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In diesem Buch wird die Frage zur nationalen Identität Deutschlands, die in der deutschen Gesellschaft selbst und von Nachbarländern immer wieder zur Debatte steht, im europäischen Sicherheitskontext behandelt. Daher fängt diese Forschung mit der „deutschen Frage“ an. Um diese Identitätsfrage im Sicherheitskontext zu analysieren, wird in der Forschung das Analysemodell von der Kopenhagener Schule (s.g. Securitisation Modell) angewendet. Das Modell gibt eine Erklärung zur Frage, wie ein bestimmtes Thema in einer Gesellschaft als Sicherheitsfrage dargestellt werden kann. Hierbei fokussiert sich die Kopenhagener Schule auf die Sprechhandlung der Akteure. In diesem Band wird die Sprechhandlung des Identitätsbildungsprozesses mit den ausgewählten politischen Reden, u. a. Weihnachts- bzw. Neujahrsansprache, sowie die Reden beim Jahresempfang mit den Diplomaten, von den Bundespräsidenten und -kanzler•innen zwischen 1989/1990 – 2020 analysiert.

This book reflects on the nature of the rule of law in the European Union and the present and future consequences of the attacks that are undermining it. Presenting various case studies, it analyses violations of the rule of law and their impact on the quality of European democracy and on the workings of civil and political society. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, the book connects legal aspects related to infringements of the rule of law with their political and sociological consequences at both a general and the EU level.The book is divided into three parts. The first focuses on the rule of law in the European context and the threats to democracy posed by its violations. It examines how populist movements and parties utilize the erosion of the checks and balances in liberal democracies to weaken resisting intermediate bodies, such as dissenting civil society groups. The second part concentrates on the political perspectives, which it approaches both in terms of its general features and through a set of case studies related to violations of the rule of law. The third part provides a legal perspective on these issues and examines the impact of the rule of law and its infringement in several areas, impacting both the internal and external dimensions of the EU.

What is Realpolitik? How did the concept come about, and what does it stand for? This book explores the origins and meaning of a core precept of international history and politics. Statesmen, diplomats, and analysts alike deploy the term as if it were a timeless label. Endlessly, they suppose, states compete with each other for power in a zero-sum game. Yet Realpolitik was born in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century. The circumstances of its birth are key to its meaning. Realpolitik emerged among Europe's constitutional struggles on the one hand, and the wars of Italian and German unification on the other. Revolutionary disappointment, the end of the Romantic era, and the rise of a new scientific materialism all informed a Realist period of political strongmen. Rather than describing a permanent state of things, this book suggests, Realpolitik is rooted in nineteenth-century European and German politics, and consequently the rise of an aggressive nationalism.

This book explores what it meant to be ‘liberal'in interwar Czech, Austrian, and Slovenian politics. Up until 1918, these countries shared the common political framework of Cisleithania (the Austrian part of the Habsburg Monarchy). Within this framework was the predominantly pejorative function of the label ‘liberal,'and as a result after 1918, no major political party employed it to describe its own political orientation. Despite making considerable efforts to dissociate themselves from liberalism, many parties continued to be referred to as ‘liberal'by the contemporary public. This association with liberalism, the book argues, was primarily due to the parties'historical background rather than any ideological commitment to liberalism, and for that reason, the author refers to them as ‘national liberal heirs.'Examining the (dis)continuities of liberal party traditions, the book presents three representative cases of national liberal heirs: the Czechoslovak National Democracy; the Greater German People's Party; and the Slovenian sections of the Yugoslav Democratic Party, the Independent Democratic Party, and the Yugoslav National Party. Forming a distinctive part of early twentieth-century party landscapes in Central Europe, the national liberal heirs had inherited organisational structures, parts of electorate, as well as rootedness in specific cultural and social milieus from their liberal predecessors. Following the political trajectories of the national liberal heirs, the author seeks to answer in which spheres, in which manners, and to what extent liberalism survived or even continued to develop in the interwar Czech lands, Austria, and Slovenia.

This book examines the conceptual contributions of constituent representatives in Spain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Spanish Parliament has been the stage for the political modernisation of the country. Constitutional debates have historically led to the gradual acknowledgement and broadening – usually unevenly – of citizens'rights. At the same time, constitutional debates have created opportunities to design institutions and settle legal mechanisms to enforce rights and distribute state resources. The book identifies and analyses rhetorical and conceptual innovations produced in such debates from a historical perspective.

