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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations
This title examines Sub-Saharan Africa's relations with states such as the US, India, China, the EU, and Britain as well as with non-state actors. "The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa" is an in-depth examination Africa's place in global politics. The book provides a comprehensive and critical appraisal of the ways in which peace, prosperity, and democracy are being advanced (or restricted) by the activities of the great powers in Africa, including non-state actors, as well as who benefits from these policies and who does not. The book is a needed comparative study of the role of great powers and 'new' actors such as China and India in Africa within the wider context of neo-liberal hegemony. It fills a gap in the literature and will be of interest to any student of the continent. Its focus on external actors contributes to providing a fuller picture of Africa's place in the global political economy and how the continent interacts with the rest of the world. This is an essential work for anyone researching issues in international relations, comparative foreign policies, and African politics.
This book first presents an overview of the history of a national character survey by the Institute of Statistical Mathematics that has been conducted for more than 65 years. The Japanese National Character Survey, launched in 1953, is a rare longitudinal survey in the world of survey research based on rigorous statistical sampling theory, motivating other countries to launch similar longitudinal surveys, including the General Social Survey (GSS), the Allgemeine Bevoelkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS, German General Social Survey (GGSS)), Eurobarometer, and others. Since the early 1970s, the Japanese survey has been extended as a cross-national survey for more advanced research of the Japanese national character in a comparative context. Second, the book explains the paradigm of cross-national studies called the Cultural Manifold Analysis (CULMAN), developed in the longitudinal and cross-national surveys, with practical examples of analysis. This explanation will help helps a wide range of readers to better understand the cross-national comparative surveys of attitudes, opinion, and social values as basic information for evidence-based policymaking and research.
This book offers a scholarly, highly readable account of the 11th-12th century rulers of Morocco and Muslim Spain who offered a full range of meanings of jihad and challenged Ibn Khaldun's paradigm for the rise and fall of regimes. Originally West African, Berber nomads, the Almoravids emerged from what is today Mauritania to rule Morocco, western Algeria, and Muslim Spain. Over the course of the century-long lifespan of the Almoravid dynasty, the concept of jihad evolved through four distinct phases: a struggle for righteousness, a war against pagans in the Sahara to impose their own sense of righteousness, war against "bad" Muslims in Sijilmasa and the rest of the Maghrib, and finally, war against Christian infidels—the Christian kings of Iberia. The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad takes readers through a clear chronology of the dynasty from its birth through its dramatic rise to power, then its decline and eventual collapse. Several important themes in North African history are explored throughout the book, including the dynastic theory of noted Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, the unique relationship of rural and urban lifestyles, the interactions of distinct Berber and Arab identities, and the influence of tribal solidarity and Islam in forming the social fabric of medieval North African society
We live today in the first global system of sovereign states in history, encompassing all of the world's polities, peoples, religions and civilizations. Christian Reus-Smit presents a new account of how this system came to be, one in which struggles for individual rights play a central role. The international system expanded from its original European core in five great waves, each involving the fragmentation of one or more empires into a host of successor sovereign states. In the most important, associated with the Westphalian settlement, the independence of Latin America, and post-1945 decolonization, the mobilization of new ideas about individual rights challenged imperial legitimacy, and when empires failed to recognize these new rights, subject peoples sought sovereign independence. Combining theoretical innovation with detailed historical case studies, this book advances a new understanding of human rights and world politics, with individual rights deeply implicated in the making of the global sovereign order.
The book examines Bernard Brodie's strategic and philosophical response to the nuclear age, embedding his work within the classical theories of Carl von Clausewitz. Bernard Brodie (1910-1978) was a leading 20th century theorist and philosopher of war. A key architect of American nuclear strategy, Brodie was one of the first civilian defense intellectuals to cross over into the military world. "State of Doom" explores Brodie's evolution as a theorist and his response to the technological innovations that transformed warfare from WWII to the Vietnam War. It situates his theoretical development within the classical theories of Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), as Brodie came to be known as "America's Clausewitz." While his first influential works focused on naval strategy, his most lasting impact came within the field of nuclear strategic thinking. Brodie helped conceptualize America's strategy of deterrence, later taking into account America's loss of nuclear monopoly, thermonuclear weapons, and intercontinental missiles. This in-depth exploration of Brodie's strategic and philosophical response to the nuclear age and of his effort to reconcile Clausewitz's theories to the new challenges of the nuclear era will make this book a must read to anyone in strategic studies, international relations, and philosophy of war.
