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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Peace studies
"Jenkins' rare combination of psychological theorizing and archival research in several countries and time periods yields a fascinating new take on the central question of when states over-estimate or under-estimate others' resolve. The biases that leaders and elites fall prey to appear to vary with their emotional states and senses of well-being, factors that most scholars have ignored."-Robert Jervis, author of How Statesmen Think This groundbreaking book explains how the happiness levels of leaders, politicians and diplomats affect their assessments of the resolve of their state's adversaries and allies. Its innovative methodology includes case studies of the origins of twelve wars with Anglo-American involvement from 1853 to 2003 and the psycholinguistic text mining of the British Hansard and the U.S. Congressional Record.
This book offers new and cutting-edge analyses of under-explored subjects and issues in the realm of soft power. It attempts to fill significant scholarly gaps in understanding the process by which soft power is created, as well as gaps in demonstrating its impact. Soft power is one of the most influential ideas in the study of international politics over the past thirty years. Can nations attain their most vital foreign policy objectives in agreeable ways? Advocates of the concept of soft power have vociferously answered in the affirmative. After many years of thinking in the field of international affairs that the only effective path to influence in international politics was military and economic power, the idea of soft power offers new and exciting possibilities of gaining such influence through a more benign path, one that elevates cooperation and esteem as preferred alternatives to violence, threat and military capacity. This book posits that the realization of the full potential of soft power as a foundation for international relations is a crucial goal for our present world, one beset by war and planetary crises. The book will be of special interest to researchers across political science, international relations, cultural studies and foreign policy. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Power.
Taiwan: a place with its own flag, currency, government and military, but which most of the world does not recognise as a sovereign country. An island that China regards as a 'rebellious province', but which has managed to survive defiantly for decades. Now with its neighbour China a major power on the world stage and ally United States looking increasingly inward, Taiwan's position has never been more precarious. Kerry Brown and Kalley Wu Tzu-hui reveal how the island's shifting fortunes have been shaped by centuries of conquest and by a cast of dynamic characters, by Cold War intrigue and the rise of its neighbour as a global power, explaining how this tiny island, caught between the agendas of two superpowers, is attempting to find its place in a rapidly changing world order.
This book provides the first comparative treatment of the roles of informal ad hoc groupings of states within selected conflict settings and their effects on governance in and out of the UN Security Council. Since the 1990s, informal institutions such as groups of friends, and contact or core groups have proliferated as instruments for the management of risk and conflict due to the increasing demands on the UN Security Council to adapt to the new post-cold war security environment. The perception of both the capacity and limits of the Security Council has had a catalytic effect on the creation of these ad hoc mechanisms. The substance of conflict resolution and the process of its legitimation tend to become increasingly detached, with the former being delegated to informal groups or coalition of states, while the Security Council provides the latter. The successful merger of right process and substantive outcome may strengthen the legitimacy of the Council and make actions taken by informal institutions more acceptable. This book seeks to establish the importance of informal ad hoc groupings of states in the making of peace. The dynamics between informal institutions and the Security Council are closely examined in the context of conflict resolution in Namibia, El Salvador, and Kosovo. The study illustrates the changing role of the Council in the maintenance of international peace and security. The decentralization of tasks to informal groups allows the achievement of policy goals that would be unattainable in the centralized setting of formal international organizations. In effect, informal institutions are agents of incremental change.
This book, first published in 1967, examines the foundations and the substance of the Montgomery Legend. His appearance upon the scene in the Western Desert coincided with a change in warfare as 'ironmongery replaced generalship', as General Fuller observed, and with Montgomery's victories came a British need for a Champion for all to see. The public needed a Hero as Britain's time on the ropes ended, and it was also politically necessary, lest Britain be swamped by the power of its allies.
This book, first published in 1976, re-examines many aspects of the German Peasant War of 1525, important as the first national peasant revolt in Germany and because of the influence of Engels' work on the subject. With one contributor noting the similarities between the organisation, demands and action of the Swabian peasants and those of the Zapatas of Mexico four centuries later, these essays provide remarkable insights and analyses into the enduring importance of the German Peasant War.
