Search

Area Studies became increasingly common after World War II as a means of responding to perceived'external threats'from the Soviet Union and China. After the Cold War and in the face of increasingly rapid globalisation, it seemed inevitable that Area Studies – institutionally and intellectually – would slowly degenerate. But this has not been the case, and there has recently been a resurgence of interest in it as an effective and positive research paradigm. Responding to this renewed interest, this book brings together an esteemed group of contributors at the cutting edge of the field to consider the state of Area Studies today and its prospects for the future. The Rebirth of Area Studies demonstrates that numerous aspects of the research paradigm in fact recommend it as well-suited for the present moment and the challenges posed by globalisation, both as a means to overcome disciplinary limitations and to increase self-reflexivity. Area Studies research is grounded in place-specific knowledge, yet by definition it transcends nation as the basic unit of analysis and thus empowers comparative and trans-national approaches. This book outlines a new, critical Area Studies for the 21st century – self-reflexive, aware of its limitations and conscious of its origins in geopolitical, strategic or ideological considerations – and is essential reading for historians, geographers and political scientists.

Recent, unpredictable incidents in diverse locations – Paris, Nice, Ankara, Sinai, California, Manchester and London – reinforce how governments and scholars must look beneath the surface for understanding of the turbulent post-9/11world. In particular, what does ‘expertise'mean in this new era? This book answers that question? The volume is about a particular kind of expert – a type suffering from ‘bad press'for a long time – namely, scholars who carry out area-based research. The term ‘expert'itself even comes in for some humor about how it might be defined – someone who knows more and more, about less and less, until eventually they know everything about nothing. Behind the old joke is a grain of truth: Expert standing becomes unimpressive to us, in both intellectual and practical terms, when it is seen as parochial and lacking in vision.This volume will explore Area Studies (AS), a prominent type of expertise, along a range of dimensions. As we move towards the third decade in the new millennium, attention shifts to the somewhat unexpectedly positive future of NewArea Studies (NAS) as a resurgent intellectual movement. NAS has departed from what the editors have dubbed Traditional Area Studies (TAS) – commonplace till the millennium. Both the editors of this volume, and its contributors, are leading scholars in area-based work across continents. Together they have participated and observed as area-oriented research struggled to overcome protracted and intense criticism since the Cold War. Thus, the volume marks the resurgence of area-based research in its new guise as NAS – the crux – understanding increasing complexity around a shrinking globe.Taken together, the contents of this volume make the the case for a New Area Studies grounded in necessary travel, using new and wider methodologies involving reflective practice and production of knowledge with local people. It argues the necessity of such broad and deep approaches in order to appreciate what is going on in the world in the 21st century and to help us see off the arrival of more and increasingly nasty unpredictable shocks.

Yelena Symonchuk trägt mit ihrem Buch dem weltweit gestiegenen Interesse für die Gewährleistung der Sicherheit in der Region Zentralasien Rechnung, das insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit den Änderungen in der globalen Sicherheitsagenda entstanden ist. Sie untersucht, ob in Zentralasien ein regionaler Sicherheitskomplex gebildet worden ist, durch welche Besonderheiten er sich auszeichnet und was die Störungen für ein wirksames Funktionieren regionaler Sicherheitsmechanismen bewirkt. Hierzu analysiert die Autorin den regionalen Sicherheitsdiskurs, die Zusammenhänge im Sicherheitsbereich zwischen den zentralasiatischen Ländern sowie die Sicherheitsdynamiken in fünf Sektoren.