This book examines the role of new media and digital technologies in public diplomacy and political communication. Exploring political communication in India, as well as in the US and China, it highlights the fundamental changes that new technology has brought about in public diplomacy. While facilitating direct engagement with constituents, and tapping into territories and audiences which were harder to reach before, the new media's power to influence perceptions has revolutionised public diplomacy and engagement like never before. The book analyses the role of social media in not only defining and shaping political attitudes of citizens but their ability to empower citizens as well. The author, through examples from India, the US and China, also examines the challenges of using digital tools in diplomacy and its effects on democracies across the world. Lucid and engaging, this book will be an essential read for students and scholars of communication studies, political studies, diplomacy and foreign policy, defence and strategic analysis, media and culture studies and international relations.

The post-Cold War has witnessed enormous levels of western peacekeeping, peacemaking and reconstruction intervention in societies emerging from war. These western-led interventions are often called ?liberal peacebuilding? or ?liberal interventionism?, or statebuilding, and have attracted considerable controversy.

In this study, leading proponents and critics of the liberal peace and contemporary post-war reconstruction assess the role of the United States, European Union and other actors in the promotion of the liberal peace, and of peace more generally. Key issues, including transitional justice and the acceptance/rejection of the liberal peace in African states are also considered.

The failings of the liberal peace (most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in other locations) have prompted a growing body of critical literature on the motivations, mechanics and consequences of the liberal peace. This volume brings together key protagonists from both sides of the debate to produce a cutting edge, state of the art discussion of one the main trends in contemporary international relations.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Society.

This edited volume introduces the political, social and economic intra-Kurdish dynamics in the Middle East by comparatively analyzing the main actors, their ideas, and political interests. As an ethnic group and a nation in the making, Kurds are not homogeneous and united but rather the Kurdish Middle East is home to various competing political groups, leaderships, ideologies, and interests. Although many existing studies focus on the Kurds and their relations with the nation-states that they populate, few studies analyze the Kurdish Middle East within its own debates, conflicts and interests from a comparative perspective across Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. This book analyzes the intra-Kurdish dynamics with historically-grounded, theoretically-informed, and conceptually-relevant scholarship that prioritizes comparative politics over international relations.

It is said that the choices we make determine the lives we lead. In this book you will meet twenty inspiring individuals who have made peace their choice in lifefrom a Vietnamese monk to a Brazilian musician, from a Swedish childrens author to an Iranian-American architect. Exploring a wide range of approaches to peacemaking, Great Peacemakers is organized into five paths to peace: choosing nonviolence, living peace, honoring diversity, valuing all life, and caring for the planet. Each path showcases the true life stories of four amazing peacemakers who have successfully cultivated peace in a variety of ways. As a whole, the book strives for an overall balance of race, nationality, religion, gender, age, and level of fame. Whether you are a parent seeking positive roles models for your children, an educator looking for thought-provoking material for your students, or someone simply wanting an uplifting read, then Great Peacemakers is sure to meet your needs and inspire the peacemaker in you. Great Peacemakers won the 2007 International PeaceWriting Award from the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology. The book is also endorsed by three heads of state and three Nobel Peace Prize recipients, including Dr. Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica and Nobel Laureate, who said: "Powerful, well-researched and, above all, timely, Great Peacemakers should be required reading for the youth of the world."

Since the turn of the millennium, resistance to the liberal project of global governance has come to occupy centre stage in global and international politics. The Battle of Seattle, the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington and the Bush administration's ambivalent attitude towards multilateralism can all be thought of as conspicuous instances of the growing challenge to global governance. Global Governance, Conflict and Resistance provides a wide-ranging series of analyses of such challenges.

The United Nations in the 21st Century, Sixth Edition, provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the UN. It explores the historical, institutional, and theoretical foundations of the UN as well as major global trends and challenges facing the organization today, including changing major power dynamics, new threats to peace and security, the migration and refugee crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the existential challenges of climate change and sustainability. Thoroughly revised and expanded, it contains two new chapters on the UN and the environment and on human security, including issues of health, food security, global migration, and human trafficking. There is enhanced analysis of theoretical perspectives on post-colonialism, feminist theory, constructivism, and non-Western views. New content has also been added on the UN's budget crisis, public-private partnerships, and the role of women in the organization. By examining the UN as an intergovernmental organization facing the broader need for global cooperation to address economic, social, and environmental interdependencies alongside the threats posed by rising nationalism and populism, this popular text is the perfect reference for all students and practitioners of international organizations, global governance, and international relations.

