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This volume explores the determinants of state power, the strategic options of rising powers, the drivers of conflict in dynamic international systems, and American grand strategy past and present to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the current era of great power competition.Leveraging insights from international relations, history, economics, and political demography, it offers rich perspectives on the competition among newly rising powers and long-dominant leaders in the international system. This book presents novel theories and innovative empirical investigations into the economic and demographic challenges confronting rising powers, along with new inquiries into these countries'capacity to mobilize both their citizens and their militaries. While China's grand strategy has attracted significant attention in recent years, these authors look beyond U.S.–PRC relations by considering the war proneness and strategic repertoires of rising regional powers, including India and Russia. Yet, the possibility of great power war remains a justifiable concern. This book examines the so-called Thucydides's Trap by exploring both its explanatory power in the conflict that inspired its name, the Peloponnesian War, and the possible mechanisms for averting war between the two most powerful countries in the current era. Finally, several challenges confronting the United States are discussed, including climate change, competition over the interpretation of the international Women, Peace, and Security agenda, and the durability of America's commitment to upholding the liberal international order. The Sources of Great Power Competition brings together many of the most influential scholars to engage in lively debates about the current and future international system. It will be of interest to foreign policy practitioners and scholars of grand strategy, the causes of war, alliance politics, norms and narratives in foreign policy, power transitions, and international hierarchy.

This volume re-examines the notion of the East Asian peace, arguing that it requires updating for the current and near-future context of US-Chinese rivalry.The “East Asian peace” refers to the remarkable change in conflict levels in eastern Eurasia over the past 80 years or even the past 130 years or so. Prior to the late 1970s, East Asia was regarded as the most conflictual region on the planet. Although insurgencies have continued in places such as Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines, after the 1980s East and Southeast Asia became one of the world's least conflictual regions. Geopolitics and economic development worked hand in hand to reduce conflict in the region and, in this respect, the East Asian peace has been a confluential peace. The general problem with a confluential peace is that the factors that shape it evolve over time, and the specific circumstances in question seem to be evolving in a different direction, with East Asia shaping up to be the most central locale of the contest between US and Chinese hegemony, both regionally and perhaps globally. This book argues that the idea of the East Asian peace now requires adjustment to the current and near-future context. The more general arguments presented here focus on alternative interpretations of how regional peace and order should be interpreted, while the more specific arguments involve interpretations of Chinese and other countries'behavior in the context of the heightened rivalry between China and the United States.This book will be of much interest to students of East Asian politics, peace studies, foreign policy, and international relations.

Drivers of Authoritarianism provides a prescient deep-dive into modern threats to pluralism and democracy in times of crisis. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this incisive book analyses the social, political, economic and psychological consequences of crises during the first decades of the 21st century, powered by the proliferation of authoritarian regimes and their ideologies.Günter Frankenberg and Wilhelm Heitmeyer bring together esteemed academics from a diverse range of disciplines to consider the ways in which crises have acted as catalysts for authoritarian developments. The book assesses the effects of authoritarianism at individual, social, national and global levels, raising concerns for the future of political and social stability. Chapters explore exterminism, authoritarian cultural identities, left-wing identity politics as a driver of authoritarianism, media entertainment and authoritarianism, and the role of gender in right-wing authoritarian populism.This timely book will be a vital read for academics, researchers and students specialising in constitutional and administrative law, law and politics, and public policy. Providing expert insight into the political landscape of the early 21st century this book will also be of great interest to political professionals and policymakers working at local, national and international levels.

A timely guide on how to live—and think—through the challenges of our century drawn from the life and thought of political theorist Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's foremost opponents of totalitarianism“We are free to change the world and to start something new in it.”—Hannah ArendtThe violent unease of today's world would have been familiar to Hannah Arendt. Tyranny, occupation, disenchantment, post-truth politics, conspiracy theories, racism, mass migration: She lived through them all.Born in the first decade of the last century, she escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one of its most influential—and controversial—public intellectuals. She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all, about freedom. Questioning—thinking—was her first defense against tyranny. She advocated a politics of action and plurality, courage and, when necessary, disobedience.We Are Free to Change the World is a book about the Arendt we need for the twenty-first century. It tells us how and why Arendt came to think the way she did, and how to think when our own politics goes off the rails. Both a guide to Arendt's life and work, and its dialogue with our troubled present, We Are Free to Change the World is an urgent call for us to think, as Hannah Arendt did—unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly—through our own unpredictable times.

Since 2014 the conflict in Ukraine has escalated from an internal crisis into an ongoing full scale conventional war. The extensive public documentation and commentary on these unfolding events present an opportunity for empirical research yet untainted by hindsight perspectives. Drawing on an extensive regional network of local stakeholders and experts, this book combines theoretical insights with practical reflections on the efficacy of a selected range of tools employed by the West to assist Ukraine, such as the provision of military assistance, troop training, intelligence sharing, information campaigns, early crisis signaling by aircraft carrier deployments, and coalition building efforts. Bridging the gap in open-source studies between academic research and practitioner assessments, the authors discuss how these specific measures correspond with theoretical assessments of the effects they are due to produce, as well as with the expectations about their performance held by the deploying policy makers and their audience. As the war continues to unfold, and the reality on the ground, as well as emerging new data, mean a constantly shifting landscape, this volume will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the conflict in Ukraine.

This book examines pathways for how to reinvigorate the United Nations, in light of recent crises.The United Nations requires reinvigoration. The organisation's supply of global governance falls short of global demand in areas ranging from health to environment, while intra-state armed conflicts are on the rise again, and fullblown inter-state war has returned to the agenda. At the same time, decision-making mechanisms are deadlocked, and their legitimacy is increasingly questioned. But what pathways are there for reinvigorating the United Nations? This book argues for consolidating key principles pertaining to inter-state relations and human rights, for elaborating on the UN system in order to avoid fragmentation and make it possible for it to keep pace with a changing world, and for revisiting UN decision-making structures so that it can become more inclusive and rebuild trust among stakeholders. The volume embraces a comprehensive approach to studying the organisation, and the authors analyse the institutions comprising the UN system, as well as the social context within which actors put these institutions to use. The book contributes to scholarly debates about the United Nations and about how it is embedded in a broader international order currently beset by crises and, ultimately, aims to show what concrete steps for strengthening the organisation might look like.This book will be of much interest to students of international organisations, diplomacy studies, global governance, and International Relations in general.The Introduction, Chapter 5, Chapter 10 and the Conclusion of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. Chapter 7 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