Party Systems in East Central Europe analyzes the formation of political parties in the nations of this region. In the first part, the authors concentrate on the key periods and turning points in this development, connecting them with the democratization of the countries in the region in the last third of the nineteenth century. This includes a look at the period before World War I, between the wars, and particularly in the times after the fall of the communist regimes. The analysis focuses chiefly on the ideological background that gave way to the rise of political parties in the region. In relation to this, the authors base their writing mainly on the socio-political theory of Stein Rokkan. The second part of the book is a political analysis of the key aspects related to party politics. First, the authors examine the ties of political parties to broad social processes, using the classic theories of Giovanni Sartori and Stein Rokkan. Next, they continue with the analysis of the operation of parties within governments, with a special focus on the creation of coalition governments, functioning of coalitions and coalition governance. Last, some defects are reflected upon, as well as unfinished processes related to the fast establishment of political parties in the region, e.g., absence of firm links with social groups, high volatility, instability of parties, etc.
The Dilemmas of Ethnic Policy: A Global Perspective argues that ethnic conflict increases or decreases in relation to changes in the social structure and the location and distribution of political power. Ethnic grievances derive from lack of access to valued resources, and elites play a crucial role in allocating those resources. This book examines the experiences of five countries with a history of ethnic conflict: former Yugoslavia/Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. It finds that in many cases, solutions adopted to mitigate ethnic conflict have unintended consequences. Often, supposed solutions confuse cause and effect and in fact worsen ethnic conflict. Attempts to address identity issues by pandering to them often led to further ethnic demands. This book argues that, based on the experiences of the countries under examination, the best course is to adopt policies that encourage alliances between and among ethnic groups.
This book provides readers with fresh new theoretical tools to better understand how sociopolitical actors (from governmental institutions to ecological NGOs; from local residents to multinational companies) clash about transport initiatives. It questions both the dominant understanding of what is geopolitics and conventional conceptions in transport geography used by transport planners. Drawing on a structuralist approach and addressing the capital notion of 'political control of mobility', it demonstrates how transport geopolitics, by being more inclusive of all modes of transport and all scales of analysis, may help prepare transport diplomacy in a time of critical global and local turbulences. It offers a valuable resource for research and teaching in the fields of transport studies, land-use planning, conflict studies, human geography and politics, presenting insightful theoretical material and concrete transport conflict examples to support teaching about territorial conflicts, political governance and transport political geography.
This book offers an analysis of a prospective transitional justice process in Syria. As the Syrian conflict enters into its tenth year, this book asks how the sustained human rights violations and war crimes could possibly be addressed in a post-conflict setting, particularly in the context of the widespread displacement crisis. Despite a recent movement in scholarship toward bottom-up peacebuilding approaches and participatory transitional justice models, the transitional justice and local peacebuilding nexus remains under-theorized, particularly as it relates to the engagement of displaced populations. This book seeks to address this gap through the conceptualization of a locally driven transitional justice process for Syria that is founded on the integration of refugees and displaced populations. Through offering a series of policy recommendations on how to implement such a process, it aims to make a contribution to building a bridge of exchange between the policy/practitioner world and the academy in this area of study.
This book looks at the past, present and possible future relationship between the EU and the UK in the fields of law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. It examines successively the EU-UK relationship prior to 1 February 2020; the relationship during the transition period; the relationship after the end of the transition period. The book analyses the relevant provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, the Political Declaration, of the EU and UK negotiating mandates and draft legal texts, and the state of play of the negotiations. It looks at the possible forms that the future cooperation can take and the likely areas, which might be covered, such as cooperation with Europol and Eurojust; criminal records; DNA, dactyloscopic and vehicle registration data; passenger name records; surrender procedures, and mutual legal assistance. It also analyses the overarching issues of protection of personal data and the future role of the Court of Justice of the EU. Finally, this book puts forward some ideas on the possible impact of Brexit on security cooperation within wider Europe and on the possible emergence in future of a European Security Union within wider Europe. The volume is aimed at practitioners and academics in European Studies, International Relations, and Law.
