The history of oil is a chapter in the story of Europe's geopolitical decline in the twentieth century. During the era of the two world wars, a lack of oil constrained Britain and Germany from exerting their considerable economic and military power independently. Both nations' efforts to restore the independence they had enjoyed during the Age of Coal backfired by inducing strategic over-extension, which served only to hasten their demise as great powers. Having fought World War I with oil imported from the United States, Britain was determined to avoid relying upon another great power for its energy needs ever again. Even before the Great War had ended, Whitehall implemented a strategy of developing alternative sources of oil under British control. Britain's key supplier would be the Middle East - already a region of vital importance to the British Empire - whose oil potential was still unproven. As it turned out, there was plenty of oil in the Middle East, but Italian hostility after 1935 threatened transit through the Mediterranean. A shortage of tankers ruled out re-routing shipments around Africa, forcing Britain to import oil from US-controlled sources in the Western Hemisphere and depleting its foreign exchange reserves. Even as war loomed in 1939, therefore, Britain's quest for independence from the United States had failed. Germany was in an even worse position than Britain. It could not import oil from overseas in wartime due to the threat of blockade, while accumulating large stockpiles was impossible because of the economic and financial costs. The Third Reich went to war dependent on petroleum synthesized from coal, domestic crude oil, and overland imports, primarily from Romania. German leaders were confident, however, that they had enough oil to fight a series of short campaigns that would deliver to them the mastery of Europe. This plan derailed following the victory over France, when Britain continued to fight. This left Germany responsible for Europe's oil requirements while cut off from world markets. A looming energy crisis in Axis Europe, the absence of strategic alternatives, and ideological imperatives all compelled Germany in June 1941 to invade the Soviet Union and fulfill the Third Reich's ultimate ambition of becoming a world power - a decision that ultimately sealed its fate.

Swiss-born Emer de Vattel (1714-1767) was one of the last eminent thinkers of natural law. He shaped the later part of early-modern natural jurisprudence. At the time, the subject had become a fashionable academic sub-discipline in both jurisprudence and philosophy. Vattel's considerable impact on statesmen, political thinkers, diplomats and lawyers during his lifetime and after rested primarily on the fact that his The Law of Nations (1758) transformed natural law into the basis of a more comprehensive and practicable theory of interstate relations. His ideas served to promote reform programmes whose comprehensive natures spanned the domains of economic reform, constitutionalism and international diplomacy and foreign trade policy. Vattel's conception centred round the principle that defined all sovereign states as nations composed of societies of free men and profoundly influenced legal and political debates in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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.

An in-depth explanation of how the Cuban Revolution dictated Latin American politics and U.S.-Latin American relations from the 1950s to the present, including widespread democratization and the rise of the "Pink Tide." Fidel Castro's ascent to power and the revolution he carried out in Cuba not only catalyzed a wave of revolutionary activity; it also set off a wave of reaction that led to widespread military dictatorships and severe repression culminating in state terrorism. Both revolution and reaction were essentially over by 1990, and yet significant long-term effects of the Cuban Revolution can still be seen in the modern era. Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution covers the events of the Cuban Revolution itself, the resulting radicalization of Latin American politics, the United States' responses to the threat of communist expansion in the hemisphere, and rural and urban guerrilla warfare that were spawned by the Cuban Revolution. It also addresses the very different but incomplete revolutions in Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua, the rise of state terrorism in response to the threat of revolution, and major developments after 1990. This book provides unique historical insights by bringing together under the umbrella of the impact of the Cuban Revolution developments that otherwise might seem unrelated to each other, thereby documenting the relationship between revolution and reaction. This third edition has three new chapters covering state terrorism in South America; state terrorism in Central America; and post-1990 developments such as neoliberalism, an unprecedented degree of democratization, the "Pink Tide" of leftist governments like those of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia; and women's major gains in politics. Additionally, all of the chapters and the bibliography are updated.

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 book reviews the background and evolving features of Sino-African relations, exploring various stages over the past 50 years. Pursuing an objective and forward-looking approach, it analyzes the development, current issues and future direction of Sino-African relations, as well as their global impact. Despite ideological and policy differences, it also outlines potential avenues of cooperation between China and western countries in promoting development in Africa. Potential means of adapting and improving China's "going into Africa" policy in the post-crisis era are also discussed, highlighting the importance of enhancing soft power in Africa.

How pro-Israel lobbying groups influence the Middle East policies of Britain, the US and others.