The literature on the fall of communism contains numerous interpretations of the changes that took place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, while debates about how best to characterize the fall of the communist regimes have raged for many years. Researchers continue to ponder and argue over how ‘revolutionary', as opposed to ‘evolutionary'(or ‘reformatory') these changes were. In this new study, author Paweł Ukielski proposes the term ‘counterrevolution'to describe the historical process that took place and uses it as an analytical construct to better understand the crisis of Soviet communism and the subsequent transitions that took place.

Post- Cold War Predictions examines how the international order evolved after the collapse of the Soviet Union (and before the attacks on 9/11) by focusing on the ways we study and understand major powers'security behavior within the evolving multipolar order. Beginning with an overview of Post-Cold War literature, Kassab summarizes and evaluates influential Post-Cold War texts to better understand scholarship's need to predict. First, he discusses the central importance of power in international relations and drives home the central focus of international structures, linking findings to the broader structure-agent problem. He then reinterprets the purpose of theory, preferring explanatory theories to those that aim to predict outcomes. To understand the context by which political ideas were developed and followed as if they were political ideologies, Hanna Samir Kassab makes explicit the links between historicism and historiography, forwarding a new methodology for studying political science: Politicist analysis. Using simple jargon and defining terms where necessary, this succinct and enlightening text is required reading for all those interested in international politics.

This book asks what it means to think globally about world politics. In an attempt to contextualise the recent ‘globalising turn'in International Relations (IR), it takes stock of more than 30 years of efforts at addressing IR's Eurocentric limitations, and explores what ‘thinking globally'means in practice through focusing on the study of (international) security and foreign policy. The authors offer thinking globally about world politics not as an alternative to, but as a critical engagement with, IR. It involves curiosity about what others think about the world, making a sustained effort to locate the knowledge they have produced, and recognising past and present contributions to what we otherwise view as ‘European'ideas, practices, and institutions. Rather than focusing on abstract debates about the state of the discipline, the aim is to provide researchers with the conceptual tools to think globally and design their own research projects.

The rise and fall of states in the international system has been an interesting problem that has received attention amongst scholars, policy makers, journalists, politicians and leaders of states. Interestingly there have been numerous attempts that have sought to define, explain and interpret the consequences of these developments that occur in the international system (Chan, 2008:1). Efforts have been made to define ‘Great Powers', ‘Middle Powers', ‘Emerging Powers', ‘Small Powers', Super Powers', ‘Hegemons'etc, of which the idea of ‘Great Power'and ‘Emerging Power', receives primary attention in this research. The dramatic rise of China and India in particular, in terms of their economy and military capabilities, has brought about a paradigm shift in terms of thinking of world politics that is coupled with the decline of the US'hegemonic status. Randall Schweller points out that there have been arguments that support the fact of the increasing potential for security competition and war between the US and China and on the other hand he also directs the reader to the optimist's argument that the transition of power would be smooth and evolutionary where there will be efforts towards accommodating these changes that are occurring in the international system. He also points out that there will be efforts by great powers to accept these changes through restraint, reciprocity, cooperation and establish a mutually acceptable order that would benefit all (Schweller, 2011: 285). These complexities make it both interesting as well as a serious concern in terms of peace and security in the world.

This open access book explores the politics of emotions under the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey and the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It examines how emotional politics and, particularly, the use of a Neo-Ottomanist narrative created a new national mood and contributed to the durability of Erdoğan's rule. The author analyses the interactions between national narratives, symbolic politics and emotions. She argues that these interactions have formed the basis of Erdoğan's popular support for more than 20 years. The book is a valuable resource for scholars of political science and sociology, as well as policymakers interested in the rise of authoritarianism in Turkey.

Introduction to Global Politics, Fourth Edition, is an accessible, comprehensive, and well-written introductory textbook which emphasizes the evolution of major global issues from the past to the present. By integrating theory and political practice at individual, state, and global levels, students are introduced to key developments in global politics, helping them make sense of major trends that are shaping our world. This completely revised and updated edition includes new material on: the dramatic shift in US policies under President Donald Trump and the post-Trump moves to redo the global scene the coronavirus pandemic and its impact around the world Brexit, and its consequences for the European Union the rise of China and Russia in the international order technological developments in weaponry and the militarization of outer space the growing importance of the politics of identity, the environment, nationalism and populism while retaining much of the structure and many of the features of past editions, including a revised range of faculty and student aids– a test bank, flashcards, glossary, web links, PowerPoint slides, chapter outlines, suggested video clips, map exercises, cultural references, and boxed features Stimulating and provocative, the book is designed to appeal to students and instructors interested in international relations as a broadly defined, multidisciplinary subject encompassing politics, history, economics, military science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy.

