This edited volume focuses on various forms of regionalism and neighborhoods in the Baltic-Black Sea area. In the light of current reshaping of borderlands and new geopolitical and military confrontations in Europe's eastern margins, such as the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, this book analyzes different types and modalities of regional integration and region-making from a comparative perspective. It conceptualizes cooperative and conflictual encounters as a series of networks and patchworks that differently link and relate major actors to each other and thus shape these interconnections as domains of inclusion and exclusion, bordering and debordering, securitization and desecuritization. This peculiar combination of geopolitics, ethnopolitics and biopolitics makes the Baltic-Black Sea trans-national region a source of inspiring policy practices, and, in the light of new security risks, a matter of increased concern all over Europe. The contributors from various disciplines cover topics such as cultural and civilizational spaces of belonging and identity politics, the rise of right-wing populism, region building under the condition of multiple security pressures, and the influence and regional strategies of different external powers, including the EU, Russia, and Turkey, on cross- and trans-regional relations in the area.

This book provides an account of the development of the European Union, from a relatively specialized organ of economic cooperation in the 1960s to the complex, quasi-federal entity that today governs over an increasingly diverse set of policy domains. The book is a must for anyone interested in understanding the past and future of European integration and supranational governance.

Resource security is a new battleground in the international politics of the Asia-Pacific. With demand for minerals and energy surging, disputes are emerging over access and control of scarce natural resource endowments. Drawing on critical insights from political economy, this book explains why resources have emerged as a source of inter-state conflict in the region. Jeffrey Wilson shows how resources have emerged as a new cause of tension between key regional powers, including China, Japan, Indonesia, Russia and the United States. He focuses on three in-depth case studies of contemporary resource conflicts in Asia; the regional scramble for oil and gas, the 'iron ore war' between Australia and China, and the threat of rare earth minerals to economic and military security. International Resource Politics in Asia-Pacific will appeal to students and academics of international political economy, international relations and Asian studies. It will also be of interest to policymakers, practitioners, managers and analysts of the Asia-Pacific region.

The policy framework advocated by Minford et al. . . . is grounded in economic theory and an incisive empirical analysis of the costs of UK's membership of the EU. Their thesis that the EU is a political union practising economic protectionism in the guise of gradualism towards free trade makes sense. . . . Minford and his associates' analysis suggests that the EU's policy framework of free trade for members but restrictions on trade of non-members with the EU countries is a second best policy adopted to promote political rather than economic objectives.' - V.N. Balasubramanyam, Lancaster University, UK'The EU got the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012, but such an award is not forthcoming for economics. In fact, the EU faces a stern public discontent throughout Europe. For years EU leaders have been unable to agree on almost anything. The eurozone's toxic monetary embrace is a colossal failure that has provoked misery in most of the participating countries and, worst of all, suffocated the hopes of prosperity for many years to come. The EU is no longer a venture that inspires people to run on barricades to defend it. Should Britain be a part of the crumbling EU project? This book provides a timely and documented answer. It is highly recommended reading.' - Miroslav N. Jovanovi , University of Geneva, Switzerland 'Much too much of the debate about the UK's relationship with the European Union relies upon general declarations unsupported by facts and assertions and claims not substantiated by evidence. This is why we need so badly the careful quantitative analysis provided by Patrick Minford and his colleagues. The UK electorate will have a momentous decision to take when the EU referendum takes place. History and emotions will be important, but getting the facts straight is even more vital.' - John Mills, Founder and Chairman of JML and Co-Chairman of Business for Britain 'Patrick Minford and his team have performed a hugely valuable service by quantifying the costs of Britain's EU membership. In particular, they show that Britain pays too much for too high a proportion of its imports. The EU's protectionism in its trade with the rest of the world costs Britain a significant slice of its national output. Their demonstration of this vital point is thought-provoking and sophisticated, and greatly strengthens the case for the UK to leave the EU.' - Tim Congdon, CBE, International Monetary Research Ltd Placed in the context of the upcoming referendum, this second edition brings up to date a thorough review of all economic aspects of the UK's membership of the EU. It notes the intention of the EU to move to 'ever closer union' and the nature of the regulatory and general economic philosophy of its dominant members, whose position is enforced by qualified majority voting. The book highlights the UK s dilemma that, while extending free markets to its local region is attractive, this European philosophy and closer union are substantially at odds with the UK's traditions of free markets and freedom under the common law. This comprehensive examination of the economic costs and benefits of membership uses state-of-the-art modeling methods and includes estimates of its net costs as a percentage of GDP. The book explains how the decision to leave would follow from a judgement on the political economy of the EU as compared with that of the UK. It details the misconceptions involved in much of the debate about trade with the EU, and argues that the key issue is not access to markets but rather the prices at which trade takes place. Covered in careful detail is the economics of the UK's trade with the EU in the key sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and services.

