Europe has undergone quite profound changes since the end of the Cold War. Having been a highly militarised, conflict-ridden and war-ridden region, the core of Europe today constitutes a security community where armed conflicts among the constituent states has become inconceivable. This comprehensive book offers a theoretically founded and thoroughly documented analysis of European security, with a special emphasis on the role played by the United Nations and the various regional and sub-regional organisations, especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Organisation for Security...

Published in 1997, the work explores the reorientation of security policies and the accompanying restructuring of the armed forces going on in Southern Africa under entirely new circumstances: Democracy has come to South Africa, the civil wars in Angola and Mozambique have ended, and the region is establishing a regional framework for cooperation. While covering the entire region, a special focus is placed on South Africa which is predestined to play a leading role, but which is struggling with the legacy of the apartheid regime and its repeated aggressions against neighbouring states. A...

First published in 1998, this volume examines East Asia, especially Northeast Asia, which has been a region of considerable political security of importance for several key reasons. It features several great and medium powers: China, Japan and Russia, as well as North and South Korea. Even though no arms race is yet discernible among these states (with the partial exception of the two Koreas), it is conceivable that one might commence. If it did, the level of militarization could become quite alarming, if only because of the tremendous and rapidly growing economic potential of the regional...

This book presents the results of a comprehensive longitudinal and cross-sectional seven-year study of the social ecology of growth and development of over 500 children living in a disadvantaged community on the edge of Guatemala City.