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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General
What is the real purpose of Soviet pressure on Berlin? Why has it been the scene of crisis after crisis ever since the Declaration of 1945? Mander reviews the events in Berlin over the past 17 years to illuminate the many faces of this intractable situation.
Bringing together renewable energy and energy security, this book covers both the politics and political economy of renewables and energy security and analyzes renewable technologies in diverse and highly topical countries: Japan, China and Northern Europe.
Since the 1970s, global capitalism has been marked by evermore intense cycles of boom and crisis. Today, Spain is at the epicentre of a crisis that threatens the future of the eurozone. Drawing upon Marxian value theory, Charnock, Purcell, and Ribera-Fumaz explain the deep historical and structural roots of the crisis in Spain, contextualised within global political and economic transformations in recent decades. They analyse the most recent cycle of boom and crisis in Spain, the nexus among European circuits of financial capital, urbanisation, and the emergent dynamics of state austerity and popular revolt - from the indignados movement to demands for an independent Catalonia.
This the nineth edition of the Unesco Yearbook focuses on the effects of the arms race. The first section, a product of research undertaken at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway (PRIO), examines the impact of armaments on areas of special concern to Unesco: education, science and technology, and culture and communication. The second section deals with the effects of the arms race, the arms trade, and technology transfer in developing countries, where armaments are proliferating at a higher rate than in industrially advanced countries. The third section examines the impact of the arms race on national reconstruction in developing countries. The fourth section analyzes the stance the United Nations has taken toward disarmament since its creation, from the concept of general and complete disarmament to a comprehensive program of step-by-step disarmament. Finally, as in previous yearbooks, the final section is a brief summary of Unesco activities in the fields of peace and disarmament and regional developments around the world.
This work examines and contrasts U.S. decisions concerning military intervention in Lebanon in 1958 and 1982, and how the decisions made by Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan resulted in certain outcomes and avoided others. To bring each administration's decisions into perspective, the events that shaped foreign policy are examined, while the quality of the decisions are assessed in terms of each leader's managerial style and cognition. Among the topics addressed with regard to the formulation and conduct of U.S. policy are the premises and rationale behind each president's policy decisions, the events that shaped specific responses, and the resulting lessons that apply to crisis situations. Following a brief introduction, Agnes Korbani offers a concise review of the systematic and motivational opportunities for military intervention in Lebanon. A pair of chapters cover the 1958 intervention, beginning with a survey of the 1955-57 period and the circumstances that shaped U.S. responses, followed by a discussion of how the decision to intervene was formulated and why the action took the form it did. The 1982 interventions are the focus of the next chapters, which review President Reagan's intervention objective, the regional issues that influenced the decision to intervene, and the rationale behind the move. Two concluding chapters suggest ways to apply theory and decision models to the crises, and detail major errors that could have been avoided and lessons that should be learned. This is the first book to deal with decision making in an Arab country from a comparative perspective, and should be an essential reference source for scholars of U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern studies, and presidential studies.
Since the 1990s, the field of transitional justice has exploded with international support for the establishment of trials, truth commissions, and other measures aimed at helping societies address massive human rights violations. The United States' role has been particularly significant, providing extensive funding, political support, and technical assistance to such measures. Surprisingly, however, scant attention has been paid to analyzing the country's approach to transitional justice. In this book, Bird offers the first systematic and cross-cutting account of US foreign policy on transitional justice. She examines the development of US foreign policy on the field from World War I to the present, with an in-depth examination of US involvement in measures in Cambodia, Liberia, and Colombia. She supports her findings with nearly 200 interviews with key US and foreign government officials, staff of transitional justice measures, and country experts. By "opening the black box" of US foreign policy, Bird shows how diverse interests and the constantly evolving priorities of presidential administrations, Congress, the State Department, and other agencies shape US involvement in transitional justice. Despite bureaucratic battles, Bird argues that US foreign policy on transitional justice is surprisingly consistent and characterized by an approach that is value-driven, strategic, and retributive. She demonstrates how this approach has influenced the field as a whole, including the type of transitional justice measures selected, their design, and how they are implemented.
