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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General
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.
The book intents to locate the process and effectiveness of cooperation in East Asia, to regard the construction of East Asian community as the ideal, the contradictions and difficulties in construction as the reality, and the actual development and achievement as the choice and effort between the two. The year of 1997 saw the Asian Financial Crisis which turned out to be a disaster, but also opened up an opportunity for East Asia to establish cooperation mechanism. Starting with the crisis, this book examines the origin and development of the East Asian cooperation movement. More importantly, it investigates the obstacles and resistance, and provides insights into the cooperation within East Asia in the context of unstable political environment. Specifically, it expounds on East Asian Free Trade Area, monetary cooperation, as well as the cooperation within Northeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions. Instead of the East Asian Community, various functional mechanisms have come into being in the development of East Asian cooperation because of complicated historical and economic relations among the countries. This book examines the roles played by ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Japan, U.S., and China in the cooperation respectively. More importantly, China's strategic orientation in regional cooperation is studied in the last chapter. It observes that China, as a rising power, is re-establishing regional relations and order with the geographically neighbouring countries as the basis.
The political practice of declaring victory and coming home has provided a false and dangerous domestic impression of great success for U.S. unilateral and multilateral interventions in failing and failed states around the world. The reality of such irresponsibility is that the root causes and the violent consequences of contemporary "intranational" conflict are left to smolder and reignite at a later date with the accompanying human and physical waste. This book discusses why it is incumbent on the international community and individual powers involved in dealing with the chaos of the post-Cold War world to understand that such action requires a long-term, holistic, and strategic approach. The intent of such an approach is to create and establish the proven internal conditions that can lead to a mandated peace and stability--with justice. The key elements that define those conditions at the strategic level include: (1) the physical establishment of order and the rule of law; (2) the isolation of belligerents; (3) the regeneration of the economy; (4) the shaping of political consent; (5) fostering peaceful conflict resolution processes; (6) achieving a complete unity of effort toward stability; and (7) establishment and maintenance of a legitimate civil society. These essential dimensions of contemporary global security and stability requirements comprise a new paradigm that will, hopefully, initiate the process of rethinking both problem and response.
From grassroots terrorism to the nuclear ambitions of hostile nations, the United States faces increasingly complex threats to its national security, and combating these threats continues to demand a reshaping of the nation's security structure, military forces and defense expenditures. In this study, Anthony Cordesman offers a detailed analysis of critical challenges affecting U.S. national security and how failures in adapting to these challenges have exacerbated the strains on available resources. He systematically identifies the most glaring obstacles to successful national security planning and proposes constructive and practical ways to proceed in the future. Cordesman focuses on ten specific challenges, and each is addressed within the context of the Iraq War, Afghan War, War on Terrorism, and the risk of conflict over the Taiwan Straits. Out of the lessons drawn from these experiences, he examines the future of international coalitions, asymmetric warfare, nation building, and stability operations, and concludes that perhaps the most pressing area for change is the need for accountability among civilian and military policymakers.
This volume examines how the U.S. military must rebuild in the wake of Iraq/Afghanistan, and refocus its power projection to face the new challenges emerging in the Pacific and with China. Rebuilding American Military Power in the Pacific: A 21st-Century Strategy provides an all-encompassing look at the challenges facing the United States in shaping a 21st-century Pacific strategy: dealing with the growing Chinese colossus, the unpredictable nuclear challenge presented by North Korea, the dynamic of the Arctic opening, and maintaining the security of the conveyor belt of goods and services in the Pacific. Can the United States successfully train and prepare for the 21st century, and break free from the mindset that determined its strategies in the previous century? The authors of the work explain why a carefully considered, fully modernized Pacific strategy is a key element for the evolution of American military power-and why shaping an effective air and maritime strategy in the Pacific as well as globally is the crucial challenge facing the U.S. military and the policy community. Written by authors with significant access to the media, think tanks, and high-level politicians, the book provides an insider's look at how American military leaders are building out relevant capabilities in the Pacific to defend America and its allies, and it contains extensive interviews with those leaders. Examines the nature of the destabilizing threat that China presents to the power balance of the Pacific, along with how the United States can work with its allies to shape a 21st-century strategy Discusses in detail the necessity for reshaping the U.S. military after the land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the ways in which American forces can be rebuilt for the future Explains why the evolving Pacific theater is an area of critical operations and will require significant change in terms of how U.S. forces operate to deal with emerging threats Assesses how new capabilities associated with emerging technologies-notably the Osprey, the F-35 aircraft, the Aegis Combat Systems, and a number of new European systems-allow new opportunities to work with our allies
Covering the development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War, the origins and early course of the Cold War, and the advent of the hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s, Churchill and the Bomb in War and Cold War explores a still neglected aspect of Winston Churchill's career - his relationship with and thinking on nuclear weapons. Kevin Ruane shows how Churchill went from regarding the bomb as a weapon of war in the struggle with Nazi Germany to viewing it as a weapon of communist containment (and even punishment) in the early Cold War before, in the 1950s, advocating and arguably pioneering "mutually assured destruction" as the key to preventing the Cold War flaring into a calamitous nuclear war. While other studies of Churchill have touched on his evolving views on nuclear weapons, few historians have given this hugely important issue the kind of dedicated and sustained treatment it deserves. In Churchill and the Bomb in War and Cold War, however, Kevin Ruane has undertaken extensive primary research in Britain, the United States and Europe, and accessed a wide array of secondary literature, in producing an immensely readable yet detailed, insightful and provocative account of Churchill's nuclear hopes and fears.