Combining conflict studies and feminist perspectives on everyday violence, this book analyses games and push-backs, which are vectors to migrants' border crossing attempts and violence that aims to deter their journeys at the Bosnian-Croatian border. It questions how these diverse forms of violence are experienced, not treating violence as singular episodes but rather paying attention to how migrants make meaning of it across months and years. The author examines direct violence and its symbiosis with structural harms and questions how these turn into an everyday, concrete, and intimate processes at the border. She also questions who this violence targets, where it takes place, and asks whether and how the dominant assumptions about race and gender impact men's migration journeys. The book will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students interested in issues of migration, violence, masculinities, racialization, the European Union's border governance, and scholar activism.
This book discusses terrorism and the rise of Hindu nationalism in contemporary India and examines how this movement has become a threat to democracy in that country. The work analyses the rise of Hindu nationalism, culminating in the success of Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political arm of the movement, in the 2019 Indian national elections. It offers an accessible account of the complexities and subtleties of Hindu nationalism and the dangers it poses to India's pluralistic democracy and secularism. A major theme of the book is the role that terrorism has played in the rise of Hindu nationalism, a factor often underplayed or ignored in other studies, and it also challenges the widespread belief that terrorism is largely an Islamic phenomenon. Employing a cross-disciplinary approach, the book is highly relevant to both academics and policymakers, given India's importance as a major global economic and military power. This book will be of interest to students of terrorism and political violence, South Asian history, Indian politics and International Relations, as well as policymakers.
This book examines the origins of the US Navy’s 2007 Maritime Strategy, the formation of the US government’s “Pivot to Asia†strategy, and the most recent revisions to this strategy that focus more specifically on China. Besides examining the details of this strategy formulation, the book explores the internal and external repercussions on the US Navy of the Pivot to Asia. It discusses the “Fat Leonard†scandal, which involved bribery and corruption in contracts for the maintenance of the US fleets in the region, and considers the sharp decrease in training and readiness of the Pacific fleet to support the pivot, which in turn led to serious maritime collisions. It also assesses the impact of the pivot on other countries in the region, engaging in the debate as to whether the pivot was necessary in order to convince the countries of the region that the United States had not lost its staying power, or whether the pivot managed to make tensions in the Asia-Pacific worse even while allowing the strategic situation in the Middle East and Europe to worsen as a result of neglect.
This book maps the discursive terrain and potential of person to person peacebuilding as it intersects with, and is embedded in, intercultural communication. It foregrounds the voices and discourses of participants who came together in the virtual intercultural borderlands of online exchange through a service-learning project with a non-profit organization which focused on peace through education in Afghanistan, primarily through English language tutoring. By analyzing the voices and perspectives of US-based tutors who are pre-service teachers of English as an Additional Language, in equal measure with the voices and perspectives of adult English learners in Afghanistan, the authors examine how intercultural interactants begin to work as peacebuilders. The participants describe the profound transformations they undergo throughout their intercultural tutoring journeys, transformations which evidence three dimensions of person to person peacebuilding: the personal, relational and structural. Inspired by these voices, the book further explores ways teachers and teacher educators of language and intercultural communication can more deliberately leverage the affordance of peacebuilding, whether face to face or in the virtual intercultural borderlands of online exchange.
This book maps the discursive terrain and potential of person to person peacebuilding as it intersects with, and is embedded in, intercultural communication. It foregrounds the voices and discourses of participants who came together in the virtual intercultural borderlands of online exchange through a service-learning project with a non-profit organization which focused on peace through education in Afghanistan, primarily through English language tutoring. By analyzing the voices and perspectives of US-based tutors who are pre-service teachers of English as an Additional Language, in equal measure with the voices and perspectives of adult English learners in Afghanistan, the authors examine how intercultural interactants begin to work as peacebuilders. The participants describe the profound transformations they undergo throughout their intercultural tutoring journeys, transformations which evidence three dimensions of person to person peacebuilding: the personal, relational and structural. Inspired by these voices, the book further explores ways teachers and teacher educators of language and intercultural communication can more deliberately leverage the affordance of peacebuilding, whether face to face or in the virtual intercultural borderlands of online exchange.
The relationship between Israel, American Jews, and the peace process has been a subject of passionate debate among scholars, political activists, and lay observers alike. This book is the first rigorous attempt to chart the impact of the peace process on the American Jewish community and its relationship with Israel, as mediated by the changing identity needs of American Jews. Overall, the trajectory of this relationship has been from a wide consensus of support for Israeli foreign policy, toward increasing polarization. On one side is the peace camp composed mainly of those whose Jewish-American identity is based on a religious-universalistic definition of Judaism; on the other, those who identify as nationalistic, or orthodox in religious terms, and support a hard-line vision of Greater Israel. The acrimony between the two, combined with demographic change, has undermined Israel as a symbol of Jewish identity in America, and impeded effective lobbying for Israel.
