John Baylis Bücher

We now live in a new era of globalization, where instant communications, the emergence of a world economy, a global culture, and new non-state social movements have transformed world politics, making redundant many of the approaches developed for understanding and explaining the cold war world. This comprehensive introductory text focuses on explaining to students without previous knowledge of the subject how contemporary world politics work. An introductory chapter discusses the concept of globalization and summarises the main arguments for and against it. There then follow four sections, covering: * the historical background to contemporary world politics * the main theories that offer explanations of world politics * the structures and processes of world politics * the main issues of contemporary world politics. Each chapter is written by a leading specialist in the field, and uses diagrams, boxes, and discussion points extensively, making this an extremely reader-friendly student text. Each chapter has a guide to further reading and ends with a series of questions.

A complete introduction to strategy in the contemporary world, which explores the enduring, present and emerging issues dominating strategic debate.

Taking the special relationship as a central theme, this text explores the public and private diplomacy between Britain and the United States in periods of war and peace. Using released archives and contemporary sources, the areas of both cooperation and conflict are revealed.

Focusing on the interplay between military power and international relations, this comprehensive work explores both theoretical frameworks and practical policy implications of strategic studies. It posits that military power is essential to the international system, emphasizing that strategy serves as the mechanism for leveraging military capabilities to fulfill political goals.

Based on a detailed analysis of archives and high level interviews this book looks at the role of beliefs, culture and identity in the making of British nuclear policy from 1945 through to the present day. This book also examines Britain's nuclear experience by moving away from tradtional interpretations of why states develop and maintain nuclear weapons by adopting a more contemporary approach to political theory.Traditional mainstream explanations tend to stress the importance of factors such as the 'maximization of power', the persuit of 'national security interests' and the role of 'structure' in a largely anarchic international system. This book does not dismiss these approaches, but argues that British experience suggests that focusing on 'beliefs', 'culture' and 'identity', provides a more useful insight and distinctive intepretation into the process of British nuclear decision making than the more traditional approaches.