In 1896, a Jewish state was a pipe dream. Today the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists. How did this happen?

Ilan Pappe unveils how over a century of aggressive lobbying changed the map of the Middle East. Pro-Israel lobbies convinced British and American policymakers to condone Israel’s flagrant breaches of international law, grant Israel unprecedented military aid and deny Palestinians rights. Anyone who questioned unconditional support for Israel, even in the mildest terms, became the target of relentless smear campaigns.

Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic shows us how an unassailable consensus was built – and how it might be dismantled.

This book provides a broad quantitative analysis of the new facets of regionalism in the Americas. In particular, major aspects of the New American Regionalism are discussed in terms of two basic notions: the genuine political character of economic integration schemes, and the profound inter-connectedness of the American regions with the global economy. Heinz Preusse examines the recent experiences of the two main integration agreements in the Americas - the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Mercado Comun del Sur/Sud (MERCOSUR), and discusses critical aspects of the envisaged Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He concludes that NAFTA has enjoyed a good internal economic record, but, externally it may have contributed to the rise of the present American 'spaghetti bowl' regionalism. In addition, MERCOSUR is stagnating and faces an uncertain future after what was a fairly successful start-up period. The author goes on to argue that under these conditions, the FTAA may be a chance for the formation of an open - and only moderately discriminatory - regional agreement in the Americas. He ascertains that the FTAA may therefore determine the fate of the New American Regionalism. Critically exploring the hypothesis that the New American Regionalism is growth-enhancing and conducive to the multilateral order, this book will appeal to academics, researchers and policymakers with a special interest in international economics, international politics, and regionalism.

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.

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.>

How are the deals and decisions of the EU made - in the meeting rooms and at the conference tables, or by informal networks in the back corridors of power? This book addresses an issue of paramount importance concerning the politics of the European Union: aspects of governance and policy making in the EU that are labelled 'informal'. Much of the literature on the EU focuses on the formal facets of EU politics, but uniquely, the subject matter within this book deals with informal aspects such as: the role of personal relationships, the presence of non-hierarchical policy-networks and non-institutional channels of interest representation, and the relevance of the unwritten rules and routines which govern these aspects of EU politics. The contributors ascertain that the study of sectoral policy making in the EU is incomplete without attention to this informal governance, which is normatively and conceptually more complex than is generally assumed. They provide a number of different approaches to the subject, illuminating the nature of informal governance in the EU and demonstrating the way in which its analysis can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of politics and policy making in the EU. This highly original book will be a fascinating read for a wide-ranging audience - including academics, students, researchers and practitioners - with an interest in the governance of the EU.

The unexpected end of the protracted conflict has been a sobering experience for scholars. No theory had anticipated how the Cold War would be terminated, and none should also be relied upon to explicate its legacy. But instead of relying on preconceived formulas to project past developments, taking a historical perspective to explain their causes and consequences allows one to better understand trends and their long-term significance. The present book takes such perspective, focusing on the evolution of security, its substance as well as its perception, the concurrent development of alliances and other cooperative structures for security, and their effectiveness in managing conflicts. In The Legacy of the Cold War Vojtech Mastny and Zhu Liqun bring together scholars to examine the worldwide effects of the Cold War on international security. Focusing on regions where the Cold War made the most enduring impact the Euro-Atlantic area and East Asia historians, political scientists, and international relations scholars explore alliances and other security measures during the Cold War and how they carry over into the twenty-first century."

This book explores the substance and strategies of democracy promotion conducted by the Visegrad Group states (V4) - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. As these states are currently deemed to face democratic backsliding over thirty years after their own democratic transformations, the book discusses how democracy promotion is related to the four countries' understanding of liberalism and democracy and to their political cultures. It also addresses the question of what motivates the V4 states to engage in the politically sensitive activities of democracy assistance and how they intend to share their own experience and know-how of the democratic transformation process. The book concludes by discussing the possible future developments in the respective states' democracy promotion agendas. Examining the strategies, substance, and the domestic discourse related to the Visegrad states' democracy promotion policies, the book presents a much-needed reflection on a niche subject in the foreign policy agendas of these post-communist states for academics and practitioners alike.