An assessment of the situation of Europe and German unification at
the beginning of the 1990s. The author identifies fundamental
issues and documents, with the use of quotations and extracts and
the decisions of those directly involved. The book also identifies
and describes various organizations that form Germany's "European"
framework.
A Mail on Sunday book of the year. In 1940, Europe was on the brink of collapse. Country after country had fallen to the Nazis, and Britain was known as ‘Last Hope Island’, where Europeans from the captive nations gathered to continue the war effort. In this epic, character-driven narrative, acclaimed historian and New York Times–bestselling author Lynne Olson takes us back to those perilous days when the British and their European guests joined forces to combat the mightiest military force in history. From the Polish and French code breakers who helped crack Enigma, to the Czech pilots who protected London during German bombings, Olson tells the stories of the courageous men and women who came together to defeat Hitler and save Europe.
The past thirty years have witnessed the rise of political parties and other formal groups in the Middle East and elsewhere with Islamic agendas, a phenomenon that has both surprised and frightened many in the West. Events from the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 to the attacks of September 11, 2001, have led some to conclude that the United States is on a collision course with Islam, the religion of one-fifth of the world's population. This sourcebook aims to enhance our understanding of the Islamist phenomenon by presenting some forty documents, written by Islamists themselves, which shed light on the origins, goals, and practices of Islamic-focused groups and movements throughout the Muslim world. Each document is identified and analyzed as to its significance. The documentary section of the work is followed by an extensive bibliography and reference guide of relevant print and electronic resources Islamism: A Documentary and Reference Guide provides firsthand accounts of the most important periods in the rise of radical Islam: BLTheological Foundations of Islamism -- The writings of the early Islamic revivalist thinkers who are influential among Islamists today. BLIslamist Thinkers and Movements -- The writings of those leaders who, since the 1920s, influenced movements and organizations calling for the establishment of Islamic states. BLGlobal Jihad -- beginning in the 1980s and through the 1990s, writers merged political radicalism with religious revivalism to promote the most radical form of Islamism that we see today. Each translation, many of them created for this book, has an introductory essay by the editor to place the work in its historical context.
Designed for undergraduate students, this reader combines essays on actual causes and issues that mobilize activists with theory and concepts of social mobilization. "The Global Activism Reader" is a unique collection of essays that introduce the various causes, actors, and organization of transnational mobilization to provide a broad, accessible survey of cases and theory. Beginning with concepts and definitions, the reader offers some historical perspective before focusing on contemporary transnational activism. This core section includes major causes or issue areas and specific campaigns. Readings on any given issue always include a critical or dissident voice. Weaving theory with case studies, the work discusses the environment, human rights, women's rights, arms control and disarmament, global justice and democracy, and religion. In addition, each essay features an introduction and conclusion by the editor as well as suggestions for further readings. The Reader addresses undergraduate students in political science and international relations in such courses as transnational activism, globalization, and global policy. It will allow students not only to learn about various contemporary movements, but also to develop a theoretical perspective to understand them.
This book is a unique collection of high quality articles analysing legal issues with particular regard to small states. The small states of the world differ considerably in their geography, history, political structures, legal systems and wealth. Nevertheless, because of their size, small states face a set of common challenges including vulnerability to external economic impacts such as changing trade regimes and limited ability to diversify economic activity; limited public and private sector capacity, including the legal and judicial infrastructure; a need for regional co-operation; a vulnerability to environmental changes as well as a limited ability to engage with supranational bodies and the forces of globalisation. This is the first volume of an exciting and unique new series, The World of Small States. In this work, legal experts from small jurisdictions and those with a particular interest in legal issues facing small states explore inter alia ethics in small jurisdictions, legal education and the profession in small states, the challenges facing small states with mixed legal systems, the constitutional arrangements in small states, small states as tax havens, and intellectual property and competition law issues.
Taking a comparative and transnational perspective in its exploration of East and Western Europe, this volume analyses the history of post-war industrial policy after the Second World War. It investigates differences and similarities, looks at transfers across national borders and locates industrial policy in the context of the Cold War.