Governing Compact Cities investigates how governments and other critical actors organise to enable compact urban growth, combining higher urban densities, mixed use and urban design quality with more walkable and public transport-oriented urban development. Philipp Rode draws on empirical evidence from London and Berlin to examine how urban policymakers, professionals and stakeholders have worked across disciplinary silos, geographic scales and different time horizons since the early 1990s. The key mechanisms for integrated urban governance which enable more compact growth are identified by focusing on the underlying institutional arrangements that have connected strategic urban planning, city design and transport policy in the two case study cities. These include a hybrid model of hierarchical and network governance, the effectiveness of continuous adjustment over disruptive, one-off ?integration fixes? and the prioritisation of certain links between sectoral policy and geographic scales over others. With an interdisciplinary approach connecting urban studies and planning with political science, public administration and organisational studies, this book will be of interest to academics and students in those disciplines, as well as urban practitioners and the applied/policy research community.

This is a philosophical exploration of the moral issues raised by the use of private military contractors in war. The presence of contractors on today's battlefields is without question one of the most significant developments in modern warfare. While many contractors perform relatively benign tasks on behalf of the military, controversy rages around those contractors who offer services that involve the use of armed force. The rise of the private military industry raises some difficult issues. For example, Jeremy Scahill, one of the industry's most vociferous critics, questions whether the outsourcing of military force is not 'a subversion of the very existence of the nation-state and of principles of sovereignty'. These questions are at essence philosophical challenges to the existence of the private military industry. In "Just Warriors, Inc.", philosopher and ethicist Deane-Peter Baker argues that, contrary to popular assumptions, a compelling moral and philosophical case can be made in favour of the ongoing utilization of the services that these 'private warriors' offer. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in moving beyond the hyperbole and exploring in depth the real questions that should be asked about the privatisation of military force. "Think Now" is a new series of books which examines central contemporary social and political issues from a philosophical perspective. These books aim to be accessible, rather than overly technical, bringing philosophical rigour to modern questions which matter the most to us. Provocative yet engaging, the authors take a stand on political and cultural themes of interest to any intelligent reader.

Agriculture has a small, and declining, importance in employment and income generation within the EU, but a political importance well beyond its economic impact. The EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) has often been the source of conflict between the EU and its trade partners within first the GATT, and then the WTO. In the Doha Round agriculture was again a sticking point, resulting in setbacks and delays. The position of the EU is pivotal. Due to the comparatively limited competitiveness of the EU's agricultural sector, and the EU's institutionally constrained ability to undertake CAP reform, the CAP sets limits for agricultural trade liberalization blocking progress across the full compass of the WTO agenda. Therefore, the farm trade negotiation, with the CAP at its core, is the key to understanding the dynamics of trade rounds in the WTO.
The book, written by a political scientist and an agricultural economist, applies theory on ideas to explain how the agricultural sector came to be included in the Single Undertaking that resulted in the Uruguay Round agreements, and how this led to a dynamic interplay between CAP reform and the possibility of further agricultural trade liberalization within the WTO, thereby providing useful insights into international trade relations.

The book covers Islam from its inception through its global spread, terrorism, its militancy, its effect on Western society and the enabling support the Islamic world receives from the West. The book also proposes a set of countermeasures.