This book analyzes how AKP's embedded intellectuals operate as media spin doctors, exploring their transformation from passionately engaged intellectuals into apparatchiks. This project adapts a post-Soviet geography approach to the media, intelligentsia, and political discourse as derivative of authoritarian regimes to the Turkish context. It offers a fresh look at the Turkish political and intellectual scene and a comparative study of the populist-authoritarian politics of Turkey. Situated in the literature on the post-Soviet authoritarian regimes and their ways of governing, as well as their manipulation of public opinion, the book analyzes AKP-aligned intellectuals as apparatchiks. Gürpınar explores the different constellations of pro-AKP intellectuals vindicating the AKP regime from various angles, including: liberal/progressive intellectuals who initially supported the party for its liberal vistas but continued their support by twisting their progressiverhetoric; Islamist intellectuals blending their Islamism with populism; and national security intellectuals who joined after the AKP came to propagate a national security agenda. The book also provides an overview of the mechanisms of political technology, including the media landscape and its running by the AKP, intellectuals themselves as operators of political technology, and the problem of “cultural power.” The book will be of interest to those studying comparative authoritarian politics, populism, political communication, and scholars of Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Heterarchy in World Politics challenges the fundamental framing of international relations and world politics. IR theory has always been dominated by the presumption that world politics is, at its core, a system of states. However, this has always been problematic, challengeable, time-bound, and increasingly anachronistic.In the 21st century, world politics is becoming increasingly multi-nodal and characterized by'heterarchy'– the coexistence and conflict between differently structured micro- and meso quasi-hierarchies that compete and overlap not only across borders but also across economic-financial sectors and social groupings. Thinking about international order in terms of heterarchy is a paradigm shift away from the mainstream'competing paradigms'of realism, liberalism, and constructivism. This book explores how, since the mid-20th century, the dialectic of globalization and fragmentation has caught states and the interstate system in the complex evolutionary process toward heterarchy. These heterarchical institutions and processes are characterized by increasing autonomy and special interest capture. The process of heterarchy empowers strategically situated agents — especially agents with substantial autonomous resources, and in particular economic resources — in multi-nodal competing institutions with overlapping jurisdictions. The result is the decreasing capacity of macro-states to control both domestic and transnational political/economic processes. In this book, the authors demonstrate that this is not a simple breakdown of states and the states system; it is in fact the early stages of a structural evolution of world politics.This book will interest students, scholars and researchers of international relations theory. It will also have significant appeal in the fields of world politics, security studies, war studies, peace studies, global governance studies, political science, political economy, political power studies, and the social sciences more generally.

This book evaluates the legislative effectiveness of Nigeria's National Assembly under the Fourth Republic. The assessment covers five Assemblies (4th–8th) and focuses specifically on lawmaking, cost of running the National Assembly, and the budget making process. It empirically assesses the effectiveness of the Nigerian national legislature beyond previous emotional and sentimental evaluations of the institution. It has developed a model ‘Institutional Legislative Effectiveness Score'used in assessing the institutional performance of the National Assembly from two perspectives: first, by comparing the performances of the two chambers in the same Assembly; and second, by comparing the performances of the institution across Assemblies. Aside lawmaking, the book also covers the major topical issues that characterized public evaluation of the institution. These include: size of the institution, budgeting process, cost of funding the institution, and the debate on the appropriate way in reforming the National Assembly.

The Success of Small States in International Relations highlights the normality and power of small states in international relations.This book overturns the stereotype that small states, however defined, are weak and are, or ought to be, consigned to the margins of international relations. It argues that small states are not ‘punching above their weight', or even anomalies – since it is large states which are the anomaly in the global system. The text unpacks the nature and character of small state success, while also looking critically at thirteen episodes in modern history where small states, singly or collectively, emerged victorious in confrontations with larger states. The case studies, globally sourced, are bookended by conceptual and analytic reviews of what these events mean for diplomacy, international relations and small states more generally.This book will appeal to scholars and students of comparative political science and international relations, particularly from small states, as well as policy makers and senior small state government officers.

