This edited collection sets out a new approach to security which focused on the European Union. It argues that threats to Europeans like weapons of mass destruction or terrorism can only be countered if we address the insecurity of people in different parts of the world.
Many people in the world lead intolerably insecure lives. In large parts of Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia or the Middle East, men and women live in daily fear of violent attacks, kidnapping, rape, extortion, robbery or trafficking. The existence of large military apparatuses do not create security; indeed, as in Iraq,...

Are oil-rich countries prone to war? And, if so, why? There is a widely held belief that contemporary wars are motivated by the desire of great powers like the United States or Russia to control precious oil resources and to ensure energy security.This book argues that the main reason why oil-rich countries are prone to war is because of the character of their society and economy. Sectarian groups compete for access to oil resources and finance their military adventures through smuggling oil, kidnapping oil executives, or blowing up pipelines. Outside intervention only makes things worse. The...

The terms global and civil society became the new buzzwords of the 1990s. In this book, Mary Kaldor argues that this is no coincidence and that the reinvention of civil society has to be understood in the context of globalization. The concept of civil society is no longer confined to the borders of the territorial state. The end of the Cold War and global interconnectedness have broken the link between states, civil society and war, and blurred the distinction between a democratic West and a non-democratic East and South. This has opened up new possibilities for political emancipation as well...

The terms 'global' and 'civil society' have both become part of the contemporary political lexicon. In this important new book, Mary Kaldor argues that this is no coincidence and that the reinvention of civil society has to be understood in the context of globalization. The concept of civil society is no longer confined to the borders of the territorial state. Whether one considers dissidents in repressive regimes, landless labourers in Central America, campaigners against land mines or global debt, or even religious fundamentalists, it is now possible for them to link up with other...

There is a real security gap in the world today. Millions of people in regions like the Middle East or East and Central Africa or Central Asia where new wars are taking place live in daily fear of violence. Moreover new wars are increasingly intertwined with other global risks the spread of disease, vulnerability to natural disasters, poverty and homelessness. Yet our security conceptions, drawn from the dominant experience of World War II and based on the use of conventional military force, do not reduce that insecurity; rather they make it worse.

This book is an exploration of...

This book is based on a study which brought together scholars from each of the potential member countries of the European Union to develop a methodology for assessing the process of democratization as a condition of eligibility for membership.

The war in Iraq brought global politics into the living rooms of ordinary people around the world in 2003-4. This defining event, which influenced the domestic agenda in many countries, may change the way people perceive power and the politics of power.

The Global Civil Society Yearbook shows how those perceptions can be shaped by the huge diversity of individuals, movements, NGOs, networks - and the ideas and values they represent - acting across borders and beyond national politics.

Now in its fourth year of publication, the Global Civil Society Yearbook is...

Since the mid-1980s there have been substantial cuts in military spending throughout the world, with the exception of Pacific Asia. The end of the Cold War, democratization in Africa and Latin America, structural adjustment programmes, debts and cuts in public spending are just some of the political and economic developments that have instigated and led to changes across the globe in armed forces, arms industries and other military-related activities.

The first half of the 1990s was a period of great optimism about humanitarian intervention. In the aftermath of the Cold War, it was hoped that the international community could begin to act cohesively in defence of fundamental international principles and that a global security policy aimed at the prevention of conflict and upholding human rights could be established. The actual experience of this period, however, has been sobering. Agreements engineered from above, like the Dayton Agreement or the Oslo Agreement, have mixed consequences. Efforts at humanitarian relief have often ended up...

The demonstrations and occupations that emerged across Europe in 2011-12 struck a chord in public opinion in a way that has not been true for many years. Based on research carried out across the continent, this volume investigates why this is occurring now and what they tell us about the future of the European project.