This edited volume offers an understanding of how the international community, as a collection of significant actors including major states and intergovernmental institutions, has responded to the important political and social development of the Arab Spring. Contributors analyze the response by international organizations (UN, EU, NATO), big powers (US, Russia, China, UK), regional powers (Turkey, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia) and small powers (Kuwait, Qatar). The book thus makes a sound contribution to the existing literature on the Arab Spring in form of foreign policy analysis and provides an overview of the current shape and outlook of global politics.
This book takes a new approach to answering the question of how NATO survived after the Cold War by examining its complex relationship with the United States. A closer look at major NATO engagements in the post-Cold War era, including in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, reveals how the US helped comprehensively reshape the alliance. In every conflict, there was tension between the United States and its allies over mission leadership, political support, legal precedents, military capabilities, and financial contributions. The author explores why allied actions resulted in both praise and criticism of NATO's contributions from American policymakers, and why despite all of this and the growing concern over the alliance's perceived shortcomings the United States continued to support the alliance. In addition to demonstrating the American influence on the alliance, this works demonstrates why NATO's survival is beneficial to US interests.
This interdisciplinary book examines the impact of the commercialisation of space and the changing outlook of the space sector. Using a framework based around theories of international political economy (IPE), the chapters take on issues relating to the politics, the economics and the ethics of commercialising space. The book aims to build a bridge between the research carried out on European Space Policy and the issues that are currently pertinent in the global discussion of future space policy. Overall, the volume aims to: * inform the reader about historical and contemporary developments in the neoliberal commercialisation of space; * assess the impact of the commercialisation of space on European space institutions, European space policy and European space culture; * raise ethical questions about the environmental and practical sustainability of the commercialisation of space; * examine the compatibility of the commercialisation of space with international, EU and national law. This book will be of much interest to students of space policy, global governance, European politics and International Relations.
This path-breaking book uncovers the important, under-appreciated role of armed opposition groups turned political parties in shaping long-term patterns of politics after war. Based on an empirically grounded and theoretically informed retrospective on nearly thirty years of post-conflict democratic state-building efforts, it examines whether this practice has contributed to peace and finds that engaging post-rebel parties in electoral politics has proven to be a viable long-term strategy for bringing political stability, that disparate post-rebel parties from different political contexts invest heavily in electoral politics and that few post-rebel parties actively seek return to civil conflict as a solution after becoming a political party. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in democracy, governance, elections, political parties, post-conflict peacebuilding, and more broadly to international relations, comparative politics, and regional politics.
Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the image projected of Northern Ireland in the mainstream media is frequently that of a newly prosperous, modern, post-conflict society - a rare example of a successful peace process. Promoted as a great place to live and work, the garden seemed to be getting rosier by the day, that is until the Stormont Assembly collapsed in 2017. Written to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the GFA, this book argues that the seeds of recent problems were sown in the 1998 agreement. The fiasco of a Renewable Heating Incentive that overpaid participants, the lingering whiff of corruption, communities in crisis and growing poverty are all symptoms of the inherent failings of the supposed settlement. Current difficulties are more than teething problems arising from the transition from war to peace and neo-liberalism; they're the first instalment of a deeper crisis in a northern Irish state and society, which has never properly addressed the corrosive nature of sectarianism. Rather than ridding Northern Ireland of sectarianism, neo-liberalism, operating in the absence of armed conflict, has been able to accommodate and, in some instances, create a new form of sectarianism. The GFA has led to a profound democratic deficit. This book focuses on the nature of the North's new sectarian political class who are the principal beneficiaries of the GFA, but attention is also drawn to the labour movement, the plight of precarious and migrant workers, and the undermining of third sector autonomy. Behind the latter is the continuing suffering within communities still impacted by the long period of armed conflict and the evolution of republicanism and Unionism-Loyalism.
Studying the impact of the nuclear revolution on the course of the rivalry between the former USSR and the USA, this book explains why it has been so different from great power in pre-nuclear times, in avoiding war and leading first to a co-operative relationship and then ending peacefully. The book analyzes four aspects of the nuclear revolution: reciprocal restraint, security co-operation, the deadlock of nuclear strategy (including strategic defence), and common deterrence.
