An illuminating insight into the work of Thomas Schelling, one of the most influential strategic thinkers of the nuclear age.

By the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the United States' early forays into Vietnam, he had become one of the most distinctive voices in Western strategy. This book shows how Schelling's thinking is much more than a reaction to the tensions of the Cold War. In a demonstration that ideas can be just as significant as superpower politics, Robert Ayson traces the way this Harvard University professor built a unique intellectual framework using a mix of...

Unlocking the major strategic themes and security challenges of the early 21st century, this book provides the analytical frameworks needed to make sense of this complex but exciting strategic universe. Offering a unique mix of global strategic thinking and Asia-Pacific security analysis, it provides a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to the dynamic security developments in the region, around which much global strategy is based. Vital questions facing the international community are addressed, including why governments and groups still use armed force, how much warfare has changed...

Offering a comprehensive account of the work of Hedley Bull, Ayson analyses the breadth of Bull's work as a Foreign Office official for Harold Wilson's government, the complexity of his views, including Bull's unpublished papers, and challenges some of the comfortable assertions about Bull's place in the English School of IR.

Security threats in Asia fast become issues for the rest of the world. This introductory and wide-ranging text on the subject takes a thematic approach to assess how localized security issues - from territorial rivalry to the rise of China - materialize as 'ripple effects' across the whole region.