'To attempt such a difficult task requires ambition, confidence and skill. All three qualities are evident in this impressive reference book. It deserves a prominent place in all International Relations libraries'. Dr Scott Burchill, In Australian Journal of Political Science, 43:4, 747 - 766. Now in its third edition, International Relations: The Key Concepts, remains an important resource for anyone interested in international politics. Comprehensive and relevant, it has been fully revised to reflect the most important themes and issues in international relations in the post-9/11 era. Featuring new entries on: * The Arab Spring * Responsibility to Protect * Governmentality * Postcolonialism * Neoliberalism * Global Financial Crisis With suggestions for further reading and a useful guide to websites, International Relations: The Key Concepts is an ideal aid for students and newcomers to the field of International Relations.
This first encyclopedia about the Arab-Israeli conflict by a team of experts gives detailed and comprehensive coverage of the important political, military, and diplomatic events, places, people, groups, agreements, treaties, and issues that have marked this controversial and complex regional and international conflict. A team of authorities with varying backgrounds, interests, disciplines, and perspectives gives special attention to the period since the adoption of the Palestine partition plan in November 1947, the first Arab-Israeli War up to the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles and subsequent agreements, as well as the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and implementation process. Hundreds of entries arranged alphabetically provide hard-to-find information and point to sources for further reading and research. Extensive cross-references, a chronology of important events, a bibliographical essay, and a general index further enhance this basic research tool. Designed for broad interdisciplinary use by scholars, students, policymakers, and general readers of varying backgrounds, interests, disciplines, and perspectives in college, university, institutional, and public libraries.
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Across the global South, new media technologies have brought about new forms of cultural production, distribution and reception. The spread of cassette recorders in the 1970s; the introduction of analogue and digital video formats in the 80s and 90s; the pervasive availability of recycled computer hardware; the global dissemination of the internet and mobile phones in the new millennium: all these have revolutionised the access of previously marginalised populations to the cultural flows of global modernity. Yet this access also engenders a pirate occupation of the modern: it ducks and deranges the globalised designs of property, capitalism and personhood set by the North. Positioning itself against Eurocentric critiques by corporate lobbies, libertarian readings or classical Marxist interventions, this volume offers a profound postcolonial revaluation of the social, epistemic and aesthetic workings of piracy. It projects how postcolonial piracy persistently negotiates different trajectories of property and self at the crossroads of the global and the local.
A generation after the First Gulf War, and in the wake of a decade of counterinsurgency operations and irregular warfare, this book explores how the concept of the Revolution in Military Affairs continues to shape the way modern militaries across the globe think about, plan and fight wars.
In this comprehensive analysis of Hungarian political and economic developments over the past 30 years, Felkay focuses particularly on the role played by the country's long-tenured Communist leader, Janos Kadar. Basing his study on a comprehensive critical analysis of the official Hungarian press, ideological journals, relevant documents, and other statistical reports from 1956 to the present, Felkay argues that Hungary's rapid recovery from the cataclysmic events of 1956 was the direct result of Kadar's ability to overcome the alienation of his compatriots without incurring the displeasure of the Soviet Union. Felkay's reliance on primarily Hungarian Communist sources offers the reader a unique window on Kadar's political emergence as a pragmatic and unusally successful Communist leader. Felkay begins with a brief history of Hungary and Soviet-Hungarian relations to the end of World War II, setting the context for the detailed political case study which follows. Subsequent chapters detail Kadar's youth, his early involvement with the Communist party, and his installatiton by the Soviets as Hungary's leader in the wake of the 1956 uprising. Felkay demonstrates that despite the circumstances of his selection and his lack of domestic support, Kadar emerged as an effective political leader in his own right. His introduction of innovative non-Marxist structural economic reforms, Felkay shows, enabled Kadar to create one of the most efficient economic systems within the Soviet bloc. Felkay continues with chapters covering the Czechoslovak crisis of 1968, the slowing of reforms and the effects of worldwide price explosions in the early 1970s, and the mounting economic problems that have confronted Kadar and Hungary in the 1980s. The concluding chapters address the most recent developments, including Kadar's removal from office and the impact of Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika, and predicts likely future trends. Invaluable supplemental reading for courses in comparative politics, Central European politics, and the political economy of Eastern Europe, this volume provides a more comprehensive view of Hungary's contemporary development than has yet been available.
This volume brings together seven Americans and twenty-six Western Europeans to discuss the role of Western Europe in East-West relations. Although there are a number of books on NATO and on U.S.-West European relations, this is the first whose topic is the conflict between the U.S. and its European Allies over ties with Moscow, as it is affected by the interests and policies of West European countries.
