International relations Books

Book SynopsisEverybody these days needs to know about international relations, because their workings shape all our lives. This book, explaining the particular significance of the international level of world politics, offers a comprehensive, accessible, and challenging overview of what is at stake, and what you need to know.World politics can be understood, simply, as Who Gets What, Where and How? (globally) to borrow a title from a famous old book by Harold Lasswell. International relations are a critical level in that business of determining who gets what across the world. Decisive things take place at the international level, and they directly or indirectly affect all our lives: war, trade, and the provision (or not) of human rights for example. This is why the practice of international relations matter. The reason academic International Relations matter is because it is the subject that asks the most fundamental questions about the politics of who gets what and how, and i

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Trade ReviewShilliam writes with the precision of a historian, chronicling key players’ activities and historical events ... Through detailed, historicized descriptions and narratives of Maori activism, and Shilliam’s own insightful analysis connecting Black Power with Maori mana motuhake in Black peoples’ and the Pacific’s shared struggles against colonialism, the reader finds a nuanced history and accounts of a universal struggle for self-determination that has brought Maori placement forward in New Zealand’s society today. * Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies *Black Pacific aims to decolonize the subaltern not only from the imperial center but also other subalterns. In this way, Shilliam identifies the logical next step after anti-colonial politics: that is, decolonial science. * L.H.M. Ling, Associate Professor, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, The New School, USA *The Black Pacific is a life changing work of love. Shilliam makes a brilliant contribution to scholarship while still appealing to a more general audience. Constructing an amazing archive of texts and story telling of Maori and Pasifika peoples and practices, he articulates a decolonial science as an approach of repairing colonial wounds. By affirming the knowledge and living traditions of Maori and Pasifika, Shilliam shows their embeddedness in particular locales and their simultaneous connection with each other and proffering of general principles of engagement without laying claim to abstracted universals. If you haven't read The Black Pacific yet, drop everything, and read it now! * Anna M. Agathangelou, Associate Professor of Political Science at York University, Canada *This is a creative and important contribution to the study of decolonial world politics and a solid exploration of the spiritual hinterlands where Black Power meets Maori struggles. The poetic dimension of the narrative contributes to an energizing reading experience. * Teivo Teivainen, Professor of World Politics, University of Helsinki, Finland *The Black Pacific will change the way we think of colonial science and resistance to its historical projects. This exquisite book is decolonial thought at its finest. An exceptional achievement. * Mustapha Kamal Pasha, Chair in International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction; Ki te Ao Marama; Prophecy and Signs; At the Crossroads; Weaving the Struggles; Redemption Soon Come; Bibliography; Index.

