It is often assumed that democracy is both desirable and possible in global politics. Interrogating Democracy in World Politics provides an important counter-argument to this assumption by questioning the history, meaning and concepts of democracy in contemporary international and global politics. Combining viewpoints from the fields of international relations, political theory and history, the book includes: * Critical examinations of the concept of democracy as a political order and ethical ideal * Assessment of the role and function of democracy in how contemporary political events are understood and evaluated * Analysis of the relationship of democracy to international stability, liberalism and the emergence of capitalist economies The book focuses on the move from the concept of international politics' to world politics', recognising the equal importance of understanding democratic interaction both within and between states. It reviews current scholarly thinking in the field before providing a complex theoretical re-engagement with the meaning of democracy in contemporary world politics. Interrogating Democracy in World Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of politics and international relations, democratization studies and globalization.

- How does politics affect you in everyday life? - What is power and who has it? - Has the age of empire come to an end? - Is capitalism the only viable economic system? Politics is all around us. Global Politics: Myths and Mysteries teaches students that their understanding of the political world is already theoretical, and equips them with the tools to become critical and independent thinkers. Unlike other textbooks on the market, students are invited to actively engage with the questions that shape international politics, such as 'what power relations are you taking part in?'; 'which actors besides the state are important at the global level?' and 'what power do you have to bring about change in global politics?'. This innovative pedagogical approach unveils a series of entrenched myths and mysteries in global politics in an accessible and engaging way. The text is structured into eleven chapters that cover key issues or 'myths' relating to global politics; students are invited to think critically and theoretically about each of these, whilst drawing on their existing knowledge of politics. A range of learning features throughout, such as integrated case studies, and reflective activities, help readers to build a foundational knowledge of key concepts in international relations. In addition, a suite of accompanying online resources - including web links, additional case studies and reading lists - help students to take their learning further. Digital formats and resources Global Politics: Myths and Mysteries is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. * The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with hyperlinks to carefully selected lists of web-links, and an additional reading list, to help you broaden your knowledge and understanding of international relations: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks * Student resources: a library of web links, an annotated reading guide, and additional case studies are available online. Lecturer resources: seminar questions and activities, essay questions, and PowerPoint slides for each chapter are available online.

We live in a human-rights world. The language of human-rights claims and numerous human-rights institutions shape almost all aspects of our political lives, yet we struggle to know how to judge this development. Scholars give us good reason to be both supportive and sceptical of the universal claims that human rights enable, alternatively suggesting that they are pillars of cross-cultural understanding of justice or the ideological justification of a violent and exclusionary global order. All too often, however, our evaluations of our human-rights world are not based on sustained consideration of their complex, ambiguous and often contradictory consequences. Reconstructing Human Rights argues that human rights are only as good as the ends they help us realise. We must attend to what ethical principles actually do in the world to know their value. So, for human rights we need to consider how the identity of humanity and the concept of rights shape our thinking, structure our political activity and contribute to social change. Reconstructing Human Rights defends human rights as a tool that should enable us to challenge political authority and established constellations of political membership by making new claims possible. Human rights mobilise the identity of humanity to make demands upon the terms of legitimate authority and challenges established political memberships. In this work, it is argued that this tool should be guided by a democratising ethos in pursuit of that enables claims for more democratic forms of politics and more inclusive political communities. While this work directly engages with debates about human rights in philosophy and political theory, in connecting our evaluations of the value of human rights to their worldly consequences, it will also be of interest to scholars considering human rights across disciplines, including Law, Sociology, and Anthropology.