Accounts of the relationships between states and terrorist organizations in the Cold War era have long been shaped by speculation, a lack of primary sources and even conspiracy theories. In the last few years, however, things have evolved rapidly. Using a wide range of case studies including the British State and Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, as well as the United States and Nicaragua, this book sheds new light on the relations between state and terrorist actors, allowing for a fresh and much more insightful assessment of the contacts, dealings, agreements and collusion with terrorist organizations undertaken by state actors on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This book presents the current state of research and provides an assessment of the nature, motives, effects, and major historical shifts of the relations between individual states and terrorist organizations. The articles collected demonstrate that these state-terrorism relationships were not only much more ambiguous than much of the older literature had suggested but are, in fact, crucial for the understanding of global political history in the Cold War era.
Peacekeeping is a useful tool to manage international conflict and maintain truces, but it will only work in a narrow range of circumstances. Peacekeepers can order punitive airstrikes, depose elected leaders, destroy infrastructure, and enforce peace accords not drafted by the warring parties. They have overstepped their bounds, and peacekeeping is now often a euphemism for any multilateral military action. A CIA analyst who worked closely with Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administration officials on UN issues, Fleitz examines how peacekeeping works, the rash of peacekeeping failures since 1993, and whether peacekeeping can still play a role in U.S. foreign policy. It is a unique realist assessment destined to become the guide to this very important subject for U.S. policymakers, politicians, and students of international relations. UN peacekeeping disasters in the 1990s occurred because world leaders failed to recognize the rules and precedents that allowed traditional peacekeeping to succeed during the Cold War. Although failed peacekeeping operations damaged the peacekeeping concept, it can still serve as a viable tool to promote international security and promote American interests abroad if used in the right circumstances. Carefully researched and supported by over two dozen maps, charts, and photos, Fleitz boldly challenges dozens of assumptions of the foreign policy establishment about the nature of the Cold War, post-Cold War peacekeeping, and 1990s peacekeeping deployments.
Seligmann focuses on the development of German policy towards the Transvaal and southern Africa in the 1890s. During this time Germany's flirtation with President Kruger and her confrontational approach to Britain threatened war. How did this come to pass? The author examines the roots of German policy and explores consequent rivalries and tensions. The conclusions show the importance of South Africa to German imperialism and the role it played in widening German imperial ambitions before the First World War.
Over the last decade, the notion of counter-insurgency (COIN) has risen to prominence as the dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the high level of attention paid to the subject by military analysts, the broader theoretical and historical factors which underpin counter-insurgency have received comparatively little critical scrutiny. This volume addresses the gap in existing scholarship by exploring and challenging several critical aspects of the prevailing orthodoxy on COIN.This critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking and practice brings together a number of international academics and practitioners, providing a pluralistic insight on the effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations from military, academic, media and civilian administrative perspectives. It also combines US and British insights into the theory and practise of twenty-first century COIN. With the continuing relevance of 'big third party' COIN to Western engagement in future wars of choice, this book provides an important and timely analysis of an issue which will continue to impact American and British security policy and future interventions.This book will appeal to scholars of Military Studies, Strategic Studies, Security Studies and International Relations and to practitioners and policy-makers working in the field of counter-insurgency.
Since the emergence of post-Soviet states in the Eurasian space there has been considerable reflection on the role that the state has played in the local and global arenas. Transformation from being part of the 'Soviet' to independent existence has meant state involvement in the forging of new nations out of disparate identities based on the criteria of national languages, the reinterpretation of historical events, depiction of personality-centric themes, the portrayal of illustrative careers and the rhetoric of development. This volume focuses on some of the aspects of this involvement through studies of the performative role of the Central Asian states in the arena of politics, diplomacy, culture, historical memory, and their interaction within the Eurasian space. It reflects on ways in which the state reacts to society and how discourses in the field of economy, society and culture dovetail with or diverge from the political discourse about state-building. Relations between formal institutions and informal structures; emerging conceptions of democracy in the context of the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan and the disruptive events in western Kazakhstan during the twentieth anniversary of the republic's independence; the nature of bilateral and multilateral alignments among regional and interregional actors are some of the aspects through which the role of the state has been examined by the authors. The volume seeks to address the question of how the state acts as an agent of influence and control not just on performative traditions but also in the creation of a single community as the basis for a nation.