Religion is prevalent in world politics today, and international relation theory is at pains to understand and explain this phenomenon. This unique study aims to introduce political theology as an appropriate tool to the study of international relations. In accordance with the political theology of Carl Schmitt, which states that modern political concepts are secularized theological concepts, the work questions the "secular" foundations of contemporary international relations theory. Thus it reveals the Christian foundations of the discipline of international relations and delivers a critique of some of its most fundamental theoretical elements, such as its secular view of religion as part of the "irrational," its deification of the political form of the nation state, and its negation of theism in its understanding of responsibility in world politics.The result is a primer on how international relations and its studies have grown out of the political imagination of Christian theology. It will appeal to anyone interested in critical approaches to the field as well as in politics and religion, political theory, and political theology.

Parodi shows that boundary disputes have and continue to play a major role in creating tensions in South America. Of the 25 international territorial boundaries that exist in South America, eight were marked with major wars, eight with lesser wars, and five with some level of violence. As recently as 1995, the armies of Ecuador and Peru were at war to define a boundary. In 1982 Argentina went to war, inspired by the call to restore a piece of its mutilated national territory. Venezuela and Guyana, Guyana and Suriname, and Suriname and French Guiana have not completed boundary demarcation agreements. Bolivia's insistence on its right for sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean is a source of tension with Chile and Peru. Colombia and Venezuela have unresolved boundary issues in the Gulf of Venezuela. Clearly, boundary disputes have and continue to play a major role in creating larger conflicts within South America.

Territorial boundaries are marks on the ground, but, as Parodi shows, their staying power or stability depends on their grip on consciousness. By examining the boundary theory of South American states and its implementation, he also explains how the symbolic system of South American boundaries is used to instill national identity, mobilize people to war, and control population and territory. This text will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with Latin American politics, diplomacy, and international relations.

Preventative war has a long history in international politics, but until it became an instrumental part of the 'Bush Doctrine', it was mostly overlooked. We know that there have been preventative wars throughout history, but the motivations behind them have remained elusive. Because of the relatively little attention focused on preventative action, there are many crucial questions that remain unanswered. What exactly constitutes preventative action? What differentiates preventative action from pre-emptive action? Are there significant differences between preventative strikes and full-on preventative wars? What is the relationship of preventive action to traditional concepts of deterrence, compellence, and international law? Finally, and most important, why do states initiate preventative action? Ultimately, the best avenue for understanding decisions to initiate preventative action is through a close examination of the individual leader responsible for such decisions. The theory of preventative action presented in this book is based upon the beliefs, values, and perceptions of leaders. Israel's strike on Iraq's nuclear reactor, 1981; American preventive war planning, 1946-1954; Indian preventative war planning, 1982-2002; and America's war against Iraq, 2003. In each instance, preventative action was seriously considered, and yet it only occurred in three of the five cases. In the end, each case provides further evidence that individual leadership matters, and nowhere more so than in decisions involving preventative war.