Depuis la chute du mur de Berlin, deux générations de leaders politiques et économiques se sont succédées en Europe Centrale et Occidentale. Au terme de trente années d'évolution, apparaît une nouvelle génération de leaders qui n'ont pas connu les régimes antérieurs et héritent d'une transition problématique. Se pose ainsi la question de l'homogénéité de sociétés qui ont parfois pris des trajectoires très différentes, mais n'en sont pas moins encore souvent assimilées de façon réductrice à des « pays de l'Est ». De même, tandis que la guerre marque son retour sur le sol européen avec l'offensive russe en Ukraine, l'importance accordée à la trajectoire de ces pays semble plus que jamais déterminante.Les cas explorés dans cet ouvrage collectif rassemblant des experts du monde francophone et d'Europe centrale et orientale explorent le phénomène du changement de génération et questionnent son impact réel sur l'évolution politique et économique, impactant la prise de décision en Europe de l'Est.

The troubles of the contemporary moment in history can be interpreted many different ways. Indeed, there has been no shortage of analysis and commentary on events like the attacks of September 11th, the Great Recession, the Arab Spring, the election of Donald Trump and the global pandemic. This book, however, argues that the most insightful analysis comes from the application of a neo-Gramscian framework that sees these events as “morbid symptoms” of an interregnum in world order between an older historic bloc of power losing its legitimacy and a still undefined new historic bloc in the process of being born. Like previous interregnums, this period of transition is marked by eruptions of Caesarism where charismatic “men of destiny” boosted by populist fervor assume leading roles in the governing institutions of their states and make bids for global leadership or domination. Unlike previous eras, however, these “digital Caesars” have been most empowered by the proliferation of electronic information and media capabilities that have revolutionized human interaction since the end of the previous century. At the head of superpower states and Silicon Valley technology companies, this new breed of Caesar is taking advantage of the loss of legitimacy in conventional institutions to remake the world according to their eclectic visions. Like previous Caesars, however, their power is fragile and will likely disappear assuming a new world order can take hold before they do permanent damage to human civilization.

One of the main dilemmas of the current humanitarian crisis is the lack of interest of Western cultures in dealing with current immigration issues. In this book, we explore not only the ebbs and flows of migratory issues but also the lack of global jurisprudence to cope with human rights violations in the world. Although the nation-state is inclined to protect the lay citizens´ rights, under some conditions it acts as a key driver to systematic human rights violations. In our times, a moment of humanity where the'other'is considered as “undesired guests,” a hot debate on the future of human rights and the challenges faced by liberal democracies to manage the current humanitarian crisis is necessary. The selected chapters have been authored by well-versed authors who dedicated their lives to the study of this phenomenon. The book interrogates further the failure of the United Nations to give a firm legal background to be applied contextually in practical terms.

El testamento intelectual del político y pensadorJosep Piqué. La reconfiguración del mundo después de una pandemia, el auge de las potencias orientales (sobre todo China e India), la invasión ilegal de Ucrania por parte de Rusia, la necesaria inclusión de América Latina en la estrategia de supervivencia de Occidente… La Geografía siempre está y la Historia siempre vuelve reúne las más importantes reflexiones y advertencias sobre geopolítica que Josep Piqué publicó en medios como ABC, El País, El Mundo o Política Exterior durante la última década de su vida. Este libro es toda una recapitulación de sus reflexiones sobre geopolítica, de gran vigencia hoy. También es un tributo a su figura como pensador y a sus ideas, fruto de una trayectoria intelectual muy activa hasta el final. Ambicioso en el conocimiento, brillante en su análisis y generoso a la hora de compartirlo, Piqué, que ejerció como ministro portavoz de Gobierno, Industria, Asuntos Exteriores y Ciencia y Tecnología entre 1996 y 2003, destacaba por poner siempre el foco en el largo alcance, consciente de que las grandes tendencias van más allá de la coyuntura y el corto plazo. Temas de plena actualidad como el aumento de la población mundial, el difícil escenario económico al que nos enfrenta la crisis climática, el auge de la inteligencia artificial, la globalización y los movimientos migratorios ya le preocupaban hace una década y sus propuestas al respecto seguirán resonando más allá de la próxima.

Connaissez-vous le pays le plus influent du golfe Persique aujourd'hui? Vous penserez probablement aux gratte-ciel de Dubaï aux Émirats arabes unis, ou aux lieux saints en Arabie saoudite, aux aides économiques du Qatar aux Palestiniens, à l'incessant bruit du dossier nucléaire iranien face aux grandes puissances mondiales et à sa capacité de nuisance régionale et enfin à l'invasion de l'Irak par les Américains et à la guerre contre l'État islamique (Daech). Bien que les médias nous alertent sur un éventuel conflit entre certains pays riverains, un changement de pôle d'influence et de puissance est en train de s'opérer depuis un bon moment dans cette zone forte énergétiquement et économiquement. C'est ainsi que les pays du golfe Persique se positionnent en pôle de puissance, tel est le cas du Qatar ainsi que d'autres petits émirats, voire l'Arabie saoudite. Ce repositionnement des États du golfe Persique mène à des rivalités et à des crises en tout genre, à l'instar de celles entre le Qatar et l'Arabie saoudite et entre cette dernière et l'Iran.

Russia's war against Ukraine has grave consequences in several political categories. These include: a reassessment of the school of ‘political realism', one of whose proponents claims to have predicted the war. Was the West partly ‘responsible'for the war? Second, to what extent does the war of aggression, as an undeniable violation of law, damage the status of international law and justice? Third, the war is embedded in political developments that stretch back a century. It is examined in its context within American foreign policy since the Wilsonian peace programme, in relation to the dangerous reluctance of the EU to pursue a decisive geopolitical policy towards Russia, and interpreted in the light of Stalinist echoes within Russian politics.