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Trade ReviewShilliam writes with the precision of a historian, chronicling key players’ activities and historical events ... Through detailed, historicized descriptions and narratives of Maori activism, and Shilliam’s own insightful analysis connecting Black Power with Maori mana motuhake in Black peoples’ and the Pacific’s shared struggles against colonialism, the reader finds a nuanced history and accounts of a universal struggle for self-determination that has brought Maori placement forward in New Zealand’s society today. * Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies *Black Pacific aims to decolonize the subaltern not only from the imperial center but also other subalterns. In this way, Shilliam identifies the logical next step after anti-colonial politics: that is, decolonial science. * L.H.M. Ling, Associate Professor, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, The New School, USA *The Black Pacific is a life changing work of love. Shilliam makes a brilliant contribution to scholarship while still appealing to a more general audience. Constructing an amazing archive of texts and story telling of Maori and Pasifika peoples and practices, he articulates a decolonial science as an approach of repairing colonial wounds. By affirming the knowledge and living traditions of Maori and Pasifika, Shilliam shows their embeddedness in particular locales and their simultaneous connection with each other and proffering of general principles of engagement without laying claim to abstracted universals. If you haven't read The Black Pacific yet, drop everything, and read it now! * Anna M. Agathangelou, Associate Professor of Political Science at York University, Canada *This is a creative and important contribution to the study of decolonial world politics and a solid exploration of the spiritual hinterlands where Black Power meets Maori struggles. The poetic dimension of the narrative contributes to an energizing reading experience. * Teivo Teivainen, Professor of World Politics, University of Helsinki, Finland *The Black Pacific will change the way we think of colonial science and resistance to its historical projects. This exquisite book is decolonial thought at its finest. An exceptional achievement. * Mustapha Kamal Pasha, Chair in International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction; Ki te Ao Marama; Prophecy and Signs; At the Crossroads; Weaving the Struggles; Redemption Soon Come; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisPeo Hansen is Professor in the Institute for Research in Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO), Linköping University, Sweden.Stefan Jonsson is Professor of Ethnic Studies at Linköping University, Sweden.Trade ReviewEurafrica is a very timely book on an important topic. While stressing continuity across the twentieth century and cataloguing Eurafrican projects in an accessible and useful manner, it shows that colonies played a much more important role in the thinking about European cooperation than is generally acknowledged. * Anne-Isabelle Richard, Journal of Global History *A powerful essay ... Hansen and Jonsson are to be commending for having written a book on European integration that will be of interest to scholars both of postcolonial studies as well as of modern European history in general. * H-Soz-Kult online *It is not often that one reads a work of academic history that has both interpretative value and policy relevance, as Peo Hansen and Stefan Jonsson’s Eurafrica does. …[This] splendid book rightly dwells upon the ambiguous legacy of the concept of Eurafrica for the process of European integration. * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *Hansen and Jonsson’s exceptional study Eurafrica ... is invaluable in recovering the imperial history of Europe qua Europe. * Sociology *[A] wide-ranging and carefully researched book ... The authors are to be commended for their extensive research. * The European Legacy *A roseate glimmer of postwar peace attaches to 'Europe' - the fake continent and the organization of states that is said metonymically to stand for it. Hansen and Jonsson uncover something altogether different in the formation of the European project, something either unknown or papered over in embarrassed silence: Eurafrica. The colonial ideology, morphing into the neo-colonial here, is nothing less than astonishing. * Anders Stephanson, Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Professor of History, Columbia University, USA *[...] the work Eurafrica offers a very valuable contribution to the thorough knowledge and full understanding of the bond existing between decolonization and europeanisation processes. Based on a wide range of sources, it provides a general overview of the origins, motivations, forms and means of EC cooperation policies and illuminates the denseness of themes, controversies and approaches covered in research. In this way it advances knowledge about the debate on the “centrality of colonial legacy in early blueprints for European Integration” and provides a good fact finding of the state of the research in the field. * Jean-Marie Palayret, former Director of the Historical Archives of the European Union, European University Institute, Florence *Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface 1. Introduction: The Past that Europe Forgot 2. A Holy Alliance of Colonising Powers: The Interwar Period 3. Making Europe in Africa: The First Postwar Decade 4. The Eurafrican Relaunch: The Rome Treaty Negotiations, 1955–1957 5. Conclusion: Ending Colonialism by Securing its Continuation Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis manuscript examines Sino-North Africa relations on a bilateral level since World War II. It highlights the depth of China's involvement in the region with each country on a five dimensional approach: energy security, trade relations, political relations, arms sales/security cooperation, and cultural relations. Regarding each of these criteria, North Africa holds a strategic significance to China's national security, vital interests, territorial integrity, sovereignty, regime survival, and economic prosperity. China has been an integral part of the political developments on North Africa political scene since the early 1950s. It has supported the region's quest for independence and national liberation, exchanged diplomatic recognition, and established political partnerships. Apparently, the peoples of the North Africa and Africa at large are enthusiastic about China's increasingly involved role. However, China's heavy involvement in the continent's oil sector, minerals, fisheries, cTable of ContentsChapter One: China and North Africa: An Overview Chapter Two: China and Algeria Chapter Three: China and Egypt Chapter Four: China and Libya Chapter Five: China and Mauritania Chapter Six: China and Morocco Chapter Seven: China and The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Chapter Eight: China and South Sudan Chapter Nine: China and Sudan Chapter Ten: China and Tunisia Chapter Eleven: Prospectus and Conclusions

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Book SynopsisReality is made up of the Absolute and Causality. The absolute (most saliently philosophized about by Georg Hegel) is where normative values inhere. Causality can be described as the measurable effects of the normative values of the absolute and the laws of physics (also ostensibly a product of the absolute). Humans are special insofar as they access the higher aspects of the Absolute altruism, compassion, love, humor, science, engineering, etc. The Absolute also contains what can be considered the less attractive values or impulses: greed, lust for power, hate, self-centeredness, conceit, etc. Predicating society on what I deem the lower (spirits) aspects of the absolute (most prominently, greed) results in personal, social dysfunction and ultimately the end of civilization. Conversely, a society based on justice is stable and vibrant. Justice is a classless society, free of gender and ethnic biases. My argument is based on popular culture especially the Star Trek franchise. One impTrade ReviewPopular Culture and the Political Values of Neoliberalism is an interesting study that illustrates how people can gain an analytical understanding of political reasons through art. * VoegelinView *Dr. Gonzalez’s work serves as an extraordinarily capacious yet succinct guide to political philosophy that uses Star Trek and other popular culture texts as a base and an allegorical framework. -- David Greven, author of Gender and Sexuality in Star TrekGeorge Gonzalez has written a thought provoking ideological analysis of widely watched television series such as Star Trek, House of Cards, Black List, and Breaking Bad to document how popular culture has narrated the decline of U.S. democracy and the rise of authoritarian neoliberalism over the last 25 years. Gonzalez’s book directly challenges previous scholarly writing on the topic. He not only debunks widely accepted (and misguided) interpretations of these television series, but he demonstrates that serious political theory can be excavated from popular culture and intellectuals who denigrate it miss an important aspect of how ideology is conveyed and criticized in otherwise quotidian outlets. He uses Star Trek in particular to articulate a realistic alternative future based on a classless, egalitarian, democratic, and post-scarcity form of communism. -- Clyde W. Barrow, University of Texas, Rio Grande ValleyTable of ContentsChapter One:Capitalism and the AbsoluteChapter Two:Analytic Philosophy and Star TrekChapter Three: Abraham Lincoln as GlobalistChapter Four:The Politics of Race and Class Oppression in Star TrekChapter Five:Popular Culture on Good, Evil, and Post Traumatic Stress DisorderChapter Six: Clones and the Politics of the Mind in Star Wars and Star TrekChapter Seven: Art as Knowledge: Who Leads the American World SystemChapter Eight: Popular Culture and Trump Politics

