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Rather than simply assuming that some states are small and others are big, The Politics of Smallness in Modern Europe delves deep into the construction of different size-based hierarchies in Europe and explores the way Europeans have thought about their own state's size and that of their continental neighbours since the early 19th century. By positing that ideas about size are intimately connected with both basic discourses about a state's identity and policy discourses about the range of options most appropriate to that state, this multi-contributor volume presents a novel way of thinking about what makes one state, in the eyes of both its own inhabitants and those of others, different from others, and what effects these perceived differences have had, and continue to have, on domestic, European, and global politics. Bringing together an international team of historians and political scientists, this nuanced and sophisticated study examines the connections between shifting ideas about a state's (relative) size, competing notions of national interest and mission, and international policy in modern Europe and beyond.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, generated a great deal of discussion in public policy and disaster management circles about the importance of increasing national resilience to rebound from catastrophic events. Since the majority of physical and virtual networks that the United States relies upon are owned and operated by the private sector, a consensus has emerged that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a crucial aspect of an effective resilience strategy. Significant barriers to cooperation persist, however, despite acknowledgment that public–private collaboration for managing disasters would be mutually beneficial. Managing Disasters...
Parliamentary democracy is the most common regime type in the contemporary political world, but the quality of governance depends on effective parliamentary oversight and strong political parties. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have traditionally been strongholds of parliamentary democracy. In recent years, however, critics have suggested that new challenges such as weakened popular attachment, the advent of cartel parties, the judicialization of politics, and European integration have threatened the institutions of parliamentary democracy in the Nordic region. This volume examines these claims and their implications. The authors find that the Nordic states have moved away fro...
This book explains the complex relations and entanglements of Russia and its neighboring countries, an area that changed dramatically after the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. The chapters discuss how the strategic cultures of different countries display common characteristics rooted in this special geopolitical space that has been subjected to simultaneous changes over a longer time. Shared historical experiences provide a common ground to interpret outside threats. The spatial context is relevant in this volume because the focus is on a geopolitical in-between-ness. The position in between two ideologically, politically or economically divergent entities affects the states’ security considerations, maneuvering space and policy perspectives. By cross-examining competing Russian and Western influences Miklossy and Smith create a persuasive context of regional political choices.
This book examines the relationship between terrorism and counterterrorism and how it operates within the broader context of communication, control, power, and democratic governance at the national, international, and transnational level. A culmination of decades of research on the challenges that liberal democracies face in dealing with terrorism, this work provides an innovative framework that maps out the broader context in which terrorism and counterterrorism interact and co-evolve – the terrorism–counterterrorism nexus. In a series of models moving from local to global perspectives, the framework places this nexus within the broader context of social, cultural, political, and economic life. This framework provides a tool for maintaining situational awareness in a multi-tiered, networked world where geography and history are splintering into a rainbow of perspectives and locales, revealing the contested nature of space and time themselves. This book will be of much interest to students of political violence, terrorism studies, communication studies, and international relations, as well as security professionals.
Theoretically innovative and empirically expansive, A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics sets out to become the new authority for the study of small states in International Relations (IR). The book's explanatory approach allows for a comparison of small states' situations and relationships across a global selection of some twenty cases in issues of international security, economy, and institutions. In doing so, it shows how IR's longstandingneglect of small states is a missed opportunity--not just for understanding small states but for developing better theories of IR.
Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World examines conflict management capacities and gaps regionally and globally, and assesses whether regions--through their regional organizations or through loose coalitions of states, regional bodies, and non-official actors--are able to address an array of new and emerging security threats.
This volume evaluates the impact of coercive arms control efforts to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction in the twenty-first century. A new paradigm in arms control is gradually replacing the idea that mutually agreed restrictions on armaments can improve international security. Thus, Hedley Bull’s classic definition of arms control as the "cooperation between antagonistic pairs of states in military affairs" needs to be amended by a new notion of coercive arms control as the set of non-cooperative and non-reciprocal measures to restrict the weapons or military capabilities of certain states. This volume addresses the topic of how this ongoing paradigmatic shift will affect the ...