The 2021 International Trade Statistics Yearbook, Volume I -Trade by Country - provides a condensed and integrated analytical view of the international merchandise trade, and trade in services up to the year 2021 by means of brief descriptive text, concise data tables and charts. The information presented in the publication give an insight into the latest trends of trade in goods and services of around 175 countries (and areas) in the world. The yearbook is also made available online at https://comtrade.un.org/pb/. For more detailed data, users are requested to go to UN Comtrade (http://comtrade.un.org) which is the source of the information presented in the Yearbook, and is continuously updated. The publication is aimed at both specialist trade data users and common audience at large. The presented data, charts and analyses will benefit policy makers, government agencies, non-government organizations, civil society organizations, journalists, academics, researchers, students, businesses and anyone who is interested in trade issues. The information and analyses are presented in a way which can be comprehended by non-expert users of statistics.
Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), often referred to as "battlefield," "sub-strategic," or "non-strategic" nuclear weapons, usually have a plutonium core and are typically distinct from strategic nuclear weapons. Therefore, they warrant a separate consideration in the realm of nuclear security. The yield of such weapons is generally lower than that of strategic nuclear weapons and may range from the relatively low 0.1 kiloton to a few kilotons. Pakistan's quest to acquire tactical nuclear weapons has added a dangerous dimension to the already precarious strategic equation in South Asia. The security discourse in the subcontinent revolves around the perennial apprehension of a conventional or sub-conventional conflict triggering a chain reaction, eventually paving the way for a potential nuclear crisis haunting peace and stability in the region. Pakistan believes that the successful testing of the 60-km nuclear-capable short-range missile Hatf-9 (Nasr) "adds deterrence value to Pakistan's strategic weapons development programme at shorter ranges." In paradox, the fact remains that this step has further lowered Pakistan's nuclear threshold through the likely use of TNWs. The introduction of TNWs into the tactical battle area further exacerbates credibility of their control. Pakistan has not formally declared a nuclear doctrine, but it is well known that nuclear weapons are its first line of defence. The use of TNWs in the India-Pakistan case will alter the strategic scenario completely as Pakistan would threaten India with the use of TNWs in the event of New Delhi responding against Islamabad with a conventional strike in reaction to a 26/11-style terrorist attack. Pakistan forgets that given its offensive strategic posture and continuing involvement in terror strikes in India, it is New Delhi which is confronted with the problem of developing a strategy to counter Pakistan's "first-strike" and proxy war in the light of its declared "no-first-use" policy. This edited volume attempts to address and decipher complex issues, including aspects such as China's WMD collaboration with Pakistan, nuclear command and control dynamics within Pakistan, overall rationale and implications of TNWs, safety and security of nuclear weapons, scenarios for nuclear usage, India's potential response options and, more specifically, the technical aspects of the Nasr delivery system.
From 1998 to 2005, six elections took place in postcommunist Europe and Eurasia that had the surprising outcome of empowering the opposition and defeating authoritarian incumbents or their designated successors. Valerie J. Bunce and Sharon L. Wolchik compare these unexpected electoral breakthroughs with one another and with elections that had the more typical result of maintaining authoritarian rule. They draw three conclusions. First, the opposition was victorious because of the hard and creative work of a transnational network composed of local opposition and civil society groups, members of the international democracy assistance community, and graduates of successful electoral challenges to authoritarian rule in other countries. Second, the remarkable run of these upset elections reflected the ability of this network to diffuse an ensemble of innovative electoral strategies across state boundaries. Finally, elections can serve as a powerful mechanism for democratic change. This is especially the case when civil society is strong, the transfer of political power is through constitutional means, and opposition leaders win with small mandates.