Dieses Buch bietet eine vergleichende und historische Analyse des Totalitarismus und geht der Frage nach, warum Spanien während der Inquisition totalitär wurde, Frankreich aber nicht; und warum Deutschland im vergangenen Jahrhundert totalitär wurde, Schweden aber nicht. Der Autor verlegt das Konzept des Totalitarismus zurück in die Vormoderne und stellt Hannah Arendts Vorstellung von der Banalität des Bösen in Frage. Stattdessen stellt er einen alternativen Rahmen vor, der erklären kann, warum manche Staaten totalitär werden und warum sie Menschen zu bösen Handlungen verleiten.

This book deals with a central aspect of Marx's critique of society that is usually not examined further since it is taken as a matter of course: its scientific claim of being true. But what concept of truth underlies his way of reasoning which attempts to comprehend the social and political circumstances in terms of the possibility of their practical upheaval? In three studies focusing specifically on the development of Marx's scientific critique of capitalist society, his journalistic commentaries on European politics, and his reflections on the organisation of revolutionary subjectivity, the authors carve out the immanent relation between the scientifically substantiated claim to truth and the revolutionary perspective in Marxʼs writings. They argue that Marx does not grasp the world ‘as it is'but conceives it as an inverted state which cannot remain what it is but generates the means by which it can eventually be overcome. This is not something to be taken lightly: Such a concept has theoretical, political and even violent consequences—consequences that nevertheless derive neither from a subjective error nor a contamination of an otherwise ‘pure'science. By analyzing Marx's concept of truth the authors also attempt to shed light on a pivotal problematique of any modern critique of society that raises a reasoned claim of being true.

Using the lenses of realism, liberalism, the English School and constructivism, this book explains how the divisions and differences in African identities affect African international politics.This book explores the African condition in the twenty-first century. It analyses how geographical, racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious and power differences shape continental and intercontinental relations in Africa through the creation of identities and values which militate against intra-continental or regional relations. The author assesses inclusionary and exclusionary, rational and irrational relationships, interactions and non-interactions which occur between geographical, linguistic, racial and religious entities in Africa. He suggests that, in these moments, one entity will negatively relate, interact or refuse to interact with another entity for the gains of the former and to the detriment of the latter or even to the detriment of both entities. Divided into two parts, the first part of the book employs an ecumenical approach to discuss the divisions and differences that disunite Africa as a continent and Africans as a people and how they affect African international politics. Part II goes on to explore how this ‘othering'can be superseded by non-discriminatory, unifying and positive identities and values.Examining the possibility of creating identities and values that can unite Africa as a continent and Africans as a people, this book will be of interest to scholars of African politics, international relations and political theory.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

Der Sammelband diskutiert unterschiedliche Glaubensformen, die gegenwärtig in spätmodernen Gesellschaften miteinander in Widerstreit geraten. Mit Blick auf zunehmende Polarisierungstendenzen werden Glaubensformen und belief systems entlang Yves Bizeuls These einer neuen gesellschaftlichen Konfliktlinie rund um Fragen kollektiver Identität beleuchtet. Neben traditionellen Formen religiösen Glaubens, welche zwischen fortschreitender Säkularisierung und neuer religiöser Radikalisierung changieren, werden mythische Glaubensformen untersucht, die, als Zugang zur Welt und als Autoritäten der Welterklärung, Potential für gesellschaftliche Disruption in sich tragen.

In Assessing Multiculturalism in Global Comparative Perspective, a group of leading scholars come together in a multidisciplinary collection to assess multiculturalism through an international comparative perspective.Multiculturalism today faces challenges like never before, through the concurrent rise of populism and white supremacist groups, and contemporary social movements mobilizing around alternative ideas of decolonization, anti-racism and national self-determination Taking these challenges head on, and with the backdrop that the term multiculturalism originated in Canada before going global, this collection of chapters presents a global comparative view of multiculturalism, through both empirical and normative perspectives, with the overarching aim of comprehending multiculturalism's promise, limitations, contemporary challenges, trajectory and possible futures. Collectively, the chapters provide the basis for a critical assessment of multiculturalism's first 50 years, as well as vital insight into whether multiculturalism is best equipped to meet the distinct challenges characterizing this juncture of the 21st century.With coverage including the Americas, Europe, Oceania, Africa and Asia, and thematic coverage of citizenship, religion, security, gender, Black Lives Matter and the post-pandemic order, Assessing Multiculturalism in Global Comparative Perspective presents a comprehensively global collection that is indispensable reading for scholars and students of diversity in the 21st century.