Why do we think of social struggles as movements? Have struggles been practiced otherwise, not as motion but as interruption, occupation, disturbance, arrest? Looking at three hundred years of Atlantic social struggle kinetically, Mehmet Dosemeci questions the axiomatic association that academics and activists have made between modern social struggles and the category of movement. Dosemeci argues that this movement politics has privileged some forms of historical struggle while obscuring others and, perhaps more damningly, reveals the complicity of social movements in the very forces they oppose.Dosemeci's story begins with the eighteenth-century establishment of a transatlantic regime of movement that coerced goods and bodies into violent and ceaseless motion. He then details the long history of resistance to this regime, interweaving disparate social struggles such as food riots, Caribbean maroon communities, Atlantic pirates, secret societies and syndicalism, the student New Left, Black Power, radical feminism, Operaismo, and the Zapatistas into a history of politics as disruption. Dosemeci convincingly argues that this history is key to understanding the resurgence of disruptive politics in the twenty-first century and offers valuable guidance for future struggles seeking to overturn an ever-intensifying regime of movement.

An authoritative account of Xi Jinping's worldview and how it drives Chinese behaviour both domestically and on the world stage. In his new book, On Xi Jinping, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd provides an authoritative account of the ideological worldview driving Chinese behaviour both domestically and on the world stage--that of President Xi Jinping, who now hold near-total control over the Chinese Communist Party and is now, in effect, president-for-life. Rudd argues that Xi's worldview differs significantly from those of the leaders who preceded him, and that this ideological shift is reflected in the real world of Chinese policy and behaviour. Focusing on China's domestic politics, political economy, and foreign policy, Rudd characterises Xi Jinping's ideological framing of the world as'Marxist-Leninist nationalism.'According to Rudd, Xi's notion of Leninism has taken the party and Chinese politics further to the left in comparison to his predecessors. Also, his Marxism has also taken Chinese economic thinking to the left-in a more decisively more statist direction and away from the historical dynamism of the private sector. However, Chinese nationalism under Xi has moved further to the right- towards a much, harder-edged, foreign policy vision of China and a new determination to change the international status quo. Xi's worldview is an integrated one, where his national ideological vision for China's future is ultimately inseparable from his view on China's position in the region and the world. These changes in worldview are also reflected in Xi's broader rehabilitation of the concept of'struggle'as a legitimate concept for the conduct of both Chinese domestic and foreign policy--a struggle that need not necessarily always be peaceful. Finally, Xi's ideological worldview also exhibits a new level of nationalist self-confidence about China's future--derived from China's historical and civilizational strengths but reinforced by his Marxist-Leninist concept of historical determinism and the belief that the tides of history are now on firmly China's side. A powerful analysis of the worldview of arguably the most consequential world leader of our era, this will be essential reading for anyone interested in how Xi is transforming both China and the international order, and, most importantly, why?

After the brief respite that followed the fall of the USSR, geopolitics and major wars are back, affecting everyone everywhere. In a world transitioning to multipolarity Great Powers jostle for supremacy, regional powers feel emboldened to act on their own ambitions, supply chains are disrupted and instability becomes the norm. America has an empire that it wants to keep, Russia lost an empire that it wants to recover and China doesn't have an empire and wants one - with India the wildcard. But there is more to it than Great Power rivalry. From Ukraine to the South China Sea, from the Middle East to Central Asia, from the Arctic to outer space Bongiovanni lays it bare in this fascinating journey across the geopolitics of our time with, in the background, de-globalization, the battle against the dollar and the new AI-driven age.

Now in its fourth edition, this highly successful global history of the twentieth century is written by four prominent international historians for first-year undergraduate level and upward.Using their thematic and regional expertise, the authors have produced an authoritative yet accessible and seamless account of the history of international relations in the last century, covering events in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. They focus on the history of relations between states and on the broad ideological, economic and cultural forces that have influenced the evolution of international politics over the last 120 years. The fourth edition is thoroughly updated to take account of the most recent research and global developments, including new material on the impact of the Trump administration on international politics, the rise of China under the leadership of Xi Jinping and the origins of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.The book is supported by a fully revised companion website including links to further resources and self-testing material, which can be found at www.routledgelearning.com/internationalhistory20c.

This book, by noted German sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer, analyses capitalist development in Western Europe, with a focus on Germany, since the 1990s and its consequences for open society and liberal democracy. Following Heitmeyer's long-term interest in extremism, this book highlights two main threads of discussion: the causes and distribution of authoritarian tendencies, and the processes and steps of escalation of these tendencies through right-wing alliances. It critically views capitalism and capitalist governance in times of crises against problems of political representation and the devaluation of certain groups. It looks at a broad spectrum of attitudes in the population on the bases of a representative longitudinal study called ‘group-focused enmity'. Using the model of a ‘concentric escalation continuum', this book also analyses the steps of differentiation and dynamization of the right-wing spectrum in the process of development of successful right-wing alliances. Heitmeyer meticulously studies how violent processes escalate and increases as a danger for the open society and liberal democracy, especially in times of crisis and unsecured future. The book has important gleanings for anyone seeking to understand and address extremism and political alienation in societies today.

Following Russia's aggressive war in Ukraine, the world is suddenly gripped by concerns over energy security. And yet, there is an even greater threat ahead – one that is much more likely to shape the events of the twenty-first century than the competition for oil or gas. The combination of an ever-increasing global population, climate change, industrialisation, urbanisation and limited natural resources means that one difficulty, above all, will shape the political, economic and security environment in the years ahead: that is water. If people and nations will fight for fossil fuels, it is nothing compared to what they will do for the most vital natural resource of all. As both a citizen who has supported water charities and worked in the NHS and a politician who has dealt with security and economic issues, Liam Fox tells the story of water and the problems it presents in a more complete way than ever before. The Coming Storm unites a range of concerns that are often written about separately but seldom together and provides a comprehensible and compelling call for urgent action.

Southeast Asian countries represent a wide range of approaches to military modernisation due to their great diversity in politics, economies, geography and other factors. Bounded by the Pacific and Indian Oceans and located between China and India is the setting for the geostrategic impacts of military modernisation in Southeast Asian countries.Differing from previous research focused on military acquisition, this book additionally covers retention of assets and carefully examines the ageing issues that affect readiness and capabilities. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive view of military modernisation. This book also compares each country's situation in the region in terms of military strength and security challenges to elaborate on the geostrategic impacts of military modernisation. The ten cases of military modernisation in the post-Cold War context provide rich content for readers to explore the evolution of military modernisation in developing countries after 1991.This book sheds light on security studies of Southeast Asia and is a useful resource for academic researchers, policy-makers and defence practitioners.

