Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"An innovative text that looks at many of the most important global issues of the late twentieth century through a variety of theoretical lenses. Departing from the more traditional single-authored introductory text, readers are exposed to a variety of leading scholars in the field. A forward-looking text that moves beyond looking at international politics in terms of the aftermath of the cold war to one which examines global processes and their impact on what will likely be the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century. Grounded in a historical context that goes back to the beginning of the century, The Globalization of World Politics highlights issues, such as nationalism, gender, and culture, which have all too often been peripheral to the discipline, as well as more traditional concerns such as world trade, international organization, and national security.--J. Ann Tickner, University of Southern California
"A highly accessible introduction to globalization as a political as well as economic, social and cultural process. It is especially effective at bringing out the diversity of contemporary accounts of what globalization involves and of what it might mean for our established assumptions about political life."--R. B. J. Walker, University of Victoria, Canada
About the Author
Professor John Baylis is Reader in International Politics, University of Aberystwyth. He is the co-editor of Dilemmas of World Politics (OUP, 1991).
Professor Steve Smith is Professor of International Politics, University of Aberystwyth. He is the editor of the Cambridge Studies in International Relations series.
Table of Contents
Introduction, Steve Smith and John Baylis
1. The Globalization of World Politics, Jan Aart Scholte
Part One: The Historical Context
2. The Evolution of International Society, Robert Jackson
3. International History 1900-1945, Susan Carruthers
4. International History 1945-1989, Len Scott
5. The End of the Cold War, Richard Crockatt
Part Two: Theories of International Politics
6. Realism, Timothy Dunne
7. World-System Theory, Steven Hobden and Richard Wyn Jones
8. Liberalism, Timothy Dunne
9. New Approaches to International Theory, Steve Smith
Part Three: Structure and Process
10. International Security in the Post-Cold War Era, John Baylis
11. International Political Economy in an Age of Globalization, Roger Tooze
12. International Regimes, Richard Little
13. Diplomacy, Brian White
14. The United Nations and International Organizations, Paul Taylor
15. Transnational Actors and International Organizations in Global Politics, Peter Willetts
Part Four: International Issues
16. Environmental Issues, Owen Greene
17. Nuclear Proliferation, Darryl Howlett
18. Nationalism, Fred Halliday
19. Cultural Conflict in International Relations: The West and Islam, Simon Murden
20. Humanitarian Intervention and World Politics, Nick Wheeler
21. Regionalism and Integration, Fiona Butler
22. Finance and World Trade, Jan Aart Scholte
23. Poverty, Development, and Hunger, Caroline Thomas
24. Human Rights, Chris Brown
25. Gender Issues, Jan Pettman
Bibliography
Index