This profound and insightful handbook aims to promote critical reflection on the way we conceptualise and study the radical left and to advance research by asking new questions. Radical left parties in Europe have been the subjects of significant study in the last decade, aided by the demonstrable success of newer parties like the Greek Syriza and Spanish Podemos, as well as the persistence of more established actors like the German Die Linke. Nevertheless, the emergent literature remains patchy and many elements of the party family still poorly understood. This handbook brings together a range of leading analysts to provide a definitive compendium, one that provides both students and scholars with an informative and easy-to-use guide to the radical left in Europe. Through utilising a common analytical framework to analyse the radical left in 19 European countries (within and outside the EU), the Palgrave Handbook of Radical Left Parties in Europe provides a wealth of comparable data on a wide number of cases to provide a sound basis for future studies. This rigorous comparative framework, allied with the unprecedented in-depth overview of the development of the European radical left over the past two decades, makes this handbook an essential starting place for those interested in all aspects of the radical left as a party family.

The German Federal Election of 2021 was one of the most open and competitive in the post-war era. This book provides a systematic analysis of its domestic and international context, the shifting balance of the political parties, the election strategies and campaign themes, along with the challenges of government formation. An international array of scholars from Europe, North America and Australasia have contributed specially commissioned chapters on their principal areas of research. The discussion of individual topics is combined with sufficient background information so as to be accessible to readers who may not have detailed knowledge of German politics. In addition, by including links to multimedia election-related content we enhance the value of this volume and make it an indispensable reference tool.

This book develops Marcuse's critique of advanced industrial society and deploys it as a lens to critically analyze contemporary neoliberalism and its structural failures. In the chapters, Marcuse scholars explore three related topics: First, Marcuse's theory as it applies to the relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism, including both the historical relationship between the two and the modern re-emergence of authoritarianism and nationalism in neoliberal states today. Second, a re-examination of the relationship between neoliberal subjectivity and technological rationality that seeks to understand the stabilizing forces of neoliberal society and the way these forces register at the level of thought. Third and finally, Marcuse's conception of socialism in conversation with contemporary neoliberal rationality, and ways in which alternatives to the status quo remain possible. Together, this volume contributes to recent discussions of neoliberalism and contribute to thedevelopment of Marcuse scholarship.

Historical and Political Analysis on Power Balances and Deglobalization delves deeper into the author's previous work, Contemporary Politics and Social Movements in an Isolated World, to explore the pressing issues currently faced by the international community. Through an academic lens, this book examines how these issues are reshaping the global order, encompassing supply chains, economics, politics, military alliances, and the future of globalism in a reordered world. The book delves into an analysis of the existing literature on deglobalization and provides an overview of the current state of the world order. The author explores the factors driving the restructuring of power balances in the international community, using compelling case studies to illustrate these points. The global electoral politics of 2022 are examined, offering a comprehensive analysis of the most impactful elections and their implications for future international cooperation. The shifting supply chains in the new world order are explored, with a particular emphasis on the consequences of deglobalization for underdeveloped nations. The book then looks ahead to the rise of regional hegemonic blocs, forecasting the potential trajectory of power in a reordered world. The conclusion synthesizes the key findings and offers insights into the future of global power dynamics. Written by Emily Stacey, Ph.D., an accomplished scholar in the fields of political studies and international relations, this book combines rigorous research and academic expertise. Drawing from her extensive educational background and teaching experience, Dr. Stacey presents a thought-provoking analysis that is sure to appeal to scholars, researchers, and students interested in understanding the complex interplay between power balances and deglobalization in our rapidly changing world.

This book brings together a range of studies that aim at illustrating the ideas, institutions, historical patterns, and contemporary relevance of the social-political system that existed in the main part of East Asia during the premodern era. This is most often known as the Confucian literati-bureaucratic state, the imperial Chinese bureaucratic state, or the Confucian-Legalist state, that was established and endured most notably in China, but also in several East Asian societies such as Korea, Vietnam, Japan. That state and sociopolitical system also greatly shaped state making in several kingdoms in the region – such as Ryukyu and Dali – which were later merged into larger polities. Illuminating the significance of these historical patterns for today, this book will interest political scientists, historians, philosophers, and the general public.

