How is the concept of society understood on a global scale, since members are not individuals, but states, firms, NGOs and nations? Barry Buzan offers an original contribution to the "English School" theory. His study establishes a new theoretical framework emphasizing social structure that can be used to address globalization as complex political interplay among state and non-state actors.

This book examines the victimization of minority groups through history. The author argues that genocides, expulsions and forced assimilations have been the result of the efforts of rulers' wish to assert their control and legitimacy. By bringing uniformity to the populations within their boundaries, they legitimate their hold on power. This book thus shows how nationalist ideologies have influenced the form of the international state system, drawing on the experiences of Jews and Moors in Spain, Protestants in France, Armenians in Turkey, and minorities in the former Yugoslavia.

The conventional wisdom is that economic sanctions do not work in international affairs. If so, why do countries wield them so often? Daniel Drezner argues that, paradoxically, countries will be most eager to use sanctions under conditions where they will produce the feeblest results. States anticipate frequent conflicts with adversaries, and are therefore more willing to use sanctions. However, precisely because they anticipate more conflicts, sanctioned states will not concede, despite the cost. Economic sanctions are thus far less likely to be effective between adversaries than between...

E. H. Carr was one of the most influential theorists of international relations, and his works, notably The Twenty Year's Crisis (1939), are widely read by students of the subject. He is generally regarded as a hard-nosed, right-wing political realist, but Charles Jones' study reveals him as a much more radical figure. By examining the political context in which he wrote, and the ruthless ways in which he sought to persuade his contemporaries in a period of national crisis, this book offers a radical reinterpretation of a major theorist of international relations.

The conventional wisdom is that economic sanctions do not work in international affairs. If so, why do countries wield them so often? Daniel Drezner argues that, paradoxically, countries will be most eager to use sanctions under conditions where they will produce the feeblest results. States anticipate frequent conflicts with adversaries, and are therefore more willing to use sanctions. However, precisely because they anticipate more conflicts, sanctioned states will not concede, despite the cost. Economic sanctions are thus far less likely to be effective between adversaries than between...

This book is concerned with the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. The author asks whether cultural diversity presents an obstacle to the development of ethical codes which could be acceptable to cultures around the world. He argues that the human capacity to engage in conversation and the ability to understand each other despite linguistic and cultural differences can provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitian moral community. Conversation can be a moral act, in which participants treat each other as equals despite their differences.

Why did Iranian students seize the American embassy in Tehran in 1979? Why did the Carter administration launch a rescue mission, and why did it fail so spectacularly? This book answers these and other puzzles using an analogical reasoning approach that highlights the role of historical analogies in decision making. Using interviews with key decision makers on both sides, Houghton provides an original analysis of one of the United States' greatest foreign policy disasters of recent years. The book will interest students and scholars of foreign policy analysis and international relations.

State sovereignty is an inherently social construct. The modern state system is not based on some timeless principle of sovereignty, but on the production of a normative conception that links authority, territory, population, and recognition in a unique way, and in a particular place (the state). The unique contribution of this book is to describe and illustrate the practices that have produced various sovereign ideals and resistances to them. The contributors analyze how the components of state sovereignty are socially constructed and combined in specific historical contexts.

This book is concerned with the issue of cultural diversity and international morality. The author asks whether cultural diversity presents an obstacle to the development of ethical codes which could be acceptable to cultures around the world. He argues that the human capacity to engage in conversation and the ability to understand each other despite linguistic and cultural differences can provide the basis for the development of a world-wide, cosmopolitian moral community. Conversation can be a moral act, in which participants treat each other as equals despite their differences.

The study of security has been dominated for four decades by a scientific perspective that has been under attack since the end of the Cold War. In this book, Bill McSweeney discusses the inadequacy of this approach and criticizes the most recent attempts to surmount it. Drawing on contemporary trends in sociology, he develops a theory of the international order within which the idea of security takes on a broader range of meaning, inviting a more interpretive approach to understanding the concept and formulating security policy.