonates deeply with challenges that face the Twenty-First Century world.
From 1944 to 1946, as the world pivoted from the Second World War to an unsteady peace, Americans in more than two hundred cities and towns mobilized to chase an implausible dream. The newly-created United Nations needed a meeting place, a central place for global diplomacy-a Capital of the World. But what would it look like, and where would it be? Without invitation, civic boosters in every region of the United States leapt at the prospect of transforming their hometowns into the Capital of the World. The idea stirred in big cities-Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, New Orleans, Denver, and more. It fired imaginations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and in small towns from coast to coast. Meanwhile, within the United Nations the search for a headquarters site became a debacle that threatened to undermine the organization in its earliest days. At times it seemed the world's diplomats could agree on only one thing: under no circumstances did they want the United Nations to be based in New York. And for its part, New York worked mightily just to stay in the race it would eventually win. With a sweeping view of the United States' place in the world at the end of World War II, Capital of the World tells the dramatic, surprising, and at times comic story of hometown promoters in pursuit of an extraordinary prize and the diplomats who struggled with the balance of power at a pivotal moment in history.
"Strategic Intelligence Management" introduces both academic researchers and law enforcement professionals to contemporary issues of national security and information management and analysis. This contributed volume draws on state-of-the-art expertise from academics and law enforcement practitioners across the globe. The chapter authors provide background, analysis, and insight on specific topics and case studies. "Strategic Intelligent Management "explores the technological and social aspects of managing information for contemporary national security imperatives. Academic researchers and graduate students in computer science,
information studies, social science, law, terrorism studies, and
politics, as well as professionals in the police, law enforcement,
security agencies, and government policy organizations will welcome
this authoritative and wide-ranging discussion of emerging
threats.
This is the story of Philip Kerr and a group of Oxford graduates that founded The Round Table (Journal of International Affairs) in 1910, and influenced British foreign policy over the following thirty years. As the principal thinker of the group, Kerr saw the need for a supra-national grouping and wanted to organize the British Empire into a federal superstate. The group also sought an Anglo-American alliance, and in 1939, joined a world federation movement that would help to inspire NATO after the war. Important questions raised by this group remain relevant today. Can a supra-national community impose laws and regulations on its members without its governing institutions being more fully accountable to a community-wide electorate? Can hostile nationalism be tamed with such a union. Can it reasonably exclude the United States?
Reconceptualizing Security in the Americas in the Twenty-First Century illustrates the various security concerns in the Americas in the twenty-first century. It presents the work of a number of prolific scholars and analysts in the region. The book offers new theoretical and analytical perspectives. Within the Americas, we find a number of important issues security issues. Most important are the threats that supersede borders: drug trafficking, migration, health, and environmental. These threats change our understanding of security and the state and regional process of neutralizing or correcting these threats. This volume evaluates these threats within contemporary security discourse.
Security threats in Asia fast become issues for the rest of the world. This introductory and wide-ranging text on the subject takes a thematic approach to assess how localized security issues - from territorial rivalry to the rise of China - materialize as 'ripple effects' across the whole region.
In the current era of globalisation, national governments are increasingly exposed to international influences which can present many new constraints and opportunities for domestic environmental policies. This comprehensive Handbook pushes the frontiers of theoretical and empirical knowledge, and provides a state-of-the-art examination of the critical effects of globalisation on environmental governance. Following a comprehensive introduction by the editors, the expert contributors analyse key concepts and recent developments in themes such as national regimes, types of environmental goods, trade rules and environmental policies, eco-innovation policy, government-business cooperation, the role of citizen-consumers in environmental politics, and governance in developing countries. They also present various societal perspectives, including the role of businesses and non-governmental organisations. Eight original case studies address global influences on domestic environmental policies and government participation in international and supranational fora. The Handbook concludes with innovative and challenging views on the future role of national governments in global environmental governance. Including contributions from leading authorities in academia, government, and business, this comprehensive new Handbook provides an insightful overview of the powerful effect of globalisation on national environmental policy. The depth and scope of the work will ensure a broad and varied readership, including academics, students, and policymakers in the fields of governance, environmental politics and law, international relations, and political science.