This book presents an extensive and in-depth analysis of the multifaceted landscape of Asia's role in global affairs. Throughout its chapters, the book examines a wide range of topics, shedding light on the complexities and implications of Asia's growing significance in the international arena. The book emphasizes Asia's pivotal position as the largest continent in the world, serving as a global crossroad connecting various regions and playing a crucial role in international trade, making it an essential hub for economic activities, and positioning it as a strategic link between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Publication provides a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of the changing dynamics in Asia and its implications for regional and global interactions. It sheds light on Asia's growing political and economic importance, the competition for influence among major powers, the role of regional organizations, ongoing conflicts and challenges, and the relations between Asia and other regions.

An extensive investigation of the rally-round-the-flag phenomenon of public opinion in the United States during wars and security crises. The'rally-round-the-flag'phenomenon in the United States is characterized by a sudden and sharp increase in the public approval rating of the sitting US president in response to a war or security crisis. While relatively uncommon, these moments can have a serious impact on policymaking as politicians might escalate a conflict abroad or restrict civil liberties at home. What, then, are the conditions and processes through which rallies have emerged? In Rally'round the Flag, Yuval Feinstein revisits the phenomenon to answer this question. He examines both the conditions under which rally periods have emerged in the US and the processes that have generated these rallies to introduce a novel rally theory. Drawing on an original data set of conflicts covering 1950 to 2020 and survey data, Feinstein shows that the rally-round-the-flag effect is not an automatic public reaction to international conflicts. Rather, it is a rare event that emerges only under circumstances that lead most Americans to believe it is necessary to take military action to maintain or restore collective honor and gain the respect of other nations. He further attributes public opinion shifts during rally periods to nationalist emotions that people experience when they believe that the president's actions effectively protect the nation's honor and international prestige. Identifying the unique sets of conditions for the emergence of rallies, Rally'round the Flag offers the most extensive investigation of this public opinion phenomenon and proposes future directions to research the topic for both the United States and other countries.

This book defines Russophobia as the irrational fear of Russia, a key theme in the study of propaganda in the West as Russia has throughout history been assigned a diametrically opposite identity as the “Other.” Propaganda is the science of convincing an audience without appealing to reason. The West and Russia have been juxtaposed as Western versus Eastern, European versus Asiatic, civilized versus barbaric, modern versus backward, liberal versus autocratic, and even good versus evil. During the Cold War, ideological dividing lines fell naturally by casting the debate as capitalism versus communism, democracy versus totalitarianism, and Christianity versus atheism. After the Cold War, anti-Russian propaganda aims to filter all political questions through the simplistic binary stereotype of democracy versus authoritarianism, which provides little if any heuristic value to understand the complexities of relations. A key feature of propaganda against the inferior “Other” is both contemptuous derision and panic-stricken fear of the threat to civilization. Russia has therefore throughout history been allowed to play one of two roles—either an apprentice of Western civilization by accepting the subordinate role as the student and political object, or a threat that must be contained or defeated. While propaganda has the positive effect of promoting unity and mobilizing resources toward rational and strategic objectives, it can also have the negative effect of creating irrational decision-making and obstructing a workable peace.

Follow your favorite caped crusaders (and foes) to learn about the current world order. Mariano Turzi explains the main theories of international relations through Batman, Two-Face, and the Justice League. The Hulk illuminates Russia's foreign policy and Aquaman sheds light on climate change. The X-Men experience the same dramas as refugees and Tony Stark personifies modern warfare. How is Spiderman like the UN and Wonder Woman's soft power comparable to the European Union? You will learn about globalization through Flash and about American hegemony with Superman and Captain America. Even Bane and his face mask appear, anticipating the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Taking superheroes and supervillains as myths or modern archetypes, the book invites you to a super-journey through the fascinating universe of structures, themes, protagonists, and problems of world affairs.

This book argues that our current lack of recognising and understanding the different forms meta-theorising takes hampers the ways in which fruitful engagement between meta-theories can be conducted. It proposes a radical break with the ways in which meta-theorising in International Relations (IR) has so far been understood, and instead suggests a dyadic approach: a rhetoric of inquiry that investigates the diverging forms of argumentation currently present in IR meta-theorising and a conversational ethic that can help steer meta-theoretical engagements across existing divides in more productive ways. The central questions are as follows: where meta-theorising should go from here in order to contribute to the analysis of an ever more complex world? Can we develop ways that allow the practice of meta-theorising to channel and consolidate the multiplicity of its debates and contentions to strengthen our understanding of world politics, and if so, how?It will be of general interest in all theory and methodology courses offered at undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as to academics working in the area of meta-theory, international political thought, normative theory as well as IR theory in its various manifestations.