The inside story of Biden's foreign policy team and their struggle to restore America's global influence in the aftermath of TrumpWhen Joe Biden assumed the United States presidency, he brought with him a team of all-star talent, perhaps the most experienced ensemble of policy experts in modern U.S. history. Their mission: repair America's damaged reputation abroad and decide the course of its global future. The challenges and risks could not have been greater. Around the world, adversaries were consolidating power, allies were drifting away, wars were raging, and climate change was accelerating, all while Russia was disrupting democracies and China was seeking to replace the U.S. as the world's preeminent power. Now for the first time since World War II, the United States risked falling from its unrivaled position. If Biden and his team failed, it would likely mark the end of an American era and the rise of a fractured and autocratic world order. In The Internationalists, acclaimed national security reporter Alexander Ward takes us behind the scenes to reveal the struggle to enact a coherent and effective set of policies in a time of global crisis. Against the failure of Afghanistan and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Biden's all-star team-of-rivals must band together against incredible odds. Their successes, and their failures, will decide not just Biden's presidency. They will decide the very course of America's global future. As The Best and The Brightest chronicled the smoke-filled rooms of the Kennedy Administration, and The Rise of The Vulcans detailed the inner workings of George Bush's war machine, The Internationalists takes readers behind the scenes as Joe Biden and his cabinet embark on some of the most ambitious foreign policy initiatives of any president since Richard M. Nixon. Thanks to rigorous reporting and sources in the rooms where it happened, Ward delivers the first draft of history, the first definitive, unvarnished account of the Biden Doctrine, from the Fall of Kabul to the Rise of Kiev.

A powerful explanation of why geopolitical competition makes implementing effective climate change policies so difficult. As the Russia-Ukraine war has shown, great-power competition drives states to prioritize fossil fuel acquisition over working toward a zero-carbon future. In the last few years, it has become abundantly clear that the effects of accelerating climate change will be catastrophic, from rising seas to more violent storms to desertification. Yet why do nation-states find it so difficult to implement transnational policies that can reduce carbon output and slow global warming? In Oceans Rise, Empires Fall, Gerard Toal identifies geopolitics as the culprit. States would prefer to reduce emissions in the abstract, but in the great global competition for geopolitical power, states always prioritize access to carbon-based fuels necessary for generating the sort of economic growth that helps them compete with rival states. Despite what we now know about the long-term impacts of climate change, geopolitical contests continue to sideline attempts to halt or slow down the process. The Ukraine conflict in particular exposes our priorities. To escape reliance on Russia's vast oil and gas reserves, states have expanded fossil fuel production that necessarily increases the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The territorial control imperatives of great powers preclude collaborative behavior to address common challenges. Competitive territorial, resource, and technological dramas across the geopolitical chessboard currently obscure the deterioration of the planet's life support systems. In the contest between geopolitics and sustainable climate policies, the former takes precedence-especially when competition shifts to outright conflict. In this book, Toal interrogates that relationship and its stakes for the ongoing acceleration of climate change.

A wide-ranging new history of NATO, from its origins to the present day—published for the alliance's seventy-fifth anniversary For seven decades, NATO's stated aim has been the achievement of world peace—but playing great power politics always involves conflict. Russia's war on Ukraine and on Europe's security order puts the alliance under threat, but also demonstrates why transatlantic cooperation is so necessary. But how did NATO get to where it is today, and what does its future hold? In this incisive new account, Sten Rynning traces the full history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation from its origins to the present. Across its seventy-five years, NATO has navigated the twists and turns of Cold War diplomacy and nuclear deterrence, and has grown its membership. The alliance has become a guarantor of peace, but Rynning explores how its complex inner workings alongside Russian and Chinese opposition are now shaping its direction. At a time of strategic competition and geopolitical upheaval, Rynning offers us a clear-sighted account of the alliance's intriguing history—and asks what its ambitions might be for the future.

A New Politics of Heritage Reconstruction in Afghanistan investigates the politics of cultural heritage preservation in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2015.Based on several periods of ethnographic fieldwork and the author's direct employment on several internationally-sponsored heritage projects, this book studies the new and complex intersections between cultural heritage and politics in Afghanistan. Wyndham argues that a particular configuration of heritage and politics has emerged after the destruction of the Buddhas at Bamyan and demonstrates how the characteristics of this ‘post-Bamyan'heritage paradigm are revealed through a number of case studies of internationally sponsored heritage work. These case studies reveal how politics and heritage are currently configured across a diverse range of governments, state and non-state actors, NGOs, individuals and forms of expertise—and why such intersections matter. The book responds to a call from across the discipline of Heritage Studies to look more closely at the relationships between heritage, power and politics.A New Politics of Heritage Reconstruction in Afghanistan provides a fascinating case study on the intersection of heritage and politics that will be of interest to students and scholars of heritage, as well as to professionals working on heritage preservation - both within and outside of government.

With keen insight, Vox journalist Zack Beauchamp traces how a reactionary antidemocratic ethos born and bred in America has come to infect democracies around the world. There is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of American politics that has endured since our nation's birth. In The Reactionary Spirit, Zack Beauchamp explains what he calls the reactionary spirit: as strides towards true democracy are made, there is always a faction that reacts by seeking to undermine them and thereby resist change. Brilliantly combining political history and reportage, Beauchamp reveals how the United States was the birthplace of this strange and harrowing authoritarian style, and why we're now seeing its evolution in diverse nations including Hungary, Israel, and India. The Reactionary Spirit paints a vivid, alarming picture that illuminates not only what's happening to democracy globally, but also what we must do to protect it—while we still can.