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Book SynopsisIn War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism, Alan Dershowitz—#1 New York Times bestselling author and one of America’s most respected legal scholars—explains why the horrific attack of Oct 7 and Israel’s just response changes everything. It has changed the relationship between Israel and the United States, especially with regard to the possibility of direct American intervention. It has required Israel to consider its nuclear option as a last resort to assure its survival. It has revealed dangerous attitudes among America’s future leaders on today’s college campuses toward Israel’s possible destruction. It has exposed media biases that have been exacerbated with Israel’s vulnerabilities. It has united Israelis and Jews around the world as never before, despite the deep divisions among them politically, religiously, and ideologically. Nothing will ever be the same. It has clouded the future of peace between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors and has diminished the proposals for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It has made predictions about the future of the region nearly impossible, except that imposing instability is inevitable. In this short book, Dershowitz analyzes these transforming events and suggests how to move forward.

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Book SynopsisThere are currently many books and articles that look at aspects of gender or race and international relations but none that embrace a broad intersectional approach (in terms of both gender and race that goes beyond a postcolonial perspective) to the study of the field. After introducing the approach, Kaufman and Williams then proceed through critical issues in international relations and the ways in which an intersectional approach that examines race, gender, class, ethnicity, and power can help us arrive at better explanations for these IR issues. The approach in this text builds on what many of the feminist IR theorists called for to address traditional issues such as security and war. Feminist IR theorists, led by scholars such as Ann Tickner and Cynthia Enloe, asked the question Where are the women? as a guiding principle. Feminist approaches to IR have been a part of the field for decades, but it is only fairly recently that students of IR have broadened the approach to the field to incorporate the dimensions of race, ethnicity, and class as well as gender. Thus, we ask questions like: How does gender matter for understanding war and peace? How does race matter? Where are the men? What is intersectionality in IR? How does an intersectional approach change/broaden our understanding of international relations?

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Book SynopsisThere are currently many books and articles that look at aspects of gender or race and international relations but none that embrace a broad intersectional approach (in terms of both gender and race that goes beyond a postcolonial perspective) to the study of the field. After introducing the approach, Kaufman and Williams then proceed through critical issues in international relations and the ways in which an intersectional approach that examines race, gender, class, ethnicity, and power can help us arrive at better explanations for these IR issues. The approach in this text builds on what many of the feminist IR theorists called for to address traditional issues such as security and war. Feminist IR theorists, led by scholars such as Ann Tickner and Cynthia Enloe, asked the question Where are the women? as a guiding principle. Feminist approaches to IR have been a part of the field for decades, but it is only fairly recently that students of IR have broadened the approach to the field to incorporate the dimensions of race, ethnicity, and class as well as gender. Thus, we ask questions like: How does gender matter for understanding war and peace? How does race matter? Where are the men? What is intersectionality in IR? How does an intersectional approach change/broaden our understanding of international relations?

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Book SynopsisThis book represents the very first comprehensive work that examines Korea-US-China trilateral relations through a strategic triangular lens. It moves beyond conventional discussions of bilateral ties to provide an in-depth analysis of the complexity, conflict, and economic interdependence characterizing the relationships among these three nations.This book takes a fascinating approach by delving into how Xi Jinping''s personality and traits influence China''s decision-making and, in turn, affect the trilateral relationship between Korea, the U.S., and China. This angle is particularly compelling because it personalizes international relations, grounding geopolitical shifts and strategies in the individual characteristics of a key world leader. By examining Xi Jinping''s personal impact, this book can offer insights that differ from traditional analyses focused more on economic or military metrics. This unique perspective could indeed attract readers interested in understanding the nuanced ways in which individual leadership styles impact global politics.

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Book SynopsisThis book represents the very first comprehensive work that examines Korea-US-China trilateral relations through a strategic triangular lens. It moves beyond conventional discussions of bilateral ties to provide an in-depth analysis of the complexity, conflict, and economic interdependence characterizing the relationships among these three nations.This book takes a fascinating approach by delving into how Xi Jinping''s personality and traits influence China''s decision-making and, in turn, affect the trilateral relationship between Korea, the U.S., and China. This angle is particularly compelling because it personalizes international relations, grounding geopolitical shifts and strategies in the individual characteristics of a key world leader. By examining Xi Jinping''s personal impact, this book can offer insights that differ from traditional analyses focused more on economic or military metrics. This unique perspective could indeed attract readers interested in understanding the nuanced ways in which individual leadership styles impact global politics.

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Book SynopsisEvery American needs to understand the threat to America's safety and prosperity posed by China's reemergence as a world power. Unlike our other economic and military rivals, China is the only country big enough and with enough human resources to compete with us everywhere in the world. From the point of view of Beijing, China has a long history of dominating the world, and the past century of Western dominance is only a temporary blip.Their strategy to overtake America involves using spying, extortion, lawsuits, economic infiltration, intellectual property theft, propaganda and sabotage to weaken the United States and strengthen China. Gingrich's research will show that it is clear Chinese leaders are following this strategy to the letter, and that it is working as planned.It is possible for America to respond to the Chinese effort but doing so will require many big changes and hard choices for our leaders in government and private sector. That is why it is vital to build an understanding of the China challenge so there is consensus and political support to be what must be done.Newt Gingrich's TRUMP VS CHINA will serve as a rallying cry for the American people and a plan of action for our leaders in government and the private sector. Written in a language that every American can understand, but still rich in detail and accurate in fact, TRUMP VS CHINA will lay out China's multi-pronged attack against the United States and what we must do to combat it.

