George W. Bush has fundamentally changed America's place in the world. In some neo-conservative circles the word 'empire' is back in fashion, and a great republic that broke away from the British empire is now supposed to be proud of its new imperial role. This book explains how the neo-conservatives and the petro-military complex have hijacked US foreign policy. It examines the price that Americans will have to pay for this new era of unlimited US military might -- a never ending fear of terrorism; mushrooming defence and security spending; the erosion of civil liberties at home and the deaths abroad of tens of thousands of civilians and military combatants. At the heart of this disturbing and timely book is the ultimate question. Previous empires have foundered on the rock of imperial overstretch -- the costs of trying to run and protect empires eventually outstripping the capacity and willingness of the citizenry to pay for them. Is the US in danger of going down that road? Who around George 'Dubya' Bush is pushing him along that path?

The Pinochet Affair is the epic story of the events that surrounded the dramatic arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998. Beginning his narrative with the violent military coup that Pinochet led on September 11, 1973, Roger Burbach discusses what led the dictator to murder thousands of his own people and to authorize acts of international terrorism in Argentina, Italy and Washington D.C. He describes the global clash that ultimately took place in Spain, Britain and Chile to bring him to justice, and the impact the Pinochet affair has had around the world as the global human rights community seeks to establish an international regime of justice.

Over the past few years, something remarkable has occurred in Latin America. For the first time since the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s, people within the region have turned toward radical left governments - specifically in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Why has this profound shift taken place and how does this new, so-called Twenty-First-Century Socialism actually manifest itself? What are we to make of the often fraught relationship between the social movements and governments in these countries and do, in fact, the latter even qualify as 'socialist' in reality? These are the bold and critical questions that Latin America's Turbulent Transitions explores. The authors provocatively argue that although US hegemony in the region is on the wane, the traditional socialist project is also declining and something new is emerging. Going beyond simple conceptions of 'the left', the book reveals the true underpinnings of this powerful, transformative, and yet also complicated and contradictory process.

Over the past few years, something remarkable has occurred in Latin America. For the first time since the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s, people within the region have turned toward radical left governments - specifically in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. Why has this profound shift taken place and how does this new, so-called Twenty-First-Century Socialism actually manifest itself? What are we to make of the often fraught relationship between the social movements and governments in these countries and do, in fact, the latter even qualify as 'socialist' in reality? These are the bold and critical questions that Latin America's Turbulent Transitions explores. The authors provocatively argue that although US hegemony in the region is on the wane, the traditional socialist project is also declining and something new is emerging. Going beyond simple conceptions of 'the left', the book reveals the true underpinnings of this powerful, transformative, and yet also complicated and contradictory process.

This work tells the epic story of the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998, and the events surrounding it. It begins with Pinochet's violent military coup against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. It probes the sociopathic, paranoid and authoritarian tendencies that led him to murder thousands of people in Chile while authorizing acts of international terrorism in Argentina, Italy and Washington D.C. In response to his brutal reign, a human rights movement was forged that played a critical role in finally ousting the dictator in 1990. But even out of office, his power was such that he suppressed all efforts to prosecute him, until his detention in London. The book describes the clash between the politicians who sought to cover up and wash their hands of Pinochet, and the judges, lawyers and human rights organizations. And it discusses the implications of the affair for an international regime of justice.

The book begins with an overview of globalization, showing how wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a transnational elite while ever increasing numbers of people are being marginalised. Institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund are intent upon exercising a new hegemony over individuals as the role of the traditional nation state is transformed. At the centre of this power shift is a group of high-tech robber barons who dominate the Information Age and exploit the technologies of globalization for their own narrow interests. The second part of the book explores the rise of the new grass roots oppositional movements around the world. Manifest in such diverse struggles as the uprising of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the battle of Seattle against the World Trade Organisation, this new postmodern politics is "de-centred" and has little interest in the old ideologies that dominated much of the twentieth century. The final section of the book contextualizes postmodern politics by drawing on contemporary examples. The authors discuss the demise of socialist and proto-socialist experiments in Chile, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and the emergence of postmodern movements in Latin America. The final two chapters take a specific look at the Zapatista movement and its significance for revolutionary struggles around the world.