Download or read book Puzzles of the Democratic Peace written by K. Rasler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the revival of Kant's Perpetual Peace thesis, the linkages between democracy and peace has been a central topic in international relations research, with sustained debate over whether it exists and if it does, why it does. In this stimulating volume, two leading IR scholars place the democratic peace debate within a broader context, including the extent of threats in international relations, degree of satisfaction with the status quo, the diffusion of democracy, and the rise of the trading state. Step by step, Thompson and Rasler examine the democratic peace through a series of puzzles concerning arguments at the dyadic, systemic, and individual state levels. Synthesizing a broad range of knowledge and linking islands of theory, Puzzles of the Democratic Peace provides a distinctive look at the state of the field and paths forward.
Download or read book Solving the War Puzzle written by John Norton Moore and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mankind has been struggling since Thucydides to understand the origins of war. Within the last quarter-century, however, many of the pieces of the war puzzle have begun to fall into place. This book builds on the available evidence and offers an important original theory as to the cause of war and means for its control. In doing so, the book simultaneously offers a new theory of international relations, bridging the gap between classical realism and idealism in international relations. The author, a former United States Ambassador, directs the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia and was the founding Chairman of the United States Institute of Peace. "Solving the War Puzzle may be the most insightful and important examination of the causes of war since Clausewitz published On War in 1832. This slim volume, precisely written, superbly researched, and elegantly presented, carefully evaluates, integrates, and synthesizes the multiple elements the confluence of which results in armed conflict." -- James P. Terry, Col., U.S. Marine Corps, Ret. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and former Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "[Solving the War Puzzle] offers a useful framework for stimulating further reflection on the causes of war. This slim volume is supplemented with extensive notes and an ample biography." -- CHOICE Magazine
Download or read book Classical Theory in International Relations written by Beate Jahn and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-11-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classical political theorists such as Thucydides, Kant, Rousseau, Smith, Hegel, Grotius, Mill, Locke and Clausewitz are often employed to explain and justify contemporary international politics and are seen to constitute the different schools of thought in the discipline. However, traditional interpretations frequently ignore the intellectual and historical context in which these thinkers were writing as well as the lineages through which they came to be appropriated in International Relations. This collection of essays provides alternative interpretations sensitive to these political and intellectual contexts and to the trajectory of their appropriation. The political, sociological, anthropological, legal, economic, philosophical and normative dimensions are shown to be constitutive, not just of classical theories, but of international thought and practice in the contemporary world. Moreover, they challenge traditional accounts of timeless debates and schools of thought and provide new conceptions of core issues such as sovereignty, morality, law, property, imperialism and agency.
Download or read book The Democratic Peace and Territorial Conflict in the Twentieth Century written by Paul K. Huth and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents
Download or read book Democracy Peace and Security written by Heinz Gärtner and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-06-17 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracies are extremely unlikely to wage war against other democracies – this main proposition of the Democratic Peace theory constitutes the starting point for this volume. Chapters authored by experts from different parts of the world explore the concept of Democratic Peace in greater depth in relation to selected issue areas and in comparison to other concepts such as security communities or concerts of powers. The role and significance of international organizations and gender equality, for instance, are discussed and assessed in this context. The objective guiding this exercise is to give an answer to the question as to whether Democratic Peace and the other two concepts – i.e. security communities and concerts of powers – can provide a solution to today’s security challenges and constitute a guide to peaceful co-existence and conflict settlement. So, the chapters discuss intellectual frameworks at some length, at the same time, reflecting on potential inferences for the outside world and highlighting associated challenges, limits, or even possible adverse implications.
Download or read book Democracy May Not Exist But We ll Miss It When It s Gone written by Astra Taylor and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist?Astra Taylor, hailed as a “New Civil Rights Leader” by the Los Angeles Times, provides surprising answers. There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of plutocrats in the White House to gerrymandering and dark-money compaign contributions, it is clear that the principle of government by and for the people is not living up to its promise. The problems lie deeper than any one election cycle. As Astra Taylor demonstrates, real democracy—fully inclusive and completely egalitarian—has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, weaving together history, theory, the stories of individuals, and interviews with such leading thinkers as Cornel West and Wendy Brown, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end, a process or a set of desired outcomes? What if those outcomes, whatever they may be—peace, prosperity, equality, liberty, an engaged citizenry—can be achieved by non-democratic means? In what areas of life should democratic principles apply? If democracy means rule by the people, what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people? Democracy's inherent paradoxes often go unnamed and unrecognized. Exploring such questions, Democracy May Not Exist offers a better understanding of what is possible, what we want, why democracy is so hard to realize, and why it is worth striving for.