Arizona has one of the fastest growing communities of Latino immigrants in the United States. In response to accusations that the Federal government was hampering the immigration enforcement actions of Arizona police, state Senator Russell Pearce introduced the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act." Better known as SB 1070, the policy allows police officers in Arizona to arrest unauthorized immigrants under the state's trespassing law. The law also gives officers the latitude to question and detain those that may appear suspicious, which may simply mean that they appear Latino. Under the State's statute, immigrants can also be criminalized for their mere presence in Arizona. The bill was signed into law on April 23, 2010, which generated a number of immensely complex issues at the local, national and international level The measure has affected an already problematic U.S.-Mexico, bi-national relationship at a time of increased security cooperation between the two countries. Furthermore, former the President of Mexico has criticized the law, issuing travel advisories, and as a sanction, trade between Arizona and Mexico has been reduced. Elected officials across the country called for a variety of economic boycotts and campaigns that would discourage the full implementation of the law. Over fifteen major cities have ended business contracts with Arizona. The State tourism industry has lost almost one billion dollars in less than six months as a result of this policy. This book examines a variety of issues and consequences of SB 1070 at the local, national and international level. It provides timely research and analysis on a topic not previously examined and from a variety of inter disciplinary approaches, making it of interest to political scientists and policy-makers alike.
Southeast Asia's recent economic dynamism has helped to stimulate renewed interest in the study of many aspects of this complex region. This collection of essays explores the evolution of various disciplinary approaches to Southeast Asia. Basing their approaches on anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, history, politics, international relations and on a consideration of literature, the authors examine many of the crucial debates and controversies of the past, and aim to provide a picture of the current scholarship in each discipline as it relates to the region.
The important and controversial issue of cross-border security cooperation against the IRA during before the Good Friday agreement is woefully underrepresented in the literature on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. On this first book on the subject, Henry Patterson brings the role of the Irish State into sharp focus at a time when dealing with the past has become a central issue in Northern Irish Politics. It establishes the crucial importance of the border to the IRA campaign and shows why successive British governments considered the Republic a 'safe haven' for the IRA. It reveals the devastating effects of republican violence on Protestants in border areas and contains new archival material that sheds light on the Kingsmill Massacre, the role of the SAS, the murder of Lord Mountbattern as well as the Garda collusion. It also highlights how Mrs Thatcher's concern about the issue of border security led her to contemplate major concessions to the Irish government and how her Irish counterpart, Taoiseach Charles Haughey, sought to exploit this concern.
Jakobson tells the story of a small nation that has emerged a winner from the ordeals of the twentieth century. Finland is still widely remembered for its successful resistance against Soviet attempts to subjugate it during World War II, but less is known about the skillful balancing act by which Finns preserved their independence and way of life during the Cold War. Finland is in fact one of the few European nations that can claim an unbroken record of democratic rule ever since the beginning of the 20th century. By joining the European Union, Finland has now finally moved out of Moscow's shadow and, thanks to investment in education and technological development, has joined the dozen most prosperous nations in the world. The Finnish experience casts new light on the central issues facing Europe today--for example, the contradiction between the continuing vitality of nationalism and the pressures of integration, as well as the challenge of how to relate to Russia, still an unknown factor in the European security equation. This is a major work for all scholars and researchers of Scandinavian and European Studies.
This book discusses the relations between the United States and Egypt from Roosevelt to Eisenhower. To protect the free flow of oil, American policymakers looked to Egypt to provide the progressive, pro-Western leadership they believed would insure stability to the region. America's attempts to balance the needs of its British allies with those of Egypt coupled with Egypt's quest for regional hegemony proved to be a recipe for trouble. In the end, America failed in grooming Egypt as the pro-Western leader, could not bring peace to the region, and could not prevent the Soviet Union from gaining a foothold. Yet, the oil continued to flow.
This groundbreaking book offers in-depth analysis of the modern Islamic state, applying a quantitative measurement of how Muslim majority nations meet the definition. Content for the book was developed through extensive debate among a panel of distinguished Sunni and Shia Muslim scholars over seven years.
In America's foreign affairs there has been a delicate balance between often conflicting imperatives of interests, ideals, and power. How these imperatives have intersected to shape the constellation of American foreign policy decisions throughout the nation's history and, indeed, how they have served to advance or subvert attainment of America's regional, hemispheric and global ambitions, is the subject of this study. This collection of essays explores seminal decisions in American foreign policy and diplomatic history, from the early National period to the Vietnam War, each of which proved to be a turning point, and then asks readers to consider alternative futures based upon different courses of action. Nielson underscores how history could, and perhaps should, have been different. U.S. foreign policy has in large measure been contingent upon decisions made by individuals in positions of power. Their personalities, characters, and assumptions about duty and America's role in the world have uniquely shaped policy choices and, thus, the course of foreign affairs, for better or worse. This book hopes to show that history is ever fluid, unpredictable, and problematic. It will complement traditional texts as a "what if" counterpoint which will stimulate interest in and speculation about leadership roles, national interest, and decision making in foreign policy.