Contemporary Peace Making draws on recent experience to identify and explore the essential components of peace processes. Each chapter examines a different element in recent peace processes. The collection is organized around five main themes: planning for peace during periods of violence, the process of negotiations (including pre-negotiation), the effects of violence on peace processes, peace accords—constitutional and political options—and securing the settlement and building the peace.

The violent confrontation that erupted in September 2000 between Israel and the Palestinians developed into a protracted low-intensity confrontation. The confrontation exacted a heavy human toll on both sides, inflicted severe economic damage, and raised the level of enmity, hostility, and mistrust to levels that are hampering dialogue, not only in regard to the resolution of the conflict but also about its very management. The book focused on the causes of the confrontation, the goals of the sides, the distinctive characteristics of the confrontation as a low intensity conflict, the management strategies adopted by the sides, the reasons for the failure of the efforts to end or moderate the confrontation, the outcomes of the confrontation, its impact on both societies in different domains, and the phenomenon of unilateral disengagement as a unique strategy of conflict management in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This volume covers the "middle" time period of the Syrian uprising, roughly from 2012 when Syria's peaceful protest began to mutate into a violent insurgency and civil war until roughly 2018 when the conflict took on features of a "frozen conflict". The middle period was important as one of key junctures or turning points when the struggle could have reached rather different outcomes. Non-violent protest failed to drive democratization and turned into violent insurrection but revolution from below also failed as did regime counter-insurgency, leaving protracted civil war the default outcome. Second, the consequences of civil war became evident with six themes: failing statehood coexisted with regime resilience; rebel governance emerged as a viable challenge to the regime; social forces were sharply polarized; external actors exacerbated internal divisions; a predatory war economy emerged; and intense violence led to massive displacement of the population. Taking an innovative and interdisciplinary approach that seeks to capture the full complexity of the phenomenon, this book contributes significantly to our understanding of the Syrian conflict, therefore it will be of interest to academics, students, journalists and policy-makers interested in the Syrian civil war.

This edited volume is the first detailed exploration of the last phase of the Cold War, taking a critical look at the crisis of detente in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The transition from detente to a new phase of harsh confrontation and severe crises is an interesting, indeed crucial, phase of the evolution of the international system. This book makes use of previously unreleased archival materials, moving beyond existing interpretations of this period by challenging the traditional bipolar paradigm that focuses mostly on the role of the superpowers in the transformation of the international system. The essays here emphasize the combination and the interplay of a large number of variables- political, ideological, economic and military - and explore the topic from a truly international perspective. Issues covered include human rights, the Euromissiles, the CSCE (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe), the Revolution in Military Affairs, economic growth and its consequences.

This edited book analyzes Kosovo’s foreign policy and bilateral relations with the United States and several European countries. After the 1999 liberation from Serbia, Kosovo built close relations with various countries that supported it in the process of reconstruction, economic stabilization, institution-building, and state-building. From 1999 to 2008, many of these states were politically and operationally engaged in Kosovo under the leadership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Since its independence in 2008, the Republic of Kosovo has adopted a foreign policy in accordance with its values and strategic interests, a foreign policy that aims to strengthen Kosovo’s security and foster its socio-economic prosperity in collaboration with primarily Western countries. In this volume, each chapter is dedicated to Kosovo’s bilateral relations with a selected state with which it has established diplomatic relations. The book shows that Kosovo has been able to develop and achieve strong bilateral relations with major allies and partners. It argues that Kosovo’s foreign policy aims to develop, maintain, and enhance the position of the young state on the international stage. The volume bridges various methodological and disciplinary approaches in order to present Kosovo’s foreign policy objectives and the trajectory of its relations with some of its most important international partners. This book will be of interest to students of Balkan politics, state-building, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This book examines how the Security Council has approached issues of gender equality since 2000. Written by academics, activists and practitioners the book challenges the reader to consider how women's participation, gender equality, sexual violence and the prevalence of economic disadvantages might be addressed in post-conflict communities.