This book aims to highlight the efforts by the international community to facilitate solutions to the conflicts in the South Caucasus, and focuses particularly on the existing challenges to these efforts. The South Caucasus region has long been roiled by the lingering ethno-national conflicts-Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia conflicts within Georgia-that continue to disrupt security and stability in the entire region. Throughout different phases of the conflicts the international community has shown varying degrees of activism in conflict resolution. For clarity purposes, it should be emphasized that the notion of "international community" will be confined to the relevant organizations that have palpable share in the process-the UN, the OSCE, and the EU-and the states that have the biggest impact on conflict resolution and the leverage on the conflicting parties-Russia, Turkey, and the United States.
This collection of essays demonstrates how chronic state failure and the inability of the international community to provide a solution to the conflict in Somalia has had transnational repercussions. Following the failed humanitarian mission in 1992-93, most countries refrained from any direct involvement in Somalia, but this changed in the 2000s with the growth of piracy and links to international terrorist organizations. The deterritorialization of the conflict quickly became apparent as it became transnational in nature. In part because of it lacked a government and was unable to work with the international community, Somalia came to be seen as a "testing-ground" by many international actors. Globalizing Somalia demonstrates how China, Japan, and the EU, among others, have all used the conflict in Somalia to project power, test the bounds of the national constitution, and test their own military capabilities. Contributed by international scholars and experts, the work examines the impact of globalization on the internal and external dynamics of the conflict, arguing that it is no longer geographically contained. By bringing together the many actors and issues involved, the book fills a gap in the literature as one of the most complete works on the conflict in Somalia to date. It will be an essential text to any student interested in Somalia and the horn of Africa, as well as in terrorism, and conflict processes.
In the era of globalization, awareness surrounding issues of violence and human rights violations has reached an all-time high. In a world where billions of human beings have the potential to create endless destruction, these same individuals are capable of working cooperatively to create adequate solutions to current global problems. The Handbook of Research on Transitional Justice and Peace Building in Turbulent Regions focuses on current issues facing nations and regions where poverty and conflict are endangering the lives of citizens as well as the socio-economic viability of those regions. Highlighting crucial topics and offering potential solutions to problems relating to domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, as well as political instability, this comprehensive publication is designed to meet the research needs of economists, social theorists, politicians, policy makers, human rights activists, researchers, and graduate-level students across disciplines.
This cohesive set of case studies collects scholarly research, policy evaluation, and field experience to explain how terrorist groups have developed into criminal enterprises. Terrorist groups have evolved from orthodox global insurgents funded by rogue sponsors into nimble and profitable transnational criminal enterprises whose motivations are not always evident. This volume seeks to explain how and why terrorist groups are often now criminal enterprises through 12 case studies of terrorist criminal enterprises written by authors who have derived their expertise on terrorism and/or organized crime from diverse sources. Terrorist groups have been chosen from different regions to provide the global coverage. Chapters describe and analyze the actors, actions, problems, and collaborations of specific terrorist criminal enterprises. Other elements discussed include links to such facilitating conditions as political culture, corruption, history, economy, and issues of governance. This work advances scholarship in the field of counterterrorism by expanding the understanding of these terrorist groups as entities not driven purely by ideology but rather by the criminal enterprises with which they often coincide. Provides a global comparison of major terrorist groups and their engagement in organized crime Provides in-depth analysis of regional terrorist and criminal groups Incorporates authors' expertise on regional terrorist groups and organized crime Acknowledges a variety of opinions and perspectives
Why has the European Left become so antagonistic towards Israel? To answer this question, Colin Shindler looks at the struggle between Marxism-Leninism and Zionism from the October Revolution to today. Is such antagonism in opposition to the policies of successive Israeli governments? Or, is it due to a resurgence of anti-Semitism? The answer is far more complex. Shindler argues that the new generation of the European Left was more influenced by the decolonization movement than by wartime experiences, which led it to favor the Palestinian cause in the post 1967 period. Thus the Israeli drive to settle the West Bank after the Six Day war enhanced an already existing attitude, but did not cause it. Written by a respected scholar, this accessible and balanced work provides a novel account and analytical approach to this important subject. Israel and the European Left will interest students in international politics, Middle Eastern studies, as well as anyone who seeks to understand issues related to today's Left and the Arab-Israeli conflict.>
The Malay Archipelago - namely Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines - has recently risen in prominence as the 'second front' in the war on terrorism. This study argues that the Malay Archipelago constitutes a distinct sub-regional security complex within Southeast Asia due to the existence of patterns of amity and enmity, as well as transnational terrorism linkages.
Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the previously well-established organisation of world politics has been thrown into disarray. While during the Cold War, the bipolarity of the world gave other powers a defined structure within which to vie for power, influence and material wealth, the current global political landscape has been transformed by a diffusion of power. As a result, the world has seen the rise of sub-national or quasi-/non-state actors, such as Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and the movement that calls itself Islamic State, or ISIS. These dramatic geopolitical shifts have heavily impacted state-society relationships, power and authority in the international system. Weak States, Strong Societies analyses the effect of these developments on the new world order, arguing that the framework of 'weak state, strong society' appears even more applicable to the contemporary global landscape than it did during the Cold War. Focusing on a range of regional contexts, the book explores what constitutes a weak or strong state. It will be essential reading for specialists in politics and international relations, whether students or academic researchers.
From the late imperial period until 1922, the British and French made private and government loans to Russia, making it the foremost international debtor country in pre-World War I Europe. To finance the modernization of industry, the construction of public works projects, railroad construction, and the development and adventures of the military-industrial complex, Russia's ministers of finance, municipal leaders, and nascent manufacturing class turned, time and time again, to foreign capital. From the forging of the Franco-Russian alliance onwards, Russia's needs were met, first and foremost, its allies and diplomatic partners in the developing Triple Entente. In the case of Russia's relationships with both France and Great Britain, an open pocketbook primed the pump, facilitating the good spirits that fostered agreement. Russia's continued access to those ready lenders ensured that the empire of the Tsars would not be tempted away from its alliance and entente partners. This web of financial and political interdependence affected both foreign policy and domestic society in all three countries. The Russian state was so heavily indebted to its western creditors, rendering those western economies almost prisoners to this debt, that the debtor nation in many ways had the upper hand; the Russian government at times was actually able to dictate policy to its French and British counterparts. Those nations' investing classes-which, in France in particular, spanned not only the upper classes but the middle, rentier class, as well-had such a vast proportion of their savings wrapped up in Russian bonds that any default would have been catastrophic for their own economies. That default came not long after the Bolshevik Revolution brought to power a government who felt no responsibility whatsoever for the debts accrued by the tsars for the purpose of oppressing Russia's workers and peasants. The ensuing effect on allied morale, the French and British economies and, ultimately, on the Anglo-French relationship, was grim and far-reaching. This book will contribute to understandings of the ways that non-governmental and sometimes transnational actors were able to influence both British and French foreign policy and Russian foreign and domestic policy. It will address the role of individual financiers and policy makers-men like Lord Revelstoke, chairman of Baring Brothers, the British and French Rothschild cousins, Edouard Noetzlin of the Banque de Paris et de Pays Bas, and Sergei Witte, Russia's authoritative finance minister during much of this age of expansion; the importance of foreign capital in late imperial Russian policy; and the particular role of British capital and financial investment in the construction and strengthening of the Anglo-Russo-French entente. It will illustrate the interrelationship of political and economic decision-making with the ideas and beliefs that inform security policy. Drawing upon both the traditional archival sources for diplomatic history-the government holdings of Great Britain, France, and Russia-and the non-governmental archival holdings of international finance-this project looks beyond the realm of high politics and state-centered decision making in the formation of foreign policy, offering insights into the forms and functions of diplomatic alliances while elucidating the connections between finance and foreign policy. It is a classic tale of money and power in the modern era-an age of economic interconnectivity and great power interdependency.