Humans rank with the powerful forces of nature transforming Earth. Since the mid-20th century, population growth, industrialization, and globalization have had such deep and wide-ranging impacts that our planet no longer functions as it did during the previous eleven millennia. So distinctive is this collective human intervention that a new geological interval has been proposed; it is called the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is intriguing scientifically, fascinating intellectually, and deeply disturbing politically, socially, economically, and ethically. We must learn how to co-exist sustainably with the rest of nature in what is emerging as a new planetary state. To do so, we must first understand what "Anthropocene" means in all its dimensions. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach, starting with an exploration of the Anthropocene as a geological concept: ranging across the physical changes to the landscape, to the rapidly heating climate, to a biosphere undergoing transformation. And what of the "anthropos" in the Anthropocene? While geoscience does not normally address political and ethical issues of justice and equity, or economics and culture, Anthropocene studies in the humanities and social sciences investigate the complexities of the human activity driving global change. Here the book looks at human history, both in the deep past and more recently, the politics and economics of growth spurring the Anthropocene, and potential ways of mitigating its cruel effects. Our fragile, still beautiful, planet is finite. The new realities of the Anthropocene will need our best efforts, across disciplinary divides, at effective hope and action.
The book refutes the dominant understanding about caste panchayats as mere dispute resolution bodies that are vestiges of the past. In tracing the long career and evolution of intra-caste governance from 300 BC to the present, it challenges several orthodoxies in the caste scholarship. Most prominently, it questions the assumptions of modernization theory that became internalized in the very definition of caste-based political organisations as caste became a subject of study in politics in the 1960s and 70s. In doing this, the book reflects in some detail on the uncomfortable question of the persistence of caste-based conservatism despite the current dominance, so to say, of caste-based democratization in the Indian polity. It tries to make visible the limitations of 'caste politics from below', as it is being imagined today, making a plea for a radical re-imagination of caste as an identity that does not require a self-perpetuation of the primordial aspects of caste to purse the opportunities offered by modern democracy, but one that can facilitate the empowerment of caste through the pursuit of the ameliorations on offer as well as the annihilation of caste, as eventually mutual goals.
This book provides a succinct and accessible interpretation of the major event and ideas that have shaped U.S. foreign relations since the American Revolution-historical factors that now affect our current debates and commitments in the Middle East as well as Europe and Asia. American Foreign Relations since Independence explores the relationship of American policies to national interest and the limits of the nation's power, reinterpreting the nature and history of American foreign relations. The book brings together the collective knowledge of three generations of diplomatic historians to create a readily accessible introduction to the subject. The authors explicitly challenge and reject the perennial debates about isolationism versus internationalism, instead asserting that American foreign relations have been characterized by the permanent tension inherent in America's desire to engage with the world and its equally powerful determination to avoid "entanglement" in the world's troubles. This work is ideally suited as a resource for students of politics, international affairs, and history, and it will provide compelling insights for informed general readers.
Central Asia has become the battleground for the major struggles of
the 21st century: radical Islam versus secularism, authoritarianism
versus identity politics, Eastern versus Western control of
resources, and the American 'War on Terror'. Nowhere are these
conflicts more starkly illustrated than in the case of Tajikistan.
Embedded in the oil-rich Central Asian region, and bordering
war-torn Afghanistan, Tajikistan occupies a geo-strategically
pivotal position. It is also a major transit hub for the smuggling
of opium, which eventually ends up in the hands of heroin dealers
in Western cities. In this timely book, Lena Jonson examines
Tajkistan's search for a foreign policy in the post 9/11
environment. She shows the internal contradictions of a country in
every sense at the crossroads, reconciling its bloody past with an
uncertain future She assesses the impact of regional developments
on the reform movement in Tajikistan, and in turn examines how
changes in Tajik society (which is the only Central Asian country
to have a legal Islamist party) might affect the region. The
destiny of Tajikistan is intimately connected with that of Central
Asia, and this thorough and penetrating book is essential reading
for anyone seeking to make sense of this strategically vital region
at a moment of transition.
This book propounds the thesis that it was the dysfunction of globalization and liberalism that prompted the rise of nationalism and populism. Recent developments in global affairs are challenging assumptions and the basis upon which international relations, as a broad field of specialization, and foreign policy analysis, as a sub-field, rests. In a world that is changing in fundamental and irreversible ways, this book intervenes to enable an improved sense of understanding of these developments and what they mean for people-people, state-state, continent-continent, and global relations, moving forward. The author shows anti-globalization and the growth of nationalism and populism have been particularly necessitated by the failures of liberalism and America's abdication from the world. With reference to Brexit, the pandemic, the US 2020 elections and consequent shifts in power, with a focus on their respective impacts on Africa, and Africa-Sino relations particularly, and developing countries, more broadly, this book situates these discussions within a global context. It effectively illustrates the insufficiency of the West's soft power, especially as it is foisted or supposedly imposed on the rest of the world without regard to the demands of cultural relativity. Relevant to postgraduate students, researchers, and policymakers, this is must-read within the fields of international relations and political economy.