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Book Synopsis Can good governance be exported? International development assistance is more frequently being applied to strengthening governance in developing countries, and in Exporting Good Governance: Temptations and Challenges in Canada's Aid Program, the editors bring together diverse perspectives to investigate whether aid for good governance works. The first section of the book outlines the changing face of international development assistance and ideas of good governance. The second section analyzes six nations: three are countries to which Canada has devoted a significant portion of its aid efforts over the past five to ten years: Ghana, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Two are newer and more complex ""fragile states,"" where Canada has engaged: Haiti and Afghanistan. These five are then compared with Mauritius, which has enjoyed relatively good governance. The final section looks at challenges and new directions for Canadas development policy. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation Trade Review``Timely and important.... Taken together, these twelve chapters are well researched and effectively presented. They draw prudent conclusions and do not make exaggerated claims. The country case studies are appropriately chosen to illustrate a range of situations, from fragile states like Haiti and Afghanistan, to more promising examples like Ghana, through to a relative success stoy like Mauritius. Moreover the volume is highly readable, not only by serious scholars but also by practitioners and journalists. One pleasing feature is the extensive use of cross-referencing. Several of the authors had obviously read and thought about the other chapters, and this reading informs what they have to say, thus enhancing the unity and the quality of the whole volume.'' -- Laurence S. Cumming -- Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 30, nos. 3-4, 2010, 201007``The authors have given us one of the more important recent books on Canadian international public policy--on a par with Janice Stein and Eugene Lang's The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar.... The changing international and Canadian contexts for aid are well laid out, as are the implications provided by the empirical evidence.... The authors punch huge holes in the naã-ve and simplistic assumptions behind much of good governance programming.'' -- Jean-Marc Mangin, Director of CUSO -- Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 200805Table of Contents Exporting Good Governance: Temptations and Challenges in Canada's Aid Program, edited by Jennifer Welsh and Ngaire Woods Introduction Jennifer Welsh and Ngaire Woods The Changing Politics of Aid Ngaire Woods Focusing Aid on Good Governance: Can It Work? Sue Unsworth Boy Scouts and Fearful Angels: The Evolution of Canada's International Good Governance Agenda Ian Smillie Supporting the State through Aid? The Case of Vietnam Nilima Gulrajani Assisting Civil Society through Aid: The Case of Bangladesh Fahimul Quadir The Benefits of an Indirect Approach: The Case of Ghana Peter Arthur and David Black Defence, Development, and Diplomacy: The Case of Afghanistan Scott Gilmore and Janan Mosazai The Perils of Changing Donor Priorities in Fragile States: The Case of Haiti Robert Muggah Astute Governance Promotion vs. Historical Conditions in Explaining Good Governance: The Case of Mauritius Richard Sandbrook Managing Canada's Growing Development Co-operation: Out of the Labyrinth Bernard Wood Donor Coordination and Good Governance: Donor-led and Recipient-led Approaches Paolo de Renzio and Sarah Mulley Conclusion: Challenges and New Directions for Canada Jennifer Welsh Contributors Peter Arthur is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University. His research focuses on African political economy and development, and he has written a number of articles and papers on the multilateral trading system, private sector development, and the role of the small-scale sector in economic development. David Black is Professor of Political Science and International Development Studies at Dalhousie University, and Chair of the Department of International Development Studies. His current research focuses on Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa. Paolo de Renzio is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, and a Research Associate at the Overseas Development Institute, where he previously was a Research Fellow. He holds degrees from Bocconi University (Italy) and the London School of Economics, and has worked as an economist, lecturer, and consultant in Papua New Guinea and Mozambique. Scott Gilmore is the Executive Director of Peace Dividend Trust, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to making peace and humanitarian operations more effective, efficient, and equitable. He was formerly a Canadian Foreign Service Officer. As Deputy Director for South Asia, from 2002 to 2004, he focused on the development of Canada's diplomatic, defence, and development operations in Afghanistan. Nilima Gurajani is a lecturer in the Department of Government and Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) at the London School of Economics. Her doctoral research (completed at Trinity College, Cambridge) examined management reforms in large aid agencies with operations in Bolivia and Vietnam. Janan Mosazai was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. He worked for the BBC and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) between 2001 and 2005. He immigrated to Canadainearly 2005, where he is currently pursuing a master's degree in journalism atCarleton University in Ottawa. Robert Muggah is at the University of Oxford and is research director of the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. He works in several countries on post-conflict, security, and development issues, including Haiti, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, Uganda, Sudan, and Congo. He is the author of two forthcoming books, Relocation Failures: A Short History of Displacement and Resettlement in Sri Lanka (Zed Books) and Securing Protection (Routledge), as well as No Refuge: The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa (Zed Books, 2006). Sarah Mulley is Coordinator of the UK Aid Network, working with UK NGOs to improve their research, policy, and advocacy work on aid. She was previously a Research Associate at the Global Economic Governance Programme in Oxford, and a Senior Policy Analyst at the UK Treasury. She holds an M.Phil. in International Relations from Oxford University. Fahimul Quadir is Associate Professor in the Division of Social Science at York University in Toronto. He is the director of York's Graduate Program in Development Studies. He has recently published on governance, civil society, democratization, economic liberalization, and microfinance. Richard Sandbrook, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, has focused his recent research on the political economy of market reform, democratization, and neoliberal globalization. He has published numerous scholarly articles and ten books, including most recently Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects (coauthor 2007); Civilizing Globalization: A Survival Guide (2003); and Closing the Circle: Democratization and Development in Africa (2000). Ian Smillie was a founder of the Canadian NGO Inter Pares, and is a former Executive Director of CUSO. His most recent books are Managing for Change: Leadership, Strategy and Management in Asian NGOs (with John Hailey) and The Charity of Nations: Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World (with Larry Minear). He is currently Research Coordinator for Partnership Africa Canada's ""Diamonds and Human Security Project"" and a participant in the forty-five-government Kimberley Process. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2003. Sue Unsworth spent many years working as a development practitioner with dfid, latterly as Chief Governance Adviser. She is now a freelance consultant and a Research Associate with the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Jennifer Welsh is Professor of International Relations at Oxford University and a Fellow of Somerville College. She is the author and editor of several works on International Relations theory and Canadian foreign policy, including most recently Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations and At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century. In 2006 she was named a Trudeau Fellow, and is currently researching changing conceptions of sovereignty in international relations. Bernard Wood heads his own international consulting firm, drawing on his long experience in development, political, and security affairs. He was the founding CEO of the North-South Institute, headed the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, and then the secretariat of the OECD/DAC in Paris. He was educated at Loyola College in Montreal and the School of International Affairs at Carleton University. He did doctoral work at the University of London and was a Fellow at Harvard University in 1992-93. Ngaire Woods is Director of the Global Economic Governance Programme and Dean of Graduates at University College, Oxford University. She has written numerous articles on international institutions, globalization, and governance. Her most recent book is The Globalizers: the IMF, the World Bank and Their Borrowers. In 2005-6, Ngaire Woods served on a three-person panel to report to the IMF Board on the effectiveness of the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office. Since 2002 she has been an Adviser to the UNDP's Human Development Report.