"A vivid, engaging exploration of Cuban politics, culture and economic life."--America "Considerably deeper than much of the work on the subject. It takes on the challenge of describing what's in a black box with energy and candor."--VisitCuba.com "The most informative, accurate, insightful, detailed account available on twenty-first century Cuba."--HavanaTimes.org "Marc Frank is the best foreign journalist reporting from Cuba today. We now have a behind-the-scenes look at the changes large and small taking place as the Cuban revolution molts from Fidel to Raul to the next generation."--Julia Sweig, author of Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know "A must-read book to grasp what has been happening in Cuba over the past ten years."--Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba Project, Center for International Policy "Frank enriches his fascinating reportage with his unparalleled access to expressive Cubans from all walks of life."--Richard Feinberg, University of California, San Diego "With a sharp eye for human detail and a clear understanding of what makes Cuba tick, Frank's narrative bears eloquent, balanced, and always sensitive witness to the troubled trajectory of Cuba from the 'dark days' of the 1990s economic collapse through to the challenging changes under Raul. It genuinely gets 'inside' the otherwise confusing system and society, and is all the more welcome for that."--Antoni Kapcia, coeditor of The Changing Dynamic of Cuban Civil Society "Gripping and insightful. It is rare indeed to find reporting as authoritative and well sourced as this about what remains an impenetrable and opaque regime."--Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul As a U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century, Mark Frank has observed in person the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by his brother. In Cuban Revelations, Frank offers a first-hand account of daily life in Cuba at the turn of the twenty-first century, the start of a new and dramatic epoch for islanders and the Cuban diaspora. Examining the effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Frank analyzes why Cuba has entered an extraordinary, irreversible period of change and considers what the island's future holds. The enormous social engineering project taking place today under Raul's leadership is fraught with many dangers, and Cuban Revelations follows the new leader's efforts to overcome bureaucratic resistance and the fears of a populace that stand in his way. In addition, Frank offers a colorful chronicle of his travels across the island's many and varied provinces, sharing candid interviews with people from all walks of life. He takes the reader outside the capital to reveal how ordinary Cubans live and what they are thinking and feeling as fifty-year-old social and economic taboos are broken. He shares his honest and unbiased observations on extraordinary positive developments in social matters, like healthcare and education, as well as on the inefficiencies in the Cuban economy. Ultimately, Cuban Revelations is an objective account by a reporter who has lived with the Cubans for many years as their old world falls apart and they set about trying to build a new one.

This is the first comprehensive account of Britain's relations with Switzerland during World War II. It explains why Britain remained apparently so impassive towards Switzerland's financial and economic collaboration with the Axis and why it did so little to try to liberalize Switzerland's restrictive refugee policy. The extent and importance of Britain's covert activities in Switzerland are exposed for the first time.

The Elusive Quest for European Security provides a detailed overview of the various attempts to incorporate a security and defence role in the European integration process. Consideration is given to why these aspects of the integration process have proven so elusive and what progress has been made towards this goal. The assessment includes topics such as the enlargement of NATO, the EU's Amsterdam Treaty, and the role of the revived Western European Union, as well as the role of the main actors which includes Britain's bid for European leadership in defence, and the changing attitudes of administrations in Washington DC.

Both the US and the UK seemed caught off-guard by the uprisings in Libya and Egypt and policymakers had to deal with leaders that switched from being allies to "pariahs." This collection of essays, written by leading scholars, examines the evolution of British and American perceptions of "adversaries" in the Middle East since the Cold War. It traces the evolution of how leaders have been perceived, what determined such perceptions, and how they can change over time. It shows that in many cases the beliefs held by policymakers have influenced their policies and the way they adapted during crisis. Each essay focuses on a Middle East leader, such as Nasser, Assad, Hussein, or Ahmadinejad, discussing what these leaders' objectives were perceived to be, the assessments of their willingness to take risks or negotiate, and how such assessments changed overtime and were evaluated in retrospect. This groundbreaking contribution to the literature on leadership attitudes and perceptions in policymaking toward the Middle East will appeal to anyone studying foreign policy, Middle East politics and political psychology.

This book breaks new ground by connecting two central problems faced by the Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification in 1990, both of them rooted in the Second World War. Domestically, the country had to integrate eight million expellees forced out of their homes in Central and Eastern Europe as a result of the lost war. Externally, it had to re-establish relations with Eastern Europe, despite the burdens of the Nazi past, the expulsions, and the ongoing East-West struggle in the Cold War. This study shows how the long-term consequences of the expellee problem significantly hindered West German efforts to develop normal ties to the East European states. In particular, it emphasizes a point largely overlooked in the existing literature: the way in which the political integration of the expellees into the Federal Republic had unanticipated negative consequences for the country's Ostpolitik.