Download or read book Rethinking the Value of Democracy written by Renske Doorenspleet and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-21 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the instrumental value of democracy in a comparative perspective. Based on extensive analyses of quantitative studies from different disciplines, it explores both the expected beneficial and harmful impact of democracy. Democracy’s reputation as delivering peace and development while controlling corruption is an important source of its own legitimacy. Yet, as this book acutely demonstrates, the arguments tend to be normatively driven interventions in ideologically charged policy debates. The book argues that we need neither a utopian framing of democracy as delivering all ‘good things’ in politics nor a cynical one that emphasizes only the ‘dangerous underbelly’ of this form of government. The author also raises critical questions about the value of the study of democracy: the choice for particular concepts and measures, the unknown mechanisms, and the narrow focus on specific instrumental values. This volume will be necessary reading for anyone interested in debates on democracy in the contemporary global context.
Download or read book The War Puzzle Revisited written by John A. Vasquez and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-23 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientific explanation of the onset and expansion of war and the conditions of peace.
Download or read book Dictionary of International Security written by Paul Robinson and published by Polity. This book was released on 2008 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dictionary provides readers with a handy reference guide to the field of international security by including over 200 articles on a wide range of concepts, issues, treaties and institutions, from absolute war to weapons of mass destruction.
Download or read book History and International Relations written by Howard LeRoy Malchow and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This updated and enhanced second edition of History and International Relations charts the foundations, development and use of International Relations from a historian's perspective. Exploring its engagement with the history of war, peace and foreign relations this volume provides an account of international relations from both western and non-western perspectives, its historical evolution and its contemporary practice. Examining the origin of dominant IR theories, exploring key moments in the history of war and peace that shaped the discipline, and analysing the Eurocentric nature of current theory and practice, Malchow provides a full account of the relationship between history and IR from the ancient world to modern times. To bring it up to the present day and provide new ways for students to grasp the history of IR, this new edition includes: -An updated final chapter reflecting on the practice of IR in a post 9/11 world -New scholarship and sources in IR practice and theory published since 2015 -A time line charting the evolution of International Relations as a discipline -A new glossary of terms -Expanded section on IR theory and practice in the ancient world and early Christian era -Greater incorporation of IR practice and theory in non-western ancient, medieval and modern worlds History and International Relations is essential reading for anyone looking to understand international relations, diplomacy and times of war and peace in a historical context.
Download or read book Democracy and Security written by Matthew Evangelista and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has become generally accepted wisdom that democracies do not go to war against each other. However, there are significant differences between democratic states in terms of their approach to war and security policy in general. This edited book offers a broad examination of how democratic preferences and norms are relevant to security policy beyond the decision of whether to go to war. It therefore offers a fresh understanding of state behaviour in the security realm. The contributors discuss such issues as defence policy, air war, cluster bombs, non-lethal weapons, weapons of mass destruction, democratic and non-democratic nuclear weapon states’ transparency, and the political and ideological background of the ongoing ‘Revolution in Military Affairs’. It has become generally accepted wisdom that democracies do not go to war against each other. However, there are significant differences between democratic states in terms of their approach to war and security policy in general.
Download or read book Regions Power and Conflict written by William R. Thompson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The three main levels of analysis in international relations have been the systemic, the national, and the individual. A fourth level that falls between the systemic and the national is the region. It is woefully underdeveloped in comparison to the attention afforded the other three. Yet regions tend to be distinctive theaters for international politics. Otherwise, we would not recognize that Middle Eastern interstate politics somehow does not resemble Latin American interstate politics or interstate politics in Southern Africa (although once the Middle East and Southern Africa may have seemed more similar in their mutual fixation with opposition to domestic policies in Israel and South Africa, respectively). This book, divided into three parts, first makes a case for studying regional politics even though it must also be appreciated that regional boundaries are also hazy and not always easy to pin down empirically. The second part examines power distributions within regions as an important entry point to studying regional similarities and differences. Two emphases are stressed. One is that regional power assessments need to be conditioned by controlling for weak states which are more common in some regions than they are in others. The other emphasis is on regional power hierarchies. Some regions have strong regional hierarchies while others do not. Regions with strong hierarchies operate much differently from those without them in the sense that the former are more pacific than the latter. The third part of the book focuses on regional differences in terms of conflict behavior, order preferences, rivalries, and rivalry termination.
Download or read book The Puzzle of Non Western Democracy written by Richard Youngs and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western democracy is being questioned around the world. At the same time, Western aid groups are quick to say that they are not trying to impose a particular style of democracy on others and that they are open to supporting local, alternative forms of democracy. This book examines what it is about Western democracy that non-Westerners are reacting negatively to and whether the critics often are equating a dislike for certain Western social or economic features with an aversion to of Western political systems. It also explores the current state of debate about alternative forms of democratic practice in different regions—Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America—and then puts forward ideas about how Western actors engaged in democracy support can do a better job of incorporating new thinking about alternative democratic forms into their efforts.