This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the international relations of South Asia. South Asia as a region is increasingly assuming greater significance in global politics for a host of compelling reasons. This volume offers the most comprehensive collection of perspectives on the international politics of South Asia, and it it covers an extensive range of issues spanning from inter-state wars to migration in the region. Each contribution provides a careful discussion of the four major theoretical approaches to the study of international politics: Realism, Constructivism, Liberalism, and Critical Theory. In turn, the chapters discuss the relevance of each approach to the issue area addressed in the book. The volume offers coverage of the key issues under four thematic sections: - Theoretical Approaches to the Study of the International Relations of South Asia - Traditional and Emerging Security Issues in South Asia - The International Relations of South Asia - Cross-cutting Regional Issues Further, every effort has been made in the chapters to discuss the origins, evolution and future direction of each issue. This book will be of much interest to students of South Asian politics, human security, regional security, and International Relations in general.
This book is a concise and accessible introduction to the problem of war crimes in modern history, emphasizing the development of laws aimed at regulating the conduct of armed conflict developed from the 19th Century to the present. Bringing together multiple strands of recent research in history, political science, and law the book starts with an overview of the attempts across the pre-modern world to regulate the initiation, conduct, and outcomes of war. It them moves on to present a survey of the legal revolution of the 19th Century when, amidst a global welter of colonial wars, the first body of formal codes and laws relating to distinguishing legal from criminal conduct in war was developed. Further chapters investigate failed but influential attempts to develop the laws of war in the post-World War I period, summarize the major landmarks in international law related to war crimes, such as the Hague conventions and the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, as well as hundreds of lesser-known post-World War II trials in Europe and Asia. It also looks at the origins and debated significance of the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the 1949 Geneva Conventions accounts for the acceleration worldwide of war crimes investigations and trials from the 1970s into the 2000s and summarizes current thinking about international law and the rapidly changing nature of warfare worldwide as well as the memorialization of war crimes. Including images, documents, a bibliography highlighting the most recent scholarship, a chronology, who's who, and a glossary, this is the perfect introduction for those wishing to understand the complex field or war crimes history and its politics.
Africa has an unenviable record of 100 military coups in the past five decades, and that may not be the last count. The military still holds power in Guinea and Mauritania, while their incursion saw the assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira of Guinea-Bissau in March 2009. Fifteen of the 53 African leaders came to power by the force of arm; 23 have been on the throne for more than 10 years. The undemocratic inheritance left behind by military dictators and authoritarian one-party, sit-tight presidents, remain major sources of armed conflicts and civil wars that have claimed well over 20 million lives. The continent has a deluge of 3 million refugees. Out of the 23.7 million IDPs worldwide, 12.6 million are in Africa. Africa: Conflict Resolution And International Diplomacy, reflects on contending issues in contemporary African politics, examines Africa's crisis flash-points and traces various diplomatic initiatives taken by the international community; the UN, AU, EU, the G8, African regional communities and NGOs to ensure peace and stability. Seen purely from an African perspective, Ifeoha Azikiwe delves into the origin, the immediate and remote causes of these conflicts, as well as their cumulative effects and proffers short and long-term preventive measures. He foresees new conflicts erupting from desperate attempts to promote and institutionalise "democratic monarchy" - a recipe for future conflicts. Looking forward, he concludes by highlighting current initiatives, economic and political strategies that could fast-track the process towards full continental integration and formation of a "United States of Africa." Although a number of issues raised in the book may seem unpalatable, the author believes that the time has come to tell us some basic truth, if only to curb excessive impunity, uncanny democratic practices, external manipulations and neo-colonial tendencies that exacerbate conflicts in Africa.
This book explores the power of words in post-Peace El Salvador and Guatemala-their violent and equally liberating power. The volume explores the entire post-Peace Accords era in both Central American countries. In "post-conflict" settings, denying or forgetting the repressive past and its many victims does violence to those victims, while remembering and giving testimony about the past can be cathartic for survivors, relatives, and even for perpetrators. This project will appeal to readers interested in development, societies in transition, global peace studies, and Central American studies.