On October 3, 1990 the future of both Europe and Germany became powerfully and inexorably intertwined across a politically broadened continent powering transformative social, political and economic interactions. The thirty year mark after the then reigning chancellor Helmut Kohl promised'flourishing landscapes'in the former GDR is more than just a new anniversary from which mandatory reflections must follow. Arguably, it represents a temporal boundary between the adjustments and reactions conditioned and captivated by a sense of something new and uncertain, and that point moving forward from which unification's legacy inescapably tethers Germany's future to normal politics shaped by the issues of the moment, and not politics gripped by the debates of unification itself. That legacy is defined by an accumulation over thirty years of adjustments, mutations, counter-adjustments and strategic reactions which have now delivered through the many ripples of change a Germany managing thecourse-trajectory which unification has relentlessly plotted. The foreseeable future will certainly see that legacy of unification tenaciously continue to project yet shrouded within the background of Germany's routine politics. This volume explores that legacy within the post-unification era and reflects on the way forward into a near-term German future no longer consumed with unification itself but with the reality of politics it has steadily defined.

Civilizations, or rather narratives about civilizations, matter, not only as research subjects in textbooks, literary and scientific essays, but also in politics. This seems to be the case in'civilizational states'such as China, Russia, Turkey and Syria. Also in Western countries, in recent decades, the notion of civilization has often been used in public discourse: political parties and leaders have referred in particular to the need to protect Western civilization, calling in this regard for policies to restrict immigration from Muslim countries. In 2022 the narrative on civilization was used to legitimize the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The studies in this collected volume reconstruct how civilizational paradigms and narratives have been used to explain political relations, to define the global order, to justify attempts to gain hegemony over particular geopolitical areas, and to make predictions on global developments in specific times of crisis. In particular, this book analyzes the concepts of civilization as they have been used in the intellectual and political discourse in periods particularly critical for global relations and for the consolidation or contestation of the West's dominant role in international, national politics and academic discourse.

Von Haus aus Jurist und Staatsrechtslehrer, vertritt Hermann Heller einen demokratischen Konstitutionalismus, der die Wirklichkeit der Demokratie mit der Normativität des Rechts zusammendenkt. Was Hellers Werk dabei in besonderer Weise fruchtbar erscheinen lässt, ist die Verbindung von Staatsrechtslehre, Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie, die erst die komplexe Wirklichkeit der Demokratie erfahrbar macht. In seinen späten Weimarer Schriften – etwa zum Autoritären Liberalismus – zeigt sich Heller als Analytiker der Krise, der uns heute den Blick für die Herausbildung autoritärer Politikstrukturen insbesondere auf europäischer Ebene schärft. Neben dieser kritischen Perspektive auf die Konstellationen und Dynamiken der (zum Teil schleichenden) Autokratisierung politischer Prozesse lassen sich auf Grundlage des Hellerschen Werkes auch die Voraussetzungen gelingender demokratischer Stabilität benennen. Die Rekonstruktion dieses Ansatzes eines dezidiert demokratischen Konstitutionalismus steht im Zentrum des geplanten Sammelbandes.

This book explores the dynamics and trajectories of change in international politics through an English School analysis of primary institutions including international law, sovereignty and diplomacy, with particular reference to the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC).The study argues that it serves as an important indicator and model for redefining international politics, particularly through its impact upon three major institutions as prescribed by the English School: international law, sovereignty and diplomacy. The author explores three major areas: the ICC's contribution to the consolidation of the individual as a subject of the international law; the significance of the Court and its jurisdiction in terms of the state sovereignty; and the strong and determinative role of non-state actors active on global level during the diplomatic process upheld for the making of the norms and rules during the creation of the ICC. These three fields of change, point out to the redefinition and reconstruction of international politics, heralding a solidarist vision of international society. The book will be of particular interest to researchers in the field of the IR, as well as graduate students interested in IR theory, international law, and international organizations.

This book examines three cases of democratic transitions by self-transformation of the non-democratic regimes in Southern Europe—the Spanish reforma pactada-ruptura pactada of 1976-77, the Greek “Markezinis experiment” of 1973, and the Turkish democratic transition of 1983—in a comparative perspective. The author argues that a democratic transition initiated by the regime elites is, in contrast to widely held assumptions and notwithstanding some reservations on whether democracy can be (re-)introduced by non-democrats, worth viewing as a “window of opportunity” for democratisation. It is up to the democratic counter-elites to respond to it, using the civil society and the international factor as allies to achieve their goal of acquiring more concessions from the regime.