This is a study of how the information age in modern warfare coexists with the persistent appeal of nuclear weapons and its impact on crisis management. In today's information age, the coexistence of nuclear weapons with advanced conventional weapons and information-based concepts of warfare is a military contradiction. Nuclear deterrence was initially predicated on geopolitical, military, and technical assumptions. These were based on Cold War politics, rational deterrence theory, the concept of mutual vulnerability, and the fact that information and technology diffusion were limited. Today, however, far from being obsolete, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction have not only survived, but have become weapons for states that face security threats, including perceived threats of nuclear blackmail, or expectation of conflicts. This study focuses on this unplanned coexistence of two distinct arts of war, including the possibility that states like the U.S. may be held hostage to nuclear blackmail by "outlier" regimes or terrorists, such as North Korea. It shows that restricting nuclear proliferation should still be on the agenda of policymakers, and calls for a revitalized global non-proliferation regime. This unique survey by a leading expert will appeal to anyone interested in arms control, nuclear proliferation, and defense policy.
Cyber issues are of utmost importance and sensitivity for US-China relations today. The combination of cyber and politics is also developing from 'low politics' to 'high politics'. This book discusses cyber politics in US-China relations from four distinct aspects: first, the overall analysis of the role and manifestation of cyber politics in international relations from a theoretical perspective; second, the main issues regarding cyber politics in US-China relations; third, the factors influencing cyber politics in US-China relations; and fourth, the prospect and practice of cyber politics in US-China relations.Based on an exploration of issues in cybersecurity, cyberspace governance, ideology and the power tussle in cyberspace between the US and China, as well as an analysis of the factors influencing cyber politics in the bilateral relations from the perspectives of strategy, discourse, and trust, this book asserts that cyberspace is rapidly becoming a new arena for the geopolitical games between the US and China. A new form of cyber geopolitics is thus emerging.
Patrick Riordan takes a different approach to the questions of global ethics by following the direction of questioning initially pioneered by Aristotle. For him the most basic question of ethics is 'What is the Good Life?' So in the context of contemporary global ethics the Aristotelian questioner wonders about the good life on a global scale. "Global Ethics and Global Common Goods" fills a gap caused by the neglect of the topic of the good in global ethics.Beginning by outlining answers to questions such as 'What is Good?' and 'Is there a highest good?', chapters follow on to demonstrate the value of a common good perspective in matters of universal human rights and their institutions and practices, the study of international relations and the construction of global institutions, debates about global justice between cosmopolitanism and nationalism and other forms of particularism, and of course debates about globalisation in economic affairs. Philosophical questions provoked by these debates are identified and pursued, such as the question of a common human nature which seems presupposed by the language of universal rights. The possibilities for politics on a world scale are part of the literature of the relevant disciplines, but the perspective of the common good adds a new and distinctive dimension to those debates. The concerns for global security and the challenges of managing conflict are also shown to benefit from a rereading in terms of the goods in common between participants in global political affairs.
Women are significantly underrepresented in politics in the Pacific Islands, given that only one in twenty Pacific parliamentarians are female, compared to one in five globally. A common, but controversial, method of increasing the number of women in politics is the use of gender quotas, or measures designed to ensure a minimum level of women's representation. In those cases where quotas have been effective, they have managed to change the face of power in previously male-dominated political spheres. How do political actors in the Pacific islands region make sense of the success (or failure) of parliamentary gender quota campaigns? To answer the question, Kerryn Baker explores the workings of four campaigns in the region. In Samoa, the campaign culminated in a "safety net" quota to guarantee a minimum level of representation, set at five female members of Parliament. In Papua New Guinea, between 2007 and 2012 there were successive campaigns for nominated and reserved seats in parliament, without success, although the constitution was amended in 2011 to allow for the possibility of reserved seats for women. In post-conflict Bougainville, women campaigned for reserved seats during the constitution-making process and eventually won three reserved seats in the House of Representatives, as well as one reserved ministerial position. Finally, in the French Pacific territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna, Baker finds that there were campaigns both for and against the implementation of the so-called "parity laws." Baker argues that the meanings of success in quota campaigns, and related notions of gender and representation, are interpreted by actors through drawing on different traditions, and renegotiating and redefining them according to their goals, pressures, and dilemmas. Broadening the definition of success thus is a key to an understanding of realities of quota campaigns. Pacific Women in Politics is a pathbreaking work that offers an original contribution to gender relations within the Pacific and to contemporary Pacific politics.