This book analyses the UN's Agenda 2030 and reveals that progress is lagging on all five interlocking and interdependent themes that are discussed: conflict prevention, development, peace, justice and human rights. Many voices have already been raised, including that of the UN Secretary-General that the Sustainable Development Goals will not be met by 2030 unless there is a re-doubling of efforts. Still, on development as such, there is much striving. The book puts the concept of preventive diplomacy into all of the issues of modern international relations, from the US/China confrontation to the various conflicts bedeviling Africa. It bridges the two worlds of the international relations specialist on the one hand and that of the academic interested in UN affairs on the other hand. There is normally little contact between those two specializations. The authors have taken several current issues to show how the millennium debates and the SDG targets are relevant to "realist school" conflicts, and that there is work under way to operationalize ideas and theories in this respect. This is the first ever discussion of the conflict prevention dimension in the UN's Agenda 2030 which seeks to advance sustainable development with a view to reinforcing peace and justice on the foundations of respect for universal human rights.

Revised and updated fourth edition The world today rests on increasingly unstable fault lines. From the conflict in Ukraine or fresh upheavals in the Middle East to the threats posed to humanity by a global pandemic, climate change and natural disasters, the world's danger zones once again draw their battle lines across our hyperconnected, yet fragmented, globe. Join veteran Economist journalist John Andrews as he analyses the old enmities and looming collisions that underlie conflict in the twenty-first century. Region by region, discover the causes, contexts, participants and likely outcomes of every globally significant struggle now underway. From drug cartels to cyber war, this is the indispensable guide for anyone who wants to understand our perilous world.

This is the personal story of Dame Margaret Anstee's experiences as Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the UN for Angola and Head of the UN peacekeeping mission there from February 1992 to June 1993. Formerly a colony of Portugal, Angola was awarded independence following the democratization of Portugal in 1975. After independence, disagreement emerged between Angola's main ethno-political groups which resulted in one of the most bloody civil wars the world has known. The author, the first woman to head a peacekeeping mission, intersperses personal experiences with events as they unfold, describing the horrendous sufferings of the Angolan people and analyses the reasons for the collapse of the process and the lessons for UN peacekeeping generally.

Casualties of the New World Order contends that the high rate of failure among post-Cold War UN missions are attributable to common weaknesses which are vulnerable to civil war dynamics. These mission weaknesses derive from the high level of control over the missions' mandates and operations wielded by combinations of self-interested and distracted UN member-states. The effects of these weaknesses are examined in the failed missions in Bosnia, Somalia, and Angola, while their absence is observed in the successful missions to El Salvador, Mozambique, and Cambodia.

Through the study of five ethno-political conflicts lying on or just beyond Europe's borders, this book analyzes the impact and effectiveness of EU foreign policy on conflict resolution. Conflict resolution features strongly as an objective of the European Union's foreign policy. In promoting this aim, the EU's geographical focus has rested primarily in its beleaguered backyard to the south and to the east. Taking a strong comparative approach, Nathalie Tocci explores the principal determinants of conflict dynamics in Cyprus, Turkey, Serbia-Montenegro, Israel-Palestine and Georgia in order to assess the impact of EU contractual ties on them. The volume includes topical analyzis based on first-hand experience, in-depth interviews with all the relevant actors and photography in ongoing conflict areas in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Caucasus. This revealing study shows that the gap between EU potential and effectiveness often rests in the specific manner in which the EU collectively chooses to conduct its contractual relations. The EU and Conflict Resolution will be of interest to all readers who wish to acquire an excellent understanding of the EU's impact on conflict contexts and will appeal to scholars of European politics, security studies and conflict resolution.

Globally, in the past ten years, there has been a four-fold increase in internal war or civil war in developing countries. This book is one of the first full length studies on the subject.

A century ago, most conflicts were between nations, and 90 per cent of casualties were soldiers; today almost all wars are civil, and 90 per cent of the victims are civilians. Many of the conflicts that appeared to have been resolved through processes of intervention or negotiation have reappeared.