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Book SynopsisBefore World War II, Germany intended to set up a greater Arabia under the influence of the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. But the war changed everything. Now the Middle East became a potential battlefield at the crossroads between Asia, Africa, and Europe. For instance, Ankara sent Berlin essential raw materials like chrome ore for its war industry, and it was where the Nazis sold looted gold (mainly confiscated from Jews) for foreign currency. As in World War I, the Germans tried to incite Arab populations to jihad against the allied nations. As the war against the USSR dragged on and the tactics of "Blitzkrieg" failed, the Middle East became more and more important for the Nazis. After the fall of Moscow they regarded this region as the next main battleground for crushing the British Empire, as Adolf Hitler revealed to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in late 1941, adding that after his victory against the Russians he would pursue the Jews in the Middle East as he was doing already in occupied Europe. This book includes new historical studies about Germany and Afghanistan, the relations between Berlin and Riyad, German archaeological research, Arab inmates in Nazi concentration camps, and prominent Germans like Dr. Fritz Grobba, Franz von Papen, and Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer, which combine to shed new light on a crucial period and region of world history.

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Book SynopsisIranian and Ottoman travelers to Japan in the late nineteenth century found a model to admire - a culture that was beginning to take its place in the modern world without sacrificing its traditional culture. Their admiration was bolstered when Japan sunk the Russian Baltic fleet in 1905. This victory was celebrated across the Middle East, and dispelled the traditional colonial discourse of European supremacy. No longer, Japan had proven, did modernization demand Westernization. The Japanese, in turn, were drawn to cross-cultural understanding as Islamic traders and merchants arrived in their ports, and became a part of their social and economic fabric. Later in the twentieth century, Japan found it expedient to develop its own model of Islamic studies, as Muslim populations in Manchuria, China and Southeast Asia fell under Japanese control. This collection provides fresh insight into the cross-cultural exchange between ""the Crescent and the Rising Sun"" in a rapidly changing world. The authors explore the encounters between these two separate, but fatefully linked cultures and the ensuing reciprocal influences in developing ""Eastern modernity"" against a looming backdrop of Western imperial domination.