This edited volume presents an interdisciplinary and international revaluation of Friedrich Engels as much more than “junior partner” to Karl Marx or “second fiddle” in the Marxist orchestra. The nineteen critical essays in this collection are the work of scholars from Germany, USA, UK, Italy, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines. Together they present and evaluate archival material and scholarly commentary that covers epistemology, political economy, political theory, gender studies, cultural studies, political geography, philosophy of social science and sociological studies of class-conflict. Students, activists and specialists will find fresh consideration of familiar works, such as The Condition of the Working Class in England, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, and The Dialectics of Nature. They will also be able to explore Engels's less familiar pamphleteering, literary criticism and political commentary through detailed contextualization andcareful analysis. Friedrich Engels for the 21st Century: Perspectives and Problems is unique in putting different intellectual and political receptions of Engels's work into productive conversation, particularly from non-Anglophone scholars, translated here into English. Readers will appreciate why Engels has been so widely celebrated some two hundred years after his birth.

As we face new challenges from climate change and the rise of populism in Western politics and beyond, there is little doubt that we are entering a new configuration of world politics. Driven by nostalgia for past certainties or fear of what is coming next, references to normalcy have been creeping into political discourse, with people either vying for a return to a past normalcy or coping with the new normal. This book traces main discourses and practices associated with normalcy in world politics. Visoka and Lemay-Hébert mostly focus on how dominant states and international organizations try to manage global affairs through imposing normalcy over fragile states, restoring normalcy over disaster-affected states, and accepting normalcy over suppressive states. They show how discourses and practices come together in constituting normalization interventions and how in turn they play in shaping the dynamics of continuity and change in world politics.

Following Marx's own itinerary from Paris to London, from politics to the critique of political economy, The Marx of Communism delves into a creatively unfolding international debate on the democracy-communism relation, while supporting a 21st century communism as a social alternative to capitalism. Taking into consideration Marx's analysis of communism both as a movement and a social formation, this study focuses on the dialectics of transition from capitalism to communism. Dealing with communism as the outcome of a long-term cultural and political process, the author defends Marxian communism as the open-ended constitution of a self-governed demos, whose citizens create their own way of life on the ground of a stateless and classless society. From this point of view, the end of the state does not mean the end, but the revival of politics in terms of a communist bios. Reshaping their collective and personal values and setting limits to the production/technology dynamics of their economy, this book argues, the citizens of a communist polis form a promising antithesis to the private individuals of a capitalist society.

This book explores the transformation of the political organization of the world as manifest in different spheres of world politics, in particular, in world politics, regional studies, interaction of MNCs and government agencies, and state responses to biogenic challenges. To achieve this goal, M. Lebedeva proposes the concept of a political organization of the world, which in modern conditions is in the process of transformation. The transformation of the political organization of the world is accompanied by megatrends (globalization, integration, democratization) and the opposite trends (de-globalization disintegration, dedemocratization). Interdisciplinary in nature, this book brings together scholars from Russia, the United States, and Canada, and provides a compelling perspective on the geopolitics of our time.

Breathing fresh air into debates surrounding foreign policy and interstate relations, Bianca Naude presents a holistic theory of states as collectives of people that cannot be reduced to their individual constituents.Moving among current research on the ontological status of the state alongside important arguments in support of the state personhood thesis, Naude begins by exploring Freud's personality theory and the ways in which this theory has evolved over time in response to newer insights from the field of experimental psychology. Recognizing that Freud's work is in many ways outdated, she considers more recent literature on narcissism as an aspect of self-esteem rather than a form of psychopathology, drawing specifically on Kohut's expansion of the concept of narcissism as a normal feature of personality development. Using the South African state as a case study, Naude demonstrates the various ways in which the state presents itself to the outside world on the one hand, and how it wishes to see itself on the other. She further considers how narcissistic defenses help protect the state's ego from criticism and self-judgments.Revisiting State Personhood and World Politics will help readers understand how the state sees itself, why or when the state experiences shame, humiliation, guilt or pride, and how it responds to these self-conscious emotions. It will be a valuable resource to researchers and students of International Relations.