“Wade Davis is a true wayfinder, and these essays offer new insight into his visionary approach to culture, landscape, and the planet he loves as fiercely as any writer working today.”—John Vaillant, author of Fire WeatherA timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, “a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer” (The Guardian).The essays in this collection came about during the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still, even as events flared on all sides in a world that never stops moving. Wade Davis brings his unique cultural perspective to such varied topics as the demonization of coca, the sacred plant of the Inca; the Great War and the birth of modernity; the British conquest of Everest; the endless conflict in the Middle East; reaching beyond climate fear and trepidation; on the meaning of the sacred. His essay, “The Unraveling of America,” first published in Rolling Stone, attracted five million readers and generated 362 million social media impressions. Media interest in the story was sustained over many weeks, with interview requests coming in from 23 countries.The anthropological lens, as Davis demonstrates, reveals what lies beneath the surface of things, allowing us to see, and to seek, the wisdom of the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope that all of the essays in this collection aspire to convey.“Wade Davis has a gift for saying the unsayable. He's a fearless explorer in the intellectual world, as in the physical. His refusal to embrace conventional wisdom on climate change, for example, and instead think through the issue for himself, is a model of independent thinking. Even when I disagree with Wade, as with some of his bleak comments about the United States, I'm grateful for his voice. We usually live on the surface of ideas when we talk about issues such as war and racism; Wade takes us far deeper.”—David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor, Washington Post

This book is a collection of essays written by Jørgen Ørstrøm Møller since 2015, which focus on the geopolitical, geoeconomics and societal developments of recent times, including the war in Ukraine, Brexit and the future of the European Union, as well as the economic trajectories of the US, China and the UK.With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US emerged as the sole superpower in a new world order. However, the rise of China in the subsequent decades has coincided with the reduced standing and power of the US.Understanding the shift in the global power balance requires an appreciation of the domestic developments in the US and China. On the one hand, the US under the Trump administration had taken a protectionist stance in its trade policies and built walls along its borders to keep out immigrants. On the other hand, the Chinese government has aggressively expanded its economy and posted high economic growth, as part of its efforts to uplift the lives of its people.With the US'economic strength in decline, how long will the incumbent superpower be able to hold on its pole position before being replaced by a challenger? This question and more are addressed in this book.

A timely book addressing the burning concerns of our times, from the excesses of capitalism to the global crisis of leadership. There is widespread agreement, across a voluble political spectrum and around the planet, that we live in times of intensifying insecurity and turmoil. If ours is an age of transition, its direction is anything but certain. Momentous transformations in ecology, geopolitics, and everyday life are shadowed by a suffocating sense of stasis. The limits to capital and the limits of nature are entangled in frightful ways, while the profoundly obsolete form of leadership, domination, and conflict exacerbate an already baleful situation. And yet struggles for liberation have not been quelled. Terms of Disorder confronts this moment by probing some of the defining terms in the modern vocabulary of emancipation, with the aim of testing their capacity to name and orient collective action set on abolishing the present state of things. Ranging from communism to leadership, the eleven keywords addressed in this book provide a set of interlocking points of entry into the common task of forging a political language capable of navigating our disorientation. If, as Gramsci famously noted, the interregnum is a time when the new struggles to be born while the old order is moribund, we may wish to heed Cedric Robinson's call to “choose wisely among the dying.”

This is a comprehensive book series that comprises two distinct yet interconnected volumes. Volume I focuses on international relations and global politics, while Volume II delves into social sciences and humanities studies. Both volumes revolve around the central theme of the COVID-19 pandemic era, exploring its profound impact on various aspects of the world. In Volume I, scholars, and experts in the field of international relations delve into the intricate dynamics of global politics in the context of the pandemic. They analyse the shifting power dynamics, the role of international organisations, the challenges to global governance, and the geopolitical implications of the crisis. This book provides valuable insights into how the pandemic has shaped and transformed the international system, influencing state behaviour, diplomatic relations, and global cooperation. Volume II takes a multidisciplinary approach, examining the social, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions ofthe COVID-19 pandemic. Experts from the fields of social sciences and humanities contribute their research and perspectives, offering critical analyses of the pandemic's effects on societies, communities, individuals, and various aspects of human life. Together, these two volumes provide a comprehensive exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on world politics, society, and human experiences. By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book series offers a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by this unprecedented global crisis. It serves as a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and anyone seeking to comprehend and navigate the complexities of the COVID-19 era.

This is a comprehensive book series that comprises two distinct yet interconnected volumes. Volume I focuses on international relations and global politics, while Volume II delves into social sciences and humanities studies. Both volumes revolve around the central theme of the COVID-19 pandemic era, exploring its profound impact on various aspects of the world. In Volume I, scholars, and experts in the field of international relations delve into the intricate dynamics of global politics in the context of the pandemic. They analyse the shifting power dynamics, the role of international organisations, the challenges to global governance, and the geopolitical implications of the crisis. This book provides valuable insights into how the pandemic has shaped and transformed the international system, influencing state behaviour, diplomatic relations, and global cooperation. Volume II takes a multidisciplinary approach, examining the social, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions ofthe COVID-19 pandemic. Experts from the fields of social sciences and humanities contribute their research and perspectives, offering critical analyses of the pandemic's effects on societies, communities, individuals, and various aspects of human life. Together, these two volumes provide a comprehensive exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on world politics, society, and human experiences. By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book series offers a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by this unprecedented global crisis. It serves as a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and anyone seeking to comprehend and navigate the complexities of the COVID-19 era.

This insightful and timely book explores the complexity and resilience of the discourse on economic constitutionalism over a period of heightened economic and political turbulence since the economic crisis of 2008 and Brexit, and its continuous relevance despite the Covid-19 public health crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Providing a sustained and comprehensive analysis of the concept of economic constitutionalism in European and global governance, this book evaluates the origins, functions, and normative elements of economic constitutionalism, placing the discussion within contemporary theoretical frameworks. Chapters explore the protection of fundamental rights under the new economic governance of the Eurozone, the constitutionalization of the internal market, and the relationship between international judicial authority, social systems, and geoeconomics. Bringing together scholars with expertise in international and European law, the book examines recent case studies including the EU internal market, WTO law, the CETA, and the ICJ. Offering a variety of legal and theoretical perspectives, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars in constitutional and administrative law, European and international economic law, global governance studies, and trade law. It will also be beneficial for political scientists and sociology theorists looking to gain an understanding of the legal foundations of economic constitutionalism.

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China specialist based in Hong Kong, provides an overview of “Thucydides'Trap,” as coined by political scientist Graham Allison to describe the inescapable conflict between Beijing and Washington. Is China's growing power a threat to the United States? Could it lead to war between the two nations? Economically and militarily stronger, and more nationalist than ever, the People's Republic of China is increasingly tempted to use force to assert its power, especially in its immediate region. First, the author considers the factors around the threat of war, specifically on the Chinese side, then presents the three most likely armed conflict scenarios: around Taiwan; in the South China Sea; or in the Senkaku Islands under Japanese control. Cabestan also analyses the tensions between China and India along their common borders, which were revived in 2020.But the most likely scenario, according to Cabestan, would be a rapid, piecemeal attack, aimed at tearing borders apart or defending vested interests – not to mention increased cyber warfare. It could also manifest itself as the emergence of a new type of cold war, punctuated by crises bordering on either a nuclear strike or the use of new weapons. U.S.-Chinese tensions and the many potential fronts on which they could elevate are a conflict-in-waiting which will weigh on the 21st century and dominate international life as China seeks to become entrenched as a dominant world power.