We know Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as two of today's most high-profile African American political figures, but who paved the way for these notable diplomats? More than one hundred and thirty years ago, Ebenezer D. Bassett served as the first black United States ambassador. In the midst of the aftermath of the Civil War, the U.S. government broke the color barrier by naming this leading educator, abolitionist, and activist to the controversial post of ambassador to the hemisphere's Black Republic - Haiti. For the first time, a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal would have as its representative abroad someone previously less than equal under the law. This movement toward equality proved to be a force impossible to turn back, leading to a wider acceptance of blacks in U.S. foreign policy. This book lays bare the struggles Bassett faced as a pioneer of racial integration, helping to secure Bassett's legacy as the first African American political figure, a man who not only altered the American political structure, but led the way for all future civil rights advocates. This book highlights Bassett's achievements, which directly contributed to the racial revolution in the U.S. These include being appointed the first African American diplomat and chief of a U.S. diplomatic mission, leading the integration of public schools, and fighting for equal rights alongside revolutionaries such as Frederick Douglass. Bassett played a critical role in foreign affairs during the late 19th century, the formative years of American expansionism in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of Bassett's death. Though he is long forgotten by history, his legacy as an innovator, activist, and diplomat lives on, and his life story--a tale of intelligence, integrity, and bravery--serves as an inspiration to patriotic Americans of all races and backgrounds. "Hero of Hispaniola" secures Bassett's legacy as the first African American political figure, a man who not only altered the American political structure, but led the way for all future civil rights advocates to follow.
Hemp helped not only to define economic development in southern and border-states, it also played a crucial role in agricultural production in the Mid-Atlantic, as well as industrial development in the North-east. From the founding of the nation, the manufacture of American hemp helped monetize the US economy. US hemp producers also established a range modern labor practices, including the identification and training of skilled labor, the use of seasonal workers, and ultimately, the creation of a sliding scale of wages. This book chronicles this history, as well as the contemporary controversy obstructing the production of both industrial hemp and medical marijuana. The analysis concludes with a survey of current industrial hemp projects, including several promising adaptations - as a potential medicine, a bio-fuel, and most promisingly, a reliable source of clean computing fabrication.
It is generally assumed that regional integration leads to stability and peace. This book is the first systematic study of the impact of European integration on the transformation of border conflicts. It provides a theoretical framework centred on four 'pathways' of impact and applies them to five cases of border conflicts: Cyprus, Ireland, Greece/Turkey, Israel/Palestine and various conflicts on Russia's border with the EU. The contributors suggest that integration and association provide the EU with potentially powerful means to influence border conflicts, but that the EU must constantly re-adjust its policies depending on the dynamics of each conflict. Their findings reveal the conditions upon which the impact of integration rests and challenge the widespread notion that integration is necessarily good for peace. This book will appeal to scholars and students of international relations, European politics, and security studies studying European integration and conflict analysis.
Modern trends in geopolitics have raised serious questions about the future global and regional architecture of the world system. In the case of the Eurasian Economic Union, these questions bring up important issues for debate: What is the Eurasian Economic Union? What theoretical concepts could be applied for modern Eurasian integration? Why is the Eurasian Economic Union forming? Most importantly, what prospects does this Union have in the framework of the modern geopolitical situation? This book explores the process of Eurasian integration in the modern global world. The creation of the Eurasian Economic Union has become a topical issue in modern Russian foreign policy. Neo-Eurasianist ideas can be viewed as a geopolitical basis and rationale for the Eurasian Economic Union that may constitute an integrational structure, consolidating the post-Soviet area and neighboring regions. This book argues that Eurasia is a region representing an organic integrity due to close mentality, common and centuries-long history, common language of international communication, a multitude of economic ties, and an identical level of technological development across all countries within the post-Soviet area. Yet, advancement of the Eurasian integration idea into practical implementation should have new objective suppositions as well. These are defined by the contemporary economic, political, and ethno-cultural processes in the post-Soviet space. |
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