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Book SynopsisThe United States' victory in the Cold War in 1991 led to triumphalist claims that humanity had reached the end of history," and that Washington would enjoy everlasting supremacy. Some years later, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called America the indispensable nation." And a senior aide to President George W. Bush crowed: We are an empire now." But by invading Iraq, Bush irreparably undermined U.S. credibility worldwide. And by curtailing Americans' civil liberties in the name of waging an endless war on terror," and resorting to torture in the prisons of occupied Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay, his administration,as well as America,lost its claim to a moral high ground. Moreover, the 2008-2009 global fiscal meltdown, triggered by the sub-prime mortgage crisis on Wall Street, exposed a stark fact: The heavily indebted America had ceased to be the financial behemoth it had been since World War II. After Empire sketches the contours of a complex world system emerging during the late imperial phase of the U.S. It examines, critically, the events that prepared the ground for the world to move from the tutelage of the sole superpower, America, to a multipolar, post-imperial global order. Refreshingly, it does so from a distinctly non-Western perspective. Unlike other scholars, Dilip Hiro,one of the world's leading experts on the geopolitics of hydrocarbons as well as the Middle East and South and Central Asia,does not offer a comforting thesis that the U.S. is quite capable of accommodating the rising world powers like China, Russia, India, and the European Union while retaining its dominant position at the table. Neither does he frame global politics in a Manichean way,America versus China the West against Asia. The world, he suggests, is set to revisit the pre-World War I Europe, where rulers frequently changed allies and adversaries to achieve the shared aim of keeping the continent free of an overarching power,to date, a privilege enjoyed globally by America. With more than two trillion dollars in its foreign reserves, China's state-owned corporations are busily buying up companies worldwide. By surpassing Saudi Arabia in its oil output, Russia, the number one producer of natural gas, is now the world's foremost producer of hydrocarbons. Its nuclear arsenal is on par with America's. Elsewhere the hydrocarbon-rich nations of Venezuela and Iran are challenging the Washington-dominated status quo respectively in South America and the Middle East. Already, the 27-nation European Union of nearly 500 million has surpassed America as the globe's largest trading entity, and the euro has emerged as a strong rival to the U.S. dollar as a dominant reserve currency. After Empire is realistic and nuanced in its assessment of global politics. Shorn of an ideological bias or a soft corner for America, it abounds in unsettling and stimulating insights on politics, history, hard and soft power, political economy and democracy.Trade ReviewEconomist "Dilip Hiro writes from an unabashedly un-American point of view. It is arresting to see a familiar object assume an unfamiliar shape." Financial Times "Typically, a Hiro book is a dispassionate chronicle that refuses to take sides, letting facts speak for themselves... His challenging, even contrarian account of it [a multipolar world] should be required reading not just for the British Foreign Office, but among foreign ministries more generally ."

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Book SynopsisThe Council on Foreign Relations is the most influential foreign‐policy think tank in the United States, claiming among its members a high percentage of government officials, media figures, and establishment elite. For decades it kept a low profile even while it shaped policy, advised presidents, and helped shore up U.S. hegemony following the Second World War. In 1977, Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter published the first in‐depth study of the CFR, Imperial Brain Trust, an explosive work that traced the activities and influence of the CFR from its origins in the 1920s through the Cold War. Now, Laurence H. Shoup returns with this long‐awaited sequel, which brings the story up to date. Wall Street's Think Tank follows the CFR from the 1970s through the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present. It explains how members responded to rapid changes in the world scene: globalization, the rise of China, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the launch of a "War on Terror," among other major developments. Shoup argues that the CFR now operates in an era of "Neoliberal Geopolitics," a worldwide paradigm that its members helped to establish and that reflects the interests of the U.S. ruling class, but is not without challengers. Wall Street's Think Tank is an essential guide to understanding the Council on Foreign Relations and the shadow it casts over recent history and current events.Trade ReviewPraise for Imperial Brain Trust: "The first in‐depth analysis of the activities and influence of the most important private institution in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. Shoup and Minter's work is based on detailed research, including examination of material hitherto unavailable to the public. This work will stand as a milestone." - Library Journal

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Book SynopsisThe 1959 Cuban Revolution remains one of the signal events of modern political history. A tiny island, once a de facto colony of the United States, declared its independence, not just from the imperial behemoth ninety miles to the north, but also from global capitalism itself. Cuba's many achievements - in education, health care, medical technology, direct local democracy, actions of international solidarity with the oppressed - are globally unmatched and unprecedented. And the United States, in light of Cuba's achievements, has waged a relentless campaign of terrorist attacks on the island and its leaders, while placing Cuba on its "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list. In this updated edition of her classic, Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History, Jane Franklin depicts the two countries' relationship from the time both were colonies to the present. We see the early connections between Cuba and the United States through slavery; through the sugar trade; then Cuba's multiple wars for national liberation; the annexation of Cuba by the United States; the infamous Platt Amendment that entitled the United States to intervene directly in Cuban affairs; the gangster capitalism promoted by Cuban dictator Fulgencio Battista; and the guerilla war that brought the revolutionaries to power. A new chapter updating the fraught Cuban-U.S. nexus brings us well into the 21st century, with a look at the current status of Assata Shakur, the Cuban Five, and the post-9/11 years leading to the expansion of diplomatic relations. Offering a range of primary and secondary sources, the book is an outstanding scholarly work. Cuba and the United States brings new meaning to Simon Bolivar's warning in 1829, that the United States "appears destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of Freedom."Trade Review"Whether one reads it as a history, or keeps it handy as a ready reference...this is a book that no serious student of U.S.-Cuba relations can afford to be without." -Philip Brenner, American University

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Book SynopsisThe two-hundred-year-long relationship between the Arab world and United States has been fraught with tension and resentment. What began in the nineteenth century as a favourable exchange of cultural understanding and economic opportunity deteriorated with America's increasing interest in oil, and finally collapsed when America's pushed for the legitimization of the State of Israel. In this provocative new book, Lebanese-American historian Ussama Makdisi explores America's fractured relationship with the Arab world, and offers policy recommendations that can lead to its repair.