How the history of liberal order and democratic politics since the 1930s explains ongoing threats to democracy and international order The liberal democratic order that seemed so stable in North America and Western Europe has become precarious. James E. Cronin argues that liberalism has never been secure and that since the 1930s the international order has had to be crafted, redeployed, and extended in response to both victories and setbacks. Beginning with the German and Japanese efforts in the 1930s to establish a system based on empire, race, economic protectionism, and militant nationalism, Cronin shows how the postwar system, established out of a revulsion at the ideas of fascism, repeatedly reinvented itself in the face of the Cold War, anticolonial insurgencies, the economic and political crises of the 1970s, the collapse of communism, the rise of globalization, and the financial crisis of 2008. Cronin emphasizes the links between internal and external politics in sustaining liberal order internationally and the domestic origins and correlates of present difficulties. Fragile Victory provides the context necessary to understand such diverse challenges as the triumph of Brexit, the election of Trump, the rise of populism, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Megatrends of World Politics identifies globalization, integration, and democratization as three key trends shaping the future of world politics and international relations, and demonstrates their effects in today's global processes.The authors of this book discuss the essence of these three megatrends of world politics, describing their dynamic and non-linear development, and exploring how they manifest themselves. Assessing megatrends of world politics makes it possible to predict further global political development. The authors proceed from several assumptions: (1) megatrends are global – they operate everywhere around the globe, although with different intensity and in diverse forms; (2) they influence and sometimes generate a variety of other trends in today's world politics; and (3) megatrends are political. The three megatrends — globalization, integration, and democratization — are identified and justified based on these three parameters, then the authors analyze the influence and manifestation of megatrends in various spheres of world politics, including terrorism, transregionalism, communication technologies, migration, pandemics, and subnational regions.This book will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of international relations and adjacent fields who are studying the trajectories of global development, globalization, integration, and democratization.

We współczesnym świecie zdominowanym przez rozwój technologiczny granice pomiędzy obszarami geograficznymi, państwami i kulturami zdają się zacierać oraz przybierać umowny charakter. Jednocześnie przywiązanie do określonej przestrzeni zmusza nas do odpowiedzi na pytanie o jej zakres, ramy czy zmiany. W publikacji Granice i obszary wpływów w polityce wewnętrznej i relacjach międzynarodowych młodzi badacze i badaczki analizują rezultaty oddziaływania politycznego i społecznego, bazując na przykładach pochodzących z różnych kręgów kulturowych. Badane wpływy dotyczą najważniejszych zjawisk zachodzących obecnie w polityce międzynarodowej, problemu terroryzmu, dezinformacji czy walki o prawa człowieka.

Making Endless War is built on the premise that any attempt to understand how the content and function of the laws of war changed in the second half of the twentieth century should consider two major armed conflicts, fought on opposite edges of Asia, and the legal pathways that link them together across time and space. The Vietnam and Arab-Israeli conflicts have been particularly significant in the shaping and attempted remaking of international law from 1945 right through to the present day. This carefully curated collection of essays by lawyers, historians, philosophers, sociologists, and political geographers of war explores the significance of these two conflicts, including their impact on the politics and culture of the world's most powerful nation, the United States of America. The volume foregrounds attempts to develop legal rationales for the continued waging of war after 1945 by moving beyond explaining the end of war as a legal institution, and toward understanding the attempted institutionalization of endless war.

This book argues that the world order is no longer unipolar, and the war in Ukraine proves this fact. As this study describes and theorizes, it has been transformed into a Multipolar World Order 2.0 stage. This title critically examines Chinese, US, Russian, EU, Indian, and a number of other powers'cooperation and competition over security, diplomatic, economic and cyberspace issues.Accomplished scholars from various regions of the Eurasian continent consider the impact of the Russo–Ukrainian war, the Sino–Russian strategic partnership, China's relations with the United States and the European Union, the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Eurasian Economic Union, China's policies in the Middle East, Central Asia, Indo-Asia Pacific, the South Caucasus, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as focus on details of growing contradictions and collaboration in the Eurasian continent over markets, technologies, digital leadership, vaccine distribution, and financial institutions in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0.Showing that the US-centred unipolar world order is replaced by Multipolar World Order 2.0 where conflicting powers fight to keep or extend their spheres of influence, this volume is of great interest to decision makers, diplomats, scholars and students of international relations, politics, global governance, Eurasian studies, Chinese studies, cybersecurity, and economics, and for those studying human security, international organizations, and geopolitics.

Ce 3ème titre de la série « Pour une politique de la vie » est un kaléidoscope mettant en scène les désastres, les mensonges et quelques pistes de survie pour Homo Sapiens et pour la vie sur Terre. Avec ce dernier opus, l'auteur lance un appel aux esprits de gauche et, au-delà, aux hommes et aux femmes de France et d'ailleurs. Il appelle à se détourner des polémiques subalternes pour se concentrer sur l'essentiel. Et c'est déjà beaucoup. L'essentiel, c'est le féminisme actif, le soutien aux Iraniennes, la planification écologique, la refondation de l'ONU, une vigilance accrue envers l'intelligence artificielle et ses super-robots. Gilbert Dalgalian explique le lien entre la non-déstalinisation de la Russie et l'émergence de Poutine. Il dévoile les ressorts intimes des totalitarismes religieux et pointe du doigt la montée persistante des fascismes dans le monde. Il alerte sur les menaces lourdes qui pèsent sur les populations arméniennes du Haut-Karabagh et d'Arménie. Et surtout, dans ce journal de bord, l'auteur réhabilite l'utopie : ce n'est pas la chimère que beaucoup ont prétendu, mais l'invention de solutions inédites face à des cataclysmes sans précédent.