The researches produced by many international bodies suggest that more and more states are going to be drawn into such conflicts in the twenty-first century. This poses the following questions: What explains the steady rise in civil war? How can this cycle be broken? What is the international community's role? Politics of Civil Wars aims to answer these questions and contains case studies that cover a variety of zones of conflict including Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This book will appeal to students of international relations, war and conflict studies and peace studies.

Bringing together the work of scholars from Eastern and Western Europe, this volume re-examines the crucial moments in the five years leading up to the Cold War. With the aid of new evidence from the official records of former Communist countries, this fresh analysis of diplomatic relations, economic imperialism, and cultural influences on great, middle, and small-rank European powers reveals how and why the victors failed to reach an agreement on post-war order in Europe--a failure that resulted in a conflict that shaped the second half of the 20th century.

Since the end of the cold war, civil wars and state violence have escalated, resulting in thousands of deaths. This book provides a toolbox for donors, international agencies, and developing countries to prevent humanitarian emergencies. The emphasis is on long-term development policies rather than mediation or reconstruction after the conflict ensues. Policies include democratization, reforming institutions, strengthening civil society, improving the state's administrative capability, agrarian reform, accelerating economic growth through stabilization and adjustment, reducing inequalities, and redesigning aid to be more stable.

This work is a doctrinal examination of war termination strategy and conflict resolution as a dependent pair, requiring a plan to achieve both in unison in advance of a fight. The necessity of a plan for conflict resolution should be intuitively obvious for policymakers, yet a survey of recent conflicts, including Afghanistan and Iraq, shows that not to be the case. Beyond Guns and Steel: A War Termination Strategy provides a practical approach to establishing a plan for war termination and conflict resolution before the bullets fly. In explaining the difference between strategy and policy, Colonel Dominic J. Caraccilo clarifies the most important, and often the most constraining, element of a nation's power-its resources. He posits that termination strategy and conflict resolution are interdependent and need to be included in conflict plans from the outset. Caraccilo's book fills a void in current strategy for the development of long-term plans that bring conflicts to timely and acceptable conclusions, providing a methodology that allows interagency requirements and resources for war termination to be defined, allocated, and employed effectively. Examples taken from the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with models of war termination successes and failures to enhance the understanding of scenarios for possible resolution A full array of definitions offering clarity for the reader seeking to grasp the book's methodology for war termination Primary source documentation related to the author's seven combat deployments to the Middle East and over five years of personal involvement in combat and its aftermath. Vignettes from history dating from the Revolutionary War to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq Sidebars offering relevant charts, graphs, and newspaper articles Examples of conflict resolution to enhance an understanding of war termination outcomes Firsthand accounts from various military officers in the form of Staff College manuscripts A robust listing of books, interviews, documents, and articles on war termination and conflict resolution theories

This book explores Lord Runciman's mediation in Central Europe, which provides a sharp insight into British policy on the eve of World War II. Without clear objectives--other than to avoid war--his mission did little more than pressure Czechoslovakia for concessions. Runciman was manipulated into that position by Sudeten German separatists and also by those in Britain who sought to secure a rapprochement with Germany. The Mission's pursuit of that objective led directly to Chamberlain's fateful flying visits to Hitler.

The new contributions in this book, by acknowledged leaders in the field, examine the delivery of effective aid under fire, and securing the peace in environments where governance is fragile. They bridge the cultural divide between the security and development professions at a time of unprecedented global economic integration, geopolitical turbulence, and novel threats to international peace and security. More than a billion people live in countries where governance is weak, poverty is rampant, and economies are depressed. Failed and frail states provide ideal breeding grounds for civil strife, criminality, and "new wars" that target civilians, use children as combatants, and commit massive human rights violations. The new security risks loom within national borders, while the capacity of the international community to intervene 'behind borders' remains inadequate. Policy making for security still relies heavily on military responses. Yet military responses cannot address, and may even worsen, the social and cultural antecedents of civil strife and social resentment. Similarly, development aid policy and practice are poorly adapted to the new realities of frail governance and insecure operating environments in aid recipient countries. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading journal Conflict, Security and Development.