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Book SynopsisIn this visionary roadmap to the twenty-first-century, Kishore Mahbubani prescribes solutions for improving global institutional order. He diagnoses seven geopolitical fault lines most in need of serious reform. But his message remains optimistic: despite the archaic geopolitical contours that try to shackle us today, our world has seen more positive change in the past thirty years than in the previous three hundred.Trade ReviewFareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World "Kishore Mahbubani has done it again. He has written a book that is provocative, engaging, and always intelligent. He brings a crucial perspective to bear on global affairs, rooted in the rise of Asia but with an understanding of Europe and America as well. Rudyard Kipling said, 'East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.' But they do in this book." Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General "In exploring the tensions that arise as our global community draws ever closer together, Kishore Mahbubani provides a compelling reminder that humanity is strongest when we work together for the benefit of all." "A world adrift desperately needs global thinkers, most of all from Asia. Kishore Mahbubani fits the bill with this signal work at this critical time." Foreign Affairs"[An] eloquent and searching portrait of today's transforming global order." Financial Times"[Mahbubani's] thesis is a welcome counterweight to the more familiar gloom of political scientists. The book is rich in insight into the hurdles and pitfalls that stand in the way of international co-operation. It takes a hard-headed look at the dynamics of China's rise: the threat of conflict with a US reinvented as a Pacific power, the dangerous tensions between China and India, and the west's troubled relationship with Islam among them. But the central argument is compelling... What is clear, though, is that west and east have still to grasp the paradox deftly illuminated by Mahbubani's call for global governance. To retain real sovereignty over their national affairs, leaders will have to share it internationally." Wall Street Journal Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and Co-founder and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics "While I remain pessimistic for the global economy in the near-term, I share Kishore Mahbubani's long-term optimism for our world, including the emerging powers like China and India. The world order must now reinvent itself to accommodate these powers. Mahbubani's timely and brilliant book explains well both the challenges to our global order and the wise solutions that are at hand. We can create a better world. Mahbubani's book explains how. I strongly commend it." Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University, Harvard Kennedy School "Most of the great errors in foreign policy and diplomacy come from a failure to understand the perspective of other nations. And this is a besetting problem for superpowers like the United States. That is why whether they like it or not, whether they agree or disagree, it so important that Western and especially American policymakers read this important book presenting a perspective on the global trends that is very different from their own." Joseph S. Nye, Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Future of Power "Kishore Mahbubani is a thoughtful critic of the West and this book is full of provocations; some right, some wrong, but never boring. Above all, he seeks ways to reconcile the 12 per cent of the world's population who live in the West with the vast majority who do not. The result is a good and important read." Raghuram Rajan, Professor, University of Chicago Booth School "Few today know Asia as well as Kishore Mahbubani, and even fewer combine it with a deep understanding of the West's strengths and frailties. In The Great Convergence, Mahbubani offers a balanced but profoundly disturbing analysis of the political challenges that face our modern, increasingly interdependent, world. His proposals on how to fix the outdated system of global governance are both refreshingly novel and eminently practical. A truly stimulating read!" Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization "Thought provoking, sharp and full of wisdom as usual, this new book by Kishore Mahbubani not only offers in-depth analysis of world challenges today, but also offered fresh ideas on how to improve global order for the 21st century. A must read for those who are interested in power politics and the future of global governance." Christian Science Monitor

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Book SynopsisThe trade in oil, gas, gems, metals and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China and the other "emerging markets" have transformed their economies, Africa's resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 per cent of the world's reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 per cent of the world's population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent. In his first book, The Looting Machine, Tom Burgis exposes the truth about the African development miracle: for the resource states, it's a mirage. The oil, copper, diamonds, gold and coltan deposits attract a global network of traders, bankers, corporate extractors and investors who combine with venal political cabals to loot the states' value. And the vagaries of resource-dependent economies could pitch Africa's new middle class back into destitution just as quickly as they climbed out of it. The ground beneath their feet is as precarious as a Congolese mine shaft; their prosperity could spill away like crude from a busted pipeline. This catastrophic social disintegration is not merely a continuation of Africa's past as a colonial victim. The looting now is accelerating as never before. As global demand for Africa's resources rises, a handful of Africans are becoming legitimately rich but the vast majority, like the continent as a whole, is being fleeced. Outsiders tend to think of Africa as a great drain of philanthropy. But look more closely at the resource industry and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world looks rather different. In 2010, fuel and mineral exports from Africa were worth 333 billion, more than seven times the value of the aid that went in the opposite direction. But who received the money? For every Frenchwoman who dies in childbirth, 100 die in Niger alone, the former French colony whose uranium fuels France's nuclear reactors. In petro-states like Angola three-quarters of government revenue comes from oil. The government is not funded by the people, and as result it is not beholden to them. A score of African countries whose economies depend on resources are rentier states; their people are largely serfs. The resource curse is not merely some unfortunate economic phenomenon, the product of an intangible force. What is happening in Africa's resource states is systematic looting. Like its victims, its beneficiaries have names.