The complex question of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands remains far from resolved, even after the military and political events that took place from April to June 1982. The first scholarly work of its kind, this broad and dispassionate study of the causes of the South Atlantic war between Britain and Argentina addresses the larger issues raised by the Falkland crisis and untangles a web of events and attitudes that stretch back over the past century. The book begins with a close evaluation of the two pivotal arguments: Argentina's stance that international law supports their historical right to the islands, and Britain's position that the length of their occupation of the Falklands, together with the principles of self-determination, legalized their de facto control. Gustafson then discusses how potential off-shore oil reserves, diplomacy, domestic politics, and the use of force entered into the sovereignty dispute; analyzes the effects of war on international relations; and considers possible future approaches to handling the dispute.
Globalization has been defined as a process in which the population of the world is increasingly bonded into a single society. Although none of the contributors to this collection denies the thrust toward convergence that is implicit in globalizing processes, each contributor also concludes that globalization encourages differentiation. Integration in the global system is not a passive process. In different nations, people analyze and interpret what is happening and respond by developing policies, forming new institutions and changing existing ones. They adopt broad cultural models in order to function effectively in the larger system and they also draw upon their particular traditions, values, institutions and resources to define a place that will be to their advantage economically, politically and socio-culturally. As the studies presented in this book show, integration in the world system may benefit a given society or may harm it; it may entail changes to a society's culture, but does not obliterate a society's distinctive characteristics.
This is the only book since the fall of the Soviet Union to analyze the security of the newly emerged independent states in the strategically vital region of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This insightful work maps out the possibilities and dangers that lie ahead for the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The book analyzes the current security situation and clarifies its historical context, identifying the factors that have shaped the security of these young nations since their independence. It also examines the parameters—political, economic, ethnic, energy, and military—that will decide the security of the region in the future. The book's author tells the whole story behind the headlines when he discusses, for example, the real reason for the "wine war" of 2006, when Russia banned imports of Georgian wine for "health reasons," or when explaining the impact of the expanding American presence—both political and military—after September 11. Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus is a primer for those who want to know more about this strategic region and essential reading for all students of world affairs.
British troops, which arrived as a temporary measure, would remain in Ireland for the next 38 years. Successive British governments initially claimed the Northern Ireland conflict to be an internal matter but the Republic of Ireland had repeatedly demanded a role, appealing to the UN and US, while across the Atlantic, Irish-American groups applied pressure on Nixon's largely apathetic administration to intervene. Following the introduction of internment and the events of Bloody Sunday, the British were forced to recognise the international dimension of the conflict and begrudgingly began to concede that any solution would rely on Washington and Dublin's involvement. Irish governments seized every opportunity to shape the political initiative that led to Sunningdale and Senator Edward Kennedy became the leading US advocate of American intervention while Nixon, who wanted Britain onside for his Cold War objectives, was faced with increasingly influential domestic pressure groups. Eventually, international involvement in Northern Ireland would play a vital role in shaping the principles on which political agreement was reached - even after the breakdown of the Sunningdale Agreement in May 1974. Using recently released archives in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and United States, Alan MacLeod offers a new interpretation of the early period of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles'.
The book examines ASEAN's mechanisms in managing challenges and threats to regional security. Its extensive analyses of the ASEAN story of managing regional security cover the different phases of ASEAN's development as a regional organization and explore the perceptible changes that have occurred in regional mechanisms of conflict management. The book also examines the roles of relevant actors beyond the states of ASEAN and the key interactions that have evolved over time, which have been instrumental in moving regional mechanisms beyond the ASEAN way. The book argues that the ASEAN way has not been impervious to change. As the Association finds its way through periods of crises and continues to confront the many challenges ahead, ASEAN and its mechanisms are already being transformed beyond the narrow confines of the modalities associated with the ASEAN way. The changes in the political and security landscape of the region, as well as the democratic transitions taking place in some member states, have set the stage for a much more dynamic set of regional actors and processes that bring into question the kind of regionalism that is now taking place in the region. This book therefore attempts to capture these evolving dynamics and examines the way regionalism is changing in Southeast Asia. |
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