China's rise and stepped-up involvement in Southeast Asia have prompted a blend of anticipation and unease among its smaller neighbors. The stunning growth of China has yanked up the region's economies, but its militarization of the South China Sea and dam building on the Mekong River has nations wary about Beijing's outsized ambitions. Southeast Asians long felt relatively secure, relying on the United States as a security hedge, but that confidence began to slip after the Trump administration launched a trade war with China and questioned the usefulness of traditional alliances. This compelling book provides a snapshot of ten countries in Southeast Asia by exploring their diverse experiences with China and how this impacts their perceptions of Beijing's actions and its long-term political, economic, military, and "soft power" goals in the region.

The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is of immense strategic significance on the global maritime map - not just on account of its centrality to the current trade and energy flows, but also because of the extreme disparities and inherent volatility of the region. The region faces an array of security challenges, both traditional and non-traditional. These include security of SLOCs, the problem of piracy, the possibility of renewed terrorism at and from the sea and the pervasive smuggling of people, narcotics and arms. The narrative of regional maritime security is also characterized by oscillating economic growth, growing military presence and a rapidly deteriorating ecological balance in the Indian Ocean. A stand-out feature of the IOR is the lack of correspondence between nations on issues concerning 'security'. While using the high seas for trade, transportation of energy, major powers have tended to neglect the impact of the economic activities on the sea itself. In contrast, smaller regional countries and island states with developing economies have, at best, been able to use only those resources of the sea which are vital to their survival. As the challenges rise, the need to factor in and secure effective management of the Indian Ocean has turned into a compelling imperative. While governments and authorities grapple with complex issues trying to forge a coherent maritime policy, there is a growing recognition that unless solutions are found quickly, lives, livelihoods, and in some cases the very future of local populations could be at risk. This book contains a comprehensive overview of perspectives of some of the stakeholders in the Indian Ocean Region. It seeks to identify the key maritime security issues and explores the potential contribution of the stakeholders in meeting these challenges.

The United Nations Disarmament yearbook has been a rich source of historical knowledge on developments, trends and achievements of multilateral disarmament for more than 30 years. In early Spring of each year, Part I of the Yearbook is published containing an annual compilation of text and statistics on disarmament-related resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly. In early Autumn, Part II is published presenting the main topics of multilateral consideration during the year, along with a convenient issues-oriented timeline. This year, volume 38 (Part II): 2013, with a foreword by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, summarises developments and trends in 2013 on key issues of multilateral consideration at the international and regional levels; reviews the activity of the General Assembly, the Conference on Disarmament and the Disarmament Commission; and contains a handy timeline of highlights of multilateral disarmament in 2013.

Critical theory is one of the most important and exciting areas within the study of international relations. Its purpose is not only to describe how the world operates but also to help us imagine how we might achieve a more equitable and sustainable way of life. Presenting key concepts and thinkers, notably Theodor Adorno and Michel Foucault, this book provides an evaluation of the field and suggests how critical thinking can contribute to confronting the challenges of the twenty-first century. It argues that current critiques of critical theory in international relations can only be overcome if we engage with ideas from outside of the western tradition. -- .

The accords and protocols that underlie the Arab and Israeli peace agreements set into place economic policies and political processes so flawed that they are bound to fail. The chapters in this volume look at the diplomatic and historical precedents that have led to this situation and they debate - some cynically and some sympathetically - the reasons why the institutional structures and trade regimes the process has created are so weak. But for whatever reason, the structural flaws built into the Middle East peace process are not only biased toward the dominant players but against the people who most want peace.

This is a close study of the history of the public image of the Balkans in Britain from 1900-1945. Ever since the end of the Cold War the Balkans have preoccupied European public opinion much more than any other region of the old Eastern bloc. To a large extent this is a result of the wars following the break-up of Yugoslavia. The conflicts of the 1990s raised a series of questions about the nature of Balkan history as compared to an assumed European norm. Even more, they triggered prolonged discussions on the form and timing of foreign engagement in the region, both during the war, and ahead of the eastward expansion of the European Union. These public debates underlay the emergence of a related academic interest in intercultural contacts between the Balkans and the rest of Europe over the last three centuries. This book is a close study of the history of the Balkan images in Britain in the first half of the 20th century, and of the channels through which these were built. It proposes new interpretative models for broader research in the formation of public images of foreign lands.