Can war be justified? Pacifists answer that it cannot; they oppose war and advocate for nonviolent alternatives to war. But defenders of just war theory argue that in some circumstances, when the effectiveness of nonviolence is limited, wars can be justified. In this book, two philosophers debate this question, drawing on contemporary scholarship and new developments in thinking about pacifism and just war theory. Andrew Fiala defends the pacifist position, while Jennifer Kling defends just war traditions. Fiala argues that pacifism follows from the awful reality of war and the nonviolent goal of building a more just and peaceful world. Kling argues that war is sometimes justified when it is a last-ditch, necessary effort to defend people and their communities from utter destruction and death. Pulling from global traditions and histories, their debate will captivate anyone who has wondered or worried about the morality of political violence and military force. Topics discussed include ethical questions of self-defense and other-defense, the great analogy between individuals and states, evolving technologies and methods of warfighting, moral injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, broader political and communal issues, and the problem of regional security in a globalizing world. The authors consider cultural and religious issues as well as the fundamental question of moral obligation in a world saturated in military conflict. The book was written in the aftermath of the war on terrorism and includes reflection on lessons learned from the past decades of war, as well as hopes for the future in light of emerging threats in Europe and elsewhere. The book is organized in a user-friendly fashion. Each author presents a self-contained argument, which is followed by a series of responses, replies, and counter-arguments. Throughout, the authors model civil discourse by emphasizing points of agreement and remaining areas of disagreement. The book includes reader-friendly summaries, a glossary of key concepts, and suggestions for further study. All of this will help students and scholars follow the authors' dialogue so they may develop their own answer to the question of whether war can be justified. Key Features Summarizes the debate between pacifism and just war theory Considers historical and traditional sources as well as contemporary scholarship and applications Models philosophical dialogue and civil discourse, while seeking common ground Discusses issues of concern in contemporary warfighting and peacemaking, while offering an analysis of the war on terrorism
This volume delves into the way conventional deterrence operates between nuclear-armed states in the third nuclear age. Unlike the first and second ages the advent of this new age has witnessed greater strain on the principles of mutual vulnerability and survivability that may result in increased risks of advertent or inadvertent escalation and horizontal nuclear proliferation. The book looks at the sum of three key simultaneous developments in the third nuclear age that merit attention. These include the emergence of asymmetric strategies, introduction of unmanned platforms and the expansion of nuclear arsenals. The volume discusses how these concurrent developments might shape the practice of conventional deterrence and provides useful insights into conventional military dynamics, not just among the current nuclear dyads but also ones that may emerge in future. It seeks answers to several key issues in state security not limited to - * What purpose and scope do the conventional military instrument have in a state's overall military strategy versus other nuclear-armed states? * If mutual vulnerability and deterrence are the frameworks, why did the prospect of escalation appear in the first place? * What are the trends - political, doctrinal, or technological - that augment or diminish conventional and nuclear interface? With insights on military crises that have witnessed participation from nuclear-armed states like the US, Russia, China, Pakistan, and India this book will especially be of interest to scholars and researchers working in the areas of security and deterrence studies, defense and strategic studies, peace and conflict studies, and foreign policy. It will also appeal to policymakers, career bureaucrats, security and defense practitioners, and professionals working with think tanks and embassies.
Conflict, Cultural Heritage, and Peace offers a series of conceptual and applied frameworks to help understand the role cultural heritage plays within conflict and the potential it has to contribute to positive peacebuilding and sustainable development in post-conflict societies. Designed as a resource guide, this general volume introduces the multiple roles cultural heritage plays through the conflict cycle from its onset, subsequent escalation and through to resolution and recovery. In its broadest sense it questions what role cultural heritage plays within conflict, how cultural heritage is used in the construction and justification of conflict narratives and how are these narratives framed and often manipulated to support particular perspectives, and how we can develop better understandings of cultural heritage and work towards the better protection of cultural heritage resources during conflict. It moves beyond the protection paradigm and recognises that cultural heritage can contribute to building peace and reconciliation in post-conflict environments. The study offers a conceptual and operational framework to understand the roles cultural heritage plays within conflict cycles, how it can be targeted during war, and the potential cultural heritage has in positive peacebuilding across the conflict lifecycle. Conflict, Cultural Heritage, and Peace offers an invaluable introduction to cultural heritage at all stages in conflict scenarios which will benefit students, researchers and practitioners in the field of heritage, environment, peace and conflict studies. |
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