In this book, Daniel Kliman argues that the years following September 11, 2001, have marked a turning point in Japan's defense strategy. Utilizing poll data from Japanese newspapers as well as extensive interview material, Kliman chronicles the erosion of normative and legal restraints on Tokyo's security policy. In particular, he notes that both Japanese elites and the general public increasingly view national security from a realpolitik perspective. Japan's more realpolitik orientation has coincided with a series of precedent-breaking defense initiatives. Tokyo deployed the Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Indian Ocean, decided to introduce missile defense, and contributed troops to Iraq's post-conflict reconstruction. Kliman explains these initiatives as the product of four mutually interactive factors. In the period after September 11, the impact of foreign threats on Tokyo's security calculus became ever more pronounced; internalized U.S. expectations exerted a profound influence over Japanese defense behavior; prime ministerial leadership played an instrumental role in deciding high profile security debates; and public opinion appeared to overtake generational change as a motivator of realpolitik defense policies. This book rebuts those who exaggerate the nature of Japan's strategic transition. By evaluating potential amendments to Article 9, Kliman demonstrates that Tokyo's defense posture will remain constrained even after constitutional revision.
In an age of uncertainties influenced by information technologies and the networking of societies, the maritime domain remains the main global lane of communication, vital for trade and security. The European Union has become a maritime actor, carrying out counter-piracy and maritime capacity-building operations and actively dealing with maritime safety, fisheries protection, port security, maritime surveillance and counter-immigration at sea. The Union's policies, mechanisms and activities related to the maritime domain are now backed by a Maritime Security Strategy, adopted by the Council in June 2014. This cutting edge book accounts for the trends in maritime strategy and seapower politics as well as the recent developments in the field, both at the conceptual and practical level. It discusses the significance of the maritime domain for European security in general and for the EU in particular. Readers are provided with the necessary tools to critically assess the EU's potential as a global maritime actor and evaluate why Europe's prosperity and security rests on its capacity to shape events at sea.
An examination of the several reasons for the failure of foreign policy reform during the controversial administration of President Jimmy Carter. In "Reversing Course," David Skidmore argues that President Carter's initial foreign policy agenda required a scaling back of U.S. commitments abroad, reflecting a decline in resources, as well as influence, in a world developing in ways necessarily reducing U.S. hegemony. By probing beneath the obvious and carefully sifting the abundant but poorly understood evidence, Skidmore finds at the root of Carter's failed effort an irresistible pressure to reverse a liberal foreign-policy agenda in order to address the effect at home of well-organized conservative criticism. For Skidmore, Carter's course "reversed" toward a traditional containment strategy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union not because of Soviet intransigence or faulty idealism but because Cold War politics sold better in the polls. While offering significant theoretical arguments, Skidmore carefully anchors his thesis in the day-to-day political give and take among those personalities and events that provoked headlines and commentaries long before they were the stuff of history. Among the telling factors and events analyzed in this book are the Vance/Brzezinski conflict, the support and opposition of Howard Baker, the SALT II Treaty, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, to mention only a few. Although Skidmore draws conclusions that apply to the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations as well, his focus is not on personality but on theory and underlying structures. He provides a demonstration that this structural approach can "be helpful not only in unraveling the mysteries of policy change under Carter but also in specifying the underlying sources of policy vacillation over much of the past two decades." .
"The Next Cold War?" sounds a warning: the United States may be contributing to another cold war through its competitive unilateral and regional economic policies. Whereas wars of the past usually resulted from political conflict, Hanson warns that a new cold war may result from economic conflict. This raises important questions for American policymakers. Will the United States be a world leader that promotes cooperation and unity, or will it seek to create competition and division? Will the United States address the basic problems of population, environmental deterioration, and economic stagnation in concert with other nations, or will it pursue narrow geopolitical and geoeconomic power strategies? This fascinating work explores both sides of these questions and poses alternatives that will promote world cooperation and unity.
In this thought-provoking new study of the cooperation between the people of the United States and the Soviet Union, the contributors analyze joint ventures in academic and cultural exchange; trade, conservation and environmental controls; space; medicine and public health; security and communications; and cooperative diplomacy in Antarctica. U.S.-Soviet Cooperation: A New Future demonstrates that joint enterprises have heightened the dependability of both sides to maintain the peaceful status quo and makes a firm case for the strengthening and expanding of such ventures. Students of political science, the informed public, as well as government officials will find this book a source of stimulating ideas that challenge the generally accepted views concerning U.S.-Soviet relations. By emphasizing the positive benefits of joint ventures between the two countries--agreements in crisis communication, trade, science, agriculture, environmental protection, space, and medicine--the contributors are reversing the tendency of students of International Relations to focus on disagreement, controversy, and war. This book points out significant public policy implications in this spirit of cooperation, including promising material for a new future in superpower relations. |
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