This collaborative work brings together international lawyers and political scientists to explore whether and how the retreat of the US, and the simultaneous rise of China, affect the dynamics of multilateralism to which the EU claims to adhere. It focuses on the trilateral interaction between these three actors and the policy impact their interactions have in specific multilateral settings and examines cooperation, competition and confrontation of these three actors in key international organizations such as the WTO, UNESCO, Human Rights Council and UNCLOS, NATO, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the World Health Organization in times of Covid-19. It also addresses their approaches and attitudes toward international humanitarian norms and the peace process in the Middle-East.This book offers an insightful exploration of the future of multilateralism under the impact of the Trump administration and probes the future of the liberal international order. It will provide excellent reading material on current affairs for both graduate and undergraduate students in international law and international relations, in particular for courses relating to international organization, multilateralism, or the US, China and the EU in international affairs. For experienced researchers the book proposes in-depth studies that relate to major debates in the disciplines of international law and international relations.

One of the world's most seasoned international relations experts updates and revises his far-sighted 1999 book arguing that the Cold War did not, in fact, end with the collapse of the USSR – and that the US, Russia and China today are locked anew in a spiral of hostilities.

A timely and compelling argument for a revitalized and restructured global politics The future seems increasingly uncertain. Our democracies are failing to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war—so how can we look to the future with confidence? Jan Zielonka argues that it is democracy's shortsightedness that makes politics stumble in our increasingly connected world. With our governments still confined to the borders of nation-states, defending the short-term interests of present-day voters, the consequences for future generations are dire. In this incisive account, Zielonka makes a bold case for a new politics of time and space. He considers how democracy should adjust to the world of high speed, and he questions our everyday experiences as citizens: Is it acceptable for authorities and firms to monitor our whereabouts? Why is the distribution of time and space so unequal? And, most crucially, can we construct a new system of governance that will allow us to plan ahead with certainty?

This book explores why there is a major war again in Europe. Putin's actions need to be understood if not forgiven. With the Ukraine conflict increasingly seen as a proxy war of NATO versus Russia, how likely is the fighting to spread?The author, a highly respected journalist and political commentator, explains why Russia invaded a sovereign neighbour. To what extent did NATO's expansion to Russia's borders in the aftermath of the Cold War provoke Putin? Did the West's recent humiliating defeats in the Middle East and South Asia encourage Putin to exploit what he saw as its decadent strategic weakness and lack of resolve? What were the reasons for Russia's savage behaviour in Ukraine? How might the Ukraine war end and what will the post-bellum world look like?The war in Ukraine has had worldwide impact with cost of living, food and energy crises and raised the risk of nuclear Armageddon by accident or intent so this book has universal appeal; not just to military buffs. It examines the complex military and political issues in layman's language while the story is told as a compelling historical narrative.Professor Moorcraft, who has worked in Ukraine and has witnessed Russian troops in action in Afghanistan and other theatres, is superbly qualified to write this work.

The present study of destabilizing forces and resilience in the current global crisis, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, is a combination of global comparisons and a study of the Middle East. The non-Muslim countries that voted for the resolution on Ukraine in the General Assembly represented only 31% of the world's population, while the Muslim countries that voted for the resolution on Ukraine represented 12.38% of the world's population. With the current shifts in global energy supplies, the Gulf countries have increased their share of Western energy supplies, making the interdependencies in global politics and global energy greater than ever before. A realistic study of the destabilizing forces and resilience in the current global crisis must therefore be based on a combination of global comparisons and a Middle East survey. Our analysis of resilience in the Middle East is based on the methodology of international politics and intelligence studies, which is widely used in the literature. Our assessment of global resilience is based on open data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey, the first comprehensive, empirical and multivariate study of global resilience, covering more than 5 billion global inhabitants, representing about 66% of the world's population, in 88 countries and territories, collected between 2017 and 2022. These high-quality, representative social science survey data, based on excellent sampling techniques and large samples, were analyzed in our research using IBM SPSS Version 29 multivariate statistical software. For the first time in the global literature, we analyze, among others, very recent data on the willingness to fight for the country in the context of a multivariate factor analytic model that uses a great number of dimensions from our multivariate data to contextualize global willingness to fight for the country. Our study also compares the performance of Russia and Ukraine according to the sub-components of our parametric factor analytical index of resilience, and also shows how the differences in performance between the two countries are structured. Russia has an advantage in the subcomponent trust, in the subcomponent absence of xenophobia and racism, in the subcomponent satisfaction and happiness of the population, in the subcomponent willingness to fight for one's country, and in the subcomponent acceptance of egalitarian needs by the higher social classes, while Ukraine has a clear advantage in the subcomponent acceptance of gender justice, in the subcomponent no demoralization, and in the subcomponent respect for human life. We undertake a similarly structured comparison for resilience in the People's Republic of China and the United States. There, China is ahead on the trust sub-component, on the acceptance of redistribution by the upper classes, on the Calvinist work ethic, on the willingness to defend, on the respect for human life, on the support for social liberal democracy, on the absence of demoralization and on the happiness of the population. Quite a clear advantage over the United States! Our analysis also holds dire predictions for the ability of the Western world to maintain the level of support it has hitherto given to the Ukraine. We also calculated the partial correlation of global support for Vladimir Putin, holding constant the Human Development Index in 2018 and the square of the Human Development Index, also in 2018. The highest positive statistical relationship with support for Putin is with an economy's dependence on CO2 emissions.

A coruscating analysis of current international relations, setting out the dangers the world will face if the West does not succeed in reinventing itself. The West is under pressure, and it has only itself to blame. Over the past thirty years, through a mixture of naivety and arrogance, it has lost its global advantage. The challenges are profound: the rise of China, climate change, and the polarisation of society. It's time for a new start: modernity must become sustainable if it is to survive. The triumph of the West had seemed unstoppable not that long ago. After the end of the Cold War, the democratic market economy took hold in the former Eastern Bloc, Russia went from being an enemy to a partner, and even China turned to capitalism. Then came the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that shook the world. The War on Terror destabilised an entire region; the Arab Spring only brought forth new autocracies; and, following the annexation of Crimea, the confrontation with Russia intensified. Instead of a liberal world order, a new world disorder has emerged. Peter R. Neumann, an internationally acclaimed expert on terrorism and geopolitics, uncovers the mistakes that led to our present dire situation and outlines what must happen now.