Download or read book Democratic Peace Across the Middle East written by Yakub Halabi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Tunisia to Egypt and from Israel to Iran, the debates surrounding the concept of democracy in the Middle East are never straightforward. This has been particularly evident since the events of 2009 in Iran and the uprisings across the Arab world in late 2010 and 2011. Against this backdrop, Democratic Peace across the Middle East critically analyses the prospects for democracy throughout the region, specifically asking whether political and social modernisation are absolute preconditions for democratic peace to take hold in the region, or whether democracy without modernisation might be enough. It explores the dynamics between neo-patriarchy and Islam on the one hand, and democratisation and modernisation on the other, and also considers the prospect of the political accommodation of opposition groups. Incorporating an analysis of a variety of key dynamics which affect each Middle Eastern country in turn, such as tribal and sectarian identity, Islamism and the structure of political party systems, this book will appeal to those researching the Middle East and its patterns of rule.
Download or read book How Wars End written by Damien Kingsbury and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses one of the most important issues in international relations – how wars are ended. The volume draws on the direct experience of both soldiers and academics, who in each case have also been advisers on fighting and ending wars. Unlike more theoretical works, the book draws on first-hand experiences in the case studies, which include the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Indonesia, among others. The volume is constructed around a series of themes. The first theme is why wars start and how they can be understood, based on the assumption that knowing how, and why, wars start is fundamental to understanding how they might end. The second is what sustains wars and what makes them difficult to end. Again, once wars start, understanding what keeps them going is critical to how to end them. The third focuses on the role of external intervention in ending wars, including as a belligerent partner in war, as a peacemaking or peacekeeping force, and as a mediator between warring parties. The fourth addresses the issue of ‘ripeness’ and the right conditions for ending wars. The fifth addresses the modalities for ending wars and creating peace, with the sixth theme being focused on transitions to peace and what is required to help make those transitions successful. The book will be of interest to students of military, strategic and security studies, peace studies and International Relations.
Download or read book Turmoil and Order in Regional International Politics written by William R. Thompson and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-04-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book complements and follows up on the book, Thompson and Volgy et al, Regions, Power and Conflict: Constrained Capabilities, Hierarchy, and Rivalry. It is predicated in part on the paucity of published material available on comparing regional international politics. Monadic, dyadic, and systemic approaches all have their uses and have been exploited extensively. The same cannot be said about comparative regional analysis. The premise is that a great deal of international politics takes place within regional parameters. Most states simply lack the capability or interest in devoting many resources to extra-regional affairs. Yet each region is distinctive. In some, military coups remain common while they have died out as a form of political practice in others. A few have been highly conflictual and then become more pacific, while others persist in their conflict intensity. Some have powerful neighbors with intervention tendencies, while others are surrounded by relatively weak states. Some are rich; others are poor. The point is that regions, all with proper names, have attributes that can be harnessed through comparison to explain why regional behavior differs greatly across the planet. The aim is to replace the proper names with the leading variables that appear to drive behavior. For instance, to shrug and say “that’s the Middle East for you” does not take us very far. Replacing the Middle East label with conceptualization about how a set of small, weak, autocratic states behave subject to high penetration by major powers might take us farther than shrugging off regional identity. We have good reasons to think that comparative regional analysis can deliver an explanatory value-added product just as much as alternative “levels of analysis” can. Ultimately, we might desire to integrate separate levels of analysis, rather than segregating them. But in the short term, we need to encourage comparative regional analysis because it is the least developed perspective. Why that might be the case can be debated, but it stems in part from our disciplinary tendencies for some analysts to specialize in regional behavior largely in a descriptive vein while others prefer to focus on explaining universal behavior. Comparative regional behavior tends to be squeezed out by regional scholars who suspect generalization about behavior and universal scholars who suspect particular contexts such as regions. Comparative regional analysis requires analysts who are willing to explore generalization but acknowledge regional contexts more explicitly than is customary. At the same time, more general substitutes for those regional labels must be introduced if explanatory headway is to be achieved.
Download or read book The Democratic Politics of Military Interventions written by Wolfgang Wagner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to a widely shared notion, foreign affairs are exempted from democratic politics, i.e. party-political divisions are overcome-and should be overcome-for the sake of a common national interest. This book shows that this is not the case. Examining votes in the US Congress and several European parliaments, the book demonstrates that contestation over foreign affairs is barely different from contestation over domestic politics. Analyses of a new collection of deployment votes, of party manifestos, and of expert survey data show that political parties differ systematically over foreign policy and military interventions in particular. The left/right divide is the best guide to the pattern of party-political contestation: support is weakest at the far left of the spectrum and increases as one moves along the left/right axis to green, social democratic, liberal and conservative parties; amongst parties of the far right, support is again weaker than amongst parties of the centre. An analysis of parliamentary debates in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom about the interventions in Afghanistan and against Daesh in Iraq and Syria shows that political parties also differ systematically in how they frame the use of force abroad. For example, parties on the right tend to frame their country's participation in the US-led missions in terms of national security and national interests whereas parties on the left tend to engage in 'spiral model thinking', i.e. they critically reflect on the unintended consequences of the use of force in fuelling the conflicts with the Taliban and Daesh.