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Book SynopsisThe scope and the theme of the book is to analyze the modern political trends and strategies that are leading to major changes in Western civilization, America included, since the OIC strategy targets America also. Learning from the European experience is crucial for Americans. Moreover this evolution is inscribed in the historical movement of Islamic theology and expansionism. It is not fortuitous but it has its own theological and political structure that must be known in the West if we wish to live in a peaceful world.Trade ReviewPraise for Eurabia: [No] book explains the European Muslim situation more ably than Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis...It's hard to overstate this book's importance...Eurabia is eye-opening and required reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding Europe's current predicament and its probably fate. -- Bruce Bawer * The Hudson Review, Winter 2006 *Praise for Bat Ye'or: "Bat Ye'or has traced a nearly secret history of Europe over the past thirty years, convincingly showing how the Euro-Arab dialogue has blossomed from a minor discussion group into the engine for the continent's Islamization. In delineating this phenomenon, she also provides the intellectual resources with which to resist it. Will her message be listened to?" —Daniel Pipes "No writer has done more than Bat Ye'or to draw attention to the menacing character of Islamic extremism. Future historians will one day regard her coinage of the term 'Eurabia' as prophetic. Those who wish to live in a free society must be eternally vigilant. Bat Ye'or's vigilance is unrivalled." —Niall Ferguson "Ordinary people who are still in the dark about the way the Euro-Arab Dialogue is refashioning their lives may one day rebel, in which case Bat Ye'or and this book will seem prophetic. Or they may sink helplessly into dhimmitude, in which case Bat Ye'or will be ignored and her book unobtainable. Either way, she is a Cassandra, a brave and far-sighted spirit." —David Pryce-JonesTable of ContentsPreface Introduction Chapter 1 The European Union & the Organization of the Islamic Conference: a Common Struggle Chapter 2 Multiculturism Chapter 3 Multiculturalism, the OIC and the Alliance of Civilizations Chapter 4 The Destruction of the Nations of Europe Chapter 5 Networks of Global Governance Bibliography Endnotes

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Book SynopsisMany of Tony Blair's policy decisions in the Israeli-Palestinian arena were controversial and politically costly. Blair, Labour and Palestine argues that gaps between him and much of his party were rooted in different world views. A positive attitude towards Israel came to be seen as a defining mark of New Labour loyalists. However, contrasting views among left-leaning strands in the party reflected a broader set of ideological rifts. Such differences became increasingly significant in the wake of 9/11 as British policymakers sought to understand and respond to Islamic anger against the West. Based on interviews conducted by the author and on previously unseen documents, this unique case study shows how the distinctive world view of a political leader defined foreign policy, by shaping Britain's response to Islamist violence and its interconnected approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Author Toby Greene also examines the extent to which ministers and officials considered shifting foreign policy in response to fears of Islamist radicalisation in the UK, and Blair's role in stopping this trend, especially after the 7/7 bombings.Trade ReviewA clear and balanced account of the longer history of British foreign policy on the region when Blair was Prime Minister, and particularly after 9/11...If you are interested in what Blair’s policy actually was, as opposed to what the Ribbentrop-Molotov alliance of the right and the anti-left said it was, this is a superb account...The summary of Britain’s involvement in the creation of Israel, and the history of the Labour Party’s attitude to the conflict, is one of the best short accounts I have read...the section on how attitudes among Labour MPs to Israel-Palestine played a part in Blair’s downfall, in the Brownite “coup” of September 2006, is excellent...an impressively fair-minded treatment of an important question, in which Blair continues to play a role. -- John Rentoul * Eagle Eye, The Independent Blogs *This is a fascinating and important book which examines both the broad sweep of Labour’s attitude to Israel and Palestine over the decades, and looks in detail at how New Labour policymakers grappled with contradictory views – at home and abroad – of Israel’s importance to the Iraq war and to the growing threat of domestic extremism post-9/11. -- John Woodcock MP * Progress *Tony Blair’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict has been obscured because of the outraged reaction to his involvement in the invasion of Iraq. For many within the British Labour party, the issue became part and parcel of the megaphone war between New Labour and its opponents. It had little to do with the harsh reality and the profound tragedy that afflicted ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. Toby Greene has reclaimed the detail of Blair’s worldview and demystified it for the interested student of Middle East politics. -- Colin Shindler, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London, UKPublic discussion of both Tony Blair and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all too often shallow and shrill, obscuring more than it reveals. In contrast, Greene brings light, depth and nuance to this important study of the statesmen who has played a more significant role on the issue than any other European in the first decade of the new millennium. Like him or loathe him, Blair cannot be ignored; and Greene does an excellent job of getting to the ideological foundations driving Blair's policy on Israel and the Palestinians. -- Dr Jonathan Rynhold, Senior Lecturer, Political Science, Bar-Ilan University, IsraelBy offering a detailed analysis of the views held by Blair and key figures within the government and the Labour Party, Greene provides an important contribution that complements other scholarly work on British foreign policy towards the Middle East ... Blair, Labour and Palestine offers a different perspective in explaining foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, by focussing on the role of ideas and the personal world views of political leaders. -- Benedetta Voltolini, Maastricht University, The Netherlands * LSE Review of Books *Well researched and informative and may cause some Israelis to take a somewhat more benign view of Tony Blair’s present endeavors in this part of the world. -- Robbie Sabel, Professor of International Law, Hebrew University Jerusalem * Israel Journal of foreign Affairs *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Roots of British Policy in the Israeli-Palestinian Arena 2. New Labour and the Israeli-Palestinian Question 3. "Patient and Quiet Diplomacy" in Labour's First Term 4. Radical Islam, 9/11 and the Israeli-Palestinian Issue 5. The Israeli-Palestinian Issue and the Response to 9/11 6. The Israeli-Palestinian Issue and the Iraq War 7. The Israeli-Palestinian Arena Becomes "The Issue" 8. The Israeli-Palestinian Issue and Domestic Counter-radicalisation 9. Blair Confronts "Radical Islam" Conclusion Biblio Index

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