Old friends--one a Jew, the other a Christian--Leonard (Lenny) Grob and John K. Roth are philosophers who have long studied the Holocaust. That experience makes us anxious about democracy, because we are also Americans living in perilous times. The 2020s remind us of the 1930s when Nazis destroyed democracy in Germany. Carnage followed. In the 2020s, Donald Trump and his followers endanger democracy in the United States. With Vladimir Putin's ruthless assault against Ukraine compounding the difficulties, democracy must not be taken for granted. Americans love democracy--except when we don't. That division and conflict mean that democracy will be on the ballot in the 2024 American elections. Probing the prospects, Warnings: The Holocaust, Ukraine, and Endangered American Democracy features exchanges between us that underscore the most urgent threats to democracy in the United States and show how to resist them. What's most needed is ethical patriotism that urges us Americans to be our best selves. Our best selves defend liberal democracy; they strive for inclusive pluralism. Our best selves resist decisions and policies like those that led to the Holocaust or genocidal war in Ukraine or conspiracies to overturn fair and free elections in the United States. Our best selves reject antisemitism and racism; they oppose hypocrisy and autocracy. Our best selves hold lying leaders accountable. Our best selves believe that, against all odds, democracy can win out if we never give up trying to be our best.

This book details how Russia's February 2022 open invasion of Ukraine has led to the biggest military conflagration and refugee crisis in Europe since World War II—a development with global ramifications. Co-written by a leading Western political expert, with three decades of research on contemporary Ukraine, and a prolific British journalist, the book explains why Russian President Vladimir Putin has been long obsessed with Ukraine and how his reliance on dated nationalist myths as well as anti-Western xenophobia led him to miscalculate Ukrainian and Western reactions to his brazen aggression against a sovereign country and founding member of the United Nations since 1945. Taras Kuzio and Stefan Jajecznyk-Kelman analyze how Putin's blunders have led to the collapse of Russia's Eurasian sphere of influence, to the growth of China's presence in Russia's backyard in Central Asia, and to conditions for the toppling of Putin's regime. The book focuses on: - the roots of Putin's obsession with Ukraine and the genocidal policies his army is pursuing through war crimes, deportations of millions of Ukrainians as well as destruction of property and infrastructure, - why the supposed ‘second biggest army in the world'is being defeated by Ukraine, a country Russian nationalists argue is fictitious, and by a Ukrainian people they claim does not exist, - how Ukraine is fighting a people's war with a nation-wide volunteer movement, civil society, and international supporters who are backing the Ukrainian army through fund raising, purchasing of supplies and military equipment, such as drones, and through an ‘IT Army'fighting Russia's invasion in cyber space and the hacking of Russian media, - how the invasion is having profound negative implications for Russian-Ukrainian relations and why in breaking from Moscow, Ukraine is again the key actor—as it was in 1991—in the disintegration of the Soviet and Russian empires, and - how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to global crises in economic growth, trade, and finances, as well as to changing geopolitical alliances, with the decline of Russia creating a vacuum that allows for the rise of China.

An authoritative, incisive explanation of the causes and current status of hostilities around the world.The world today rests on increasingly unstable fault lines. From the conflict in Ukraine or fresh upheavals in the Middle East to the threats posed to humanity by a global pandemic, climate change, and natural disasters, the world's danger zones once again draw their battle lines across our hyper-connected, yet fragmented, globe. In this revised and updated fourth edition, join veteran Economist journalist John Andrews as he analyzes the old enmities and looming collisions that underlie conflict in the twenty-first century. Region by region, discover the causes, contexts, participants, and likely outcomes of every globally significant struggle now underway. From drug cartels to cyber war, this is the indispensable guide for anyone who wants to understand our perilous world.

It's time for America to get back in the international leadership game.What should our global strategy look like in an age of renewed great power competition? And what must America offer to a newly empowered developing world when we're no longer the only major player? In The American Imperative, international development expert Daniel Runde makes the case for building a new global consensus through vigorous internationalism and the judicious use of soft power. Runde maps out many of the steps that we need to take––primarily in the non-military sphere––to ensure an alliance of stable and secure, like-minded, self-reliant partner nations in order to prevent rising authoritarian powers such as China from running the world.

How can we better relate and respond to the political times we inhabit? Temporal relationships play a central role in the questions at the heart of global politics, but political commentators and observers focus almost exclusively on the past as a means of predicting and preparing for the future. Christopher McIntosh argues that, although past events are meaningful for our collective future, the present remains vitally important. McIntosh emphasises the importance of the present as a conceptual resource and analytical category for thinking about international politics. The present, he suggests, places an orientation toward difference and a recognition of the human limits of understanding alongside an emphasis on process and change. This book will shift current thinking about prediction and better enable the use of knowledge about international politics to meaningfully and positively intervene in present-day concerns.

The possibility of a nuclear war that could destroy civilization has influenced the course of international affairs since 1945, suspended like a sword of Damocles above the heads of the world's leaders. The fact that we have escaped a third world war involving strategic nuclear weapons—indeed, that no atomic weapon of limited power has yet been used under battlefield conditions—seems nothing short of a miracle. Revisiting debates on the effectiveness and ethics of nuclear deterrence, Jean-Pierre Dupuy is led to reformulate some of the most difficult questions in philosophy. He develops a counterintuitive but powerful theory of apocalyptic prophecy: once a major catastrophe appears to be possible, one must assume that it will in fact occur. Dupuy shows that the contradictions and paradoxes riddling discussions of deterrence arise from the tension between two opposite conceptions of time: one in which the future depends on decisions and strategy, and another in which every occurring event is one that could not have failed to occur. Considering the immense destructive power of nuclear warheads and the almost unimaginable ruin they are bound to cause, Dupuy reaches a provocative conclusion: whether they bring about good or evil does not depend on the present or future intentions of those who are in a position to use them. The mere possession of nuclear weapons is a moral abomination.

This book reflects on the reasons for the decline of international cooperation in world politics and studies ways to restore legitimacy in the international order. It engages with the concept of legitimacy in international relations theories and practices to examine the discussions around power shifts, the decline of liberalism, demands for inclusive international architectures, and challenges to multilateralism, as well as established norms by leaders and nationalisms. It studies the impact of the post-COVID-19 world order on the nature of power in the international system and changes in normative concerns of security. The volume also interrogates political legitimacy through an area studies lens by examining the concept of legitimacy separately in the USA, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.An important and timely text featuring contributions from eminent scholars, this book will be of use to students and researchers of modern history, political science, and international relations. It will also be of interest to think tanks and policy-making bodies concerned with international affairs and foreign policy.