Despite the volatility and unpredictability North Korea has come to symbolize in international diplomacy and security issues, it represents only half of the potential danger on the Korean peninsula. In a notable departure from its past role as guarantor of stability on the Korean peninsula, the United States has, under the stewardship of the Bush administration, come to be regarded as, at best, an obstacle to peace and security, and at worst a potential trigger for hostility. The most immediate result of this shift on the Korean peninsula has been the U.S. failure to undertake an effective policy formulation process, which has manifested itself (on both sides of the 38th parallel) in more reactive and convulsive responses to challenges from the North Korean regime. Without such understanding there is little hope of advancing discussions or resolving North Korea's nuclear program. Fundamental to understanding North Korea's endgame is realizing that its nuclear weapons program, while menacing, is unlikely to be used offensively without major provocation; it functions as a tool of its diplomacy--missile diplomacy--to ensure survival of the regime. Working closely with South Korea, the United States must ensure that any potential resolution reached on North Korea's nuclear program does not undermine its longer-term objectives for securing broader peace and security on the Korean peninsula. Ideally, any resolution brokered over the North's nuclear weapons program will provide a synergistic effect in addressing the conventional war threat posed by North Korea on the Korean peninsula. In short, the United States must undertake constructive engagement. Steadfast unwillingness to engage withNorth Korea only provides more fodder for the regime to stall any action, and, as part of its endgame, makes U.S. behavior the issue. the issue, which is part of its endgame.
Long before sea power, the Panama Canal, and petroleum drew the world's attention to the Caribbean coast, United States leaders recognized Venezuela's potential as the linchpin of the Caribbean's southern rim. In Venezuela and the United States, Judith Ewell provides a historical analysis of the main themes and directions of U.S.-Venezuelan relations from the early 1800s, when Simon Bolivar declared an American Republican identity and Monroe proclaimed U.S. responsibility for the hemisphere to the present, when Venezuelan relations with the United States reflect the growing importance of the developing world and its multilateral challenges to U.S. global hegemony. Authoritatively treating the political, economic, and cross-cultural dynamics of two nations, Ewell approaches her subject from both a Venezuelan and U.S. perspective. Her careful understanding of conflicting interests and purposes shows how other players, from Great Britain to OPEC, have affected the course of the nations' diplomatic relationship. Ewell demonstrates that Venezuela's two-hundred-year history with the United States reflects all of the key moments and issues in inter-American relations, from the Roosevelt and Olney Corollaries to the Monroe Doctrine, the Good Neighbor Policy, the Cold War, the North-South dialogues, the debt controversies, and the post-Cold War era. Using popular literature, folklore, and travel accounts, Ewell examines how Venezuelans and yanquis have perceived each other over the years and relates how the strong U.S. presence in business and popular culture has created in Venezuelans feelings of both love and hatred for the ""American way of life."" The author argues, however, that in a hemisphere clearly dominated by the U.S., a new international order has arisen, giving weak nations like Venezuela greater influence while creating a complex mosaic of alliances. A model history of binational relations, Venezuela and the United States captures both the drama and the significance of the two nations' diplomatic affairs.
By the end of the Second World War, Germany was in ruins and its Jewish population so gravely diminished that a rich cultural life seemed unthinkable. And yet, as surviving Jews returned from hiding, the camps, and their exiles abroad, so did their music. Transcending Dystopia tells the story of the remarkable revival of Jewish musical activity that developed in postwar Germany against all odds. Author Tina Fruhauf provides a kaleidoscopic panorama of musical practices in worship and social life across the country to illuminate how music contributed to transitions and transformations within and beyond Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Drawing on newly unearthed sources from archives and private collections, this book covers a wide spectrum of musical activity-from its role in commemorations and community events to synagogue concerts and its presence on the radio-across the divided Germany until the Fall of the Wall in 1989. Fruhauf's use of mobility as a conceptual framework reveals the myriad ways in which the reemergence of Jewish music in Germany was shaped by cultural transfer and exchange that often relied on the circulation of musicians, their ideas, and practices within and between communities. By illuminating the centrality of mobility to Jewish experiences and highlighting how postwar Jewish musical practices in Germany were defined by politics that reached across national borders to the United States and Israel, this pioneering study makes a major contribution to our understanding of Jewish life and culture in a transnational context. |
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