This book examines the ability of the EU and European actor networks to coherently and effectively navigate, manage, and influence debates and policy on the international stage. It also questions whether increasing complexity across a range of critical global issues and networks has affected this ability. Engaging with the growing theoretical and conceptual literature on networks and complexity, the book provides a deeper understanding of how the European Union and European actors navigate within global networks and complex regimes across a range of regulatory, policy cooperation, and foreign and security policy issue areas. It sheds light on how far they are able to respond to and shape solutions to some of the most pressing challenges on the global agenda in the 21st century. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU/European and global networks and more broadly to European and EU studies, Global Governance, International Relations, International Political Economy, and Foreign Policy and Security Studies.

This study addresses the many initiatives to decrease industrial pollution emitting from the Pechenganikel plant in the northwestern corner of Russia during the final years of the Soviet Union, and examines the wider implications for the state of pollution control in the Arctic today. By examining the efforts of Soviet industry and government agencies, Finnish and Swedish officials, and Norwegian environmental authorities to curb industrial pollution in the region, this book offers an environmental history of the Arctic as well as a transnational, geopolitical history.

This seven-chapter book examines the background to and consequences of the disputed occupation of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands group of the South China Sea (SCS) by the People's Republic of China (PRC), from the mid-1990s to the present day. Although Mischief Reef has received significant media attention and has been discussed in academic journal articles and policy research reports, no books on the topic have appeared since a 30-page publication in 1996. By covering the topic in historical, domestic political, legal, economic, strategic, and geo-political terms, this book not only fills a gap on a particularly important issue with global consequences, but also acts as a follow-on to a previous Palgrave book by this author on another maritime dispute, Socotra Rock. This book will be of interest to journalists, scholars and legal theorists researching the implications of China's rise for maritime disputes in East Asia.

This book aims to explore China's miracle under the context of complex world full of uncertainties. The author knows China's history well which makes it possible to find clues to shape China's status quo and conduct logic behind. The book is composed of six chapters. Chapter 1 concisely narrates China's history and explores why unity has been a fundamental element in its course. Chapter 2 elaborates on the BRI. Chapter 3 discusses Sino-European relations. Chapter 4 functions as a case state that examines relations between an EU and NATO member states, Greece, with China. Chapter 5 re-contextualizes the debate about China by looking into the way interconnectedness and the skeleton of globalization permit it to weather storms in the global arena. Chapter 6 links China's development to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book assesses the competitive and contentious EU-Russia relationship in relation to Ukraine from 2010 to 2013, focusing on the important areas of trade, energy and security. The key issue explored is whether this relationship played any meaningful role in the deterioration of the situation in Ukraine since late 2013. Nicholas Ross Smith begins by exploring the competitiveness of the triangular EU-Russia-Ukraine relationship before the crisis. He then examines the eruption of the Ukraine crisis in greater detail, with a particular focus on trade, energy and security. The book goes on to compare three theoretically and empirically informed medium-term scenarios for the future of the relationship. This research provides a wide-ranging snapshot of EU-Russia-Ukraine relations by comparing the foreign policies of the EU and Russia as well as examining the interplay of identity and perceptions on their foreign policy decision-making. Touching upon both international relations and foreign policy analysis, this book will prove invaluable to scholars and practitioners working on Eastern Europe, the EU and Russia. International relations and foreign policy analysis scholars and students will also find much of interest.

The CSIS Working Group on Private-Sector Development in Fragile, Conflict-Affected, and Violent States identifies tools available to the international business community and the U.S. government to assist these countries, as well as the gaps in needed resources. Participants examined cases from Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma, and Liberia to glean examples of successes and failures in private-sector development, with the goal of identifying potential roles for host governments and the international private sector. This report presents the results of those discussions.

This open access book explores the new complexities and ambiguities that epitomize EU-Turkey relations. With a strong focus on the developments in the last decade, the book provides full access to a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted relationship through three entry points: (1) Theories and Concepts, (2) Institutions, and (3) Policies. Part I brings together complementary and competing analytical approaches to study the evolution of EU-Turkey relations, ranging from traditional integration theories to novel concepts. Part II investigates the institutional machinery of EU-Turkey relations by analyzing the roles and perspectives of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament. Part III offers analyses of the policies most relevant for the relationship: enlargement policy, trade and macroeconomic policies, foreign and security policy, migration and asylum policies, and energy policy. In Part IV, the volume closes with a systematic survey of the conditions under which cooperative trends in EU-Turkey relations could be (re)invigorated. The systematic setup and the balanced combination of distinguished experts from EU- and Turkey-based institutions make this book a fundamental reading for students, researchers, lecturers, and practitioners of EU-Turkey relations, European integration and Turkish foreign policy.

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.