Region, Security and the Return of History
Region, Security and the Return of History

Author: Anthony Milner

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 65

ISBN-13: 9812302212

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A decade ago there was talk of the "end of history". Francis Fukuyama assured us that no ideology, even Islamic ideology, could challenge the universalist claims of liberal democracy. Influential analysts spoke of an international convergence of value systems as well as economies. Today some have gone to the other extreme and accept the idea of a "clash of civilizations". At the very least, we can say history has returned with a vengeance. When commentators of a decade ago assumed change was moving in one direction, they tended to dismiss ASEAN as a "talk shop" and pour scorn on attempts to formulate "Asian values". Today, even tough-minded security specialists attend to specific vocabulary and nuances of the conversation of this region. What role will the historian play in this era of the return of history? Professor Anthony Milner, Basham Professor of Asian History and Dean of Asian Studies at the Australian National University, addresses this question. In 2002, Professor Milner was Raffles Visiting Professor in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore. Contents include: Critiquing ASEAN; The Convergence Era; Security and Talk; Regionalism in Europe; Recognizing Difference; Difference in the Regional Conversation; The Historian; Excess, Islam.

The Return of History and the End of Dreams
The Return of History and the End of Dreams

Author: Robert Kagan

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2009-05-05

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 030738988X

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Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. The world remains “unipolar,” but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict, and a new contest between western liberalism and the great eastern autocracies of Russia and China has reinjected ideology into geopolitics.For the past few years, the liberal world has been internally divided and distracted by issues both profound and petty. Now, in The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

The Development Dilemma
The Development Dilemma

Author: Robert H. Bates

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-09-26

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 0691167354

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Introduction -- The fundamental tension -- Taming the hierarchy -- Forging the political terrain -- The developing world: two examples -- The use of power -- Conclusion

NATO’s Democratic Retrenchment
NATO’s Democratic Retrenchment

Author: Henrik B.L. Larsen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0429999674

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Exploring NATO’s post-Cold War determination to support democracy abroad, this book addresses the alliance’s adaptation to the new illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan after the alleged ‘return of history’. The book engages the question of what has driven NATO to pursue democratisation in face of the significant region-specific challenges and what can explain policy expansion or retrenchment over time. Explaining NATO’s adaptation from the perspective of power dynamics that push for international change and historical experience that informs grand strategy allows wider inferences not only about democratisation as a foreign policy strategy but also about the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its relations with a mostly illiberal environment. Larsen offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy, as opposed to NATO as a community of universal values. This volume will appeal to researchers of transatlantic relations, NATO’s functional and geographical expansion, hegemony and great power politics, democracy promotion, lessons of the past, (Neoclassical) Realism, alliance theory, and the crisis of the liberal world order.

Blue Black Sea
Blue Black Sea

Author: Giray Saynur Bozkurt

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2014-07-24

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 1443864757

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This book presents the opinions of experts and researchers from the Black Sea states with respect to history, security, politics, strategy, energy, and economy in the region, and explains various dimensions of the present international relations and problem areas from both theoretical and conceptual perspectives. Offering the reader a comprehensive approach that covers a wide range of affairs, it is hoped that this book will fill an important gap in international relations studies. While the added word “Blue” in the title indicates our shared aspirations for a clean and peaceful future, overall this book is intended to provide valuable academic assessments and share them with the wider world community, thus disseminating findings about the regional and global policies being pursued in the Black Sea region today.

The Evolution of International Security Studies
The Evolution of International Security Studies

Author: Barry Buzan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-08-27

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1139480766

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International Security Studies (ISS) has changed and diversified in many ways since 1945. This book provides the first intellectual history of the development of the subject in that period. It explains how ISS evolved from an initial concern with the strategic consequences of superpower rivalry and nuclear weapons, to its current diversity in which environmental, economic, human and other securities sit alongside military security, and in which approaches ranging from traditional Realist analysis to Feminism and Post-colonialism are in play. It sets out the driving forces that shaped debates in ISS, shows what makes ISS a single conversation across its diversity, and gives an authoritative account of debates on all the main topics within ISS. This is an unparalleled survey of the literature and institutions of ISS that will be an invaluable guide for all students and scholars of ISS, whether traditionalist, 'new agenda' or critical.

The Return of History
The Return of History

Author: Jennifer Welsh

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2016-09-17

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1487001312

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In the 2016 CBC Massey Lectures, former Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General and international relations specialist Jennifer Welsh delivers a timely, intelligent, and fascinating analysis of twenty-first-century geopolitics. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall crumbled and the Cold War dissipated, the American political commentator Francis Fukuyama wrote a famous essay, entitled “The End of History,” which argued that the demise of confrontation between Communism and capitalism, and the expansion of Western liberal democracy, signalled the endpoint of humanity’s sociocultural and political evolution, and the path toward a more peaceful world. But a quarter of a century after Fukuyama’s bold prediction, history has returned: arbitrary executions, attempts to annihilate ethnic and religious minorities, the starvation of besieged populations, invasion and annexation of territory, and the mass movement of refugees and displaced persons. It has also witnessed cracks and cleavages within Western liberal democracies as a result of deepening economic inequality. The Return of History argues that our own liberal democratic society was not inevitable, but that we must all, as individual citizens, take a more active role in its preservation and growth.

Special Duty
Special Duty

Author: Richard J. Samuels

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 1501741608

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The prewar history of the Japanese intelligence community demonstrates how having power over much, but insight into little can have devastating consequences. Its postwar history—one of limited Japanese power despite growing insight—has also been problematic for national security. In Special Duty Richard J. Samuels dissects the fascinating history of the intelligence community in Japan. Looking at the impact of shifts in the strategic environment, technological change, and past failures, he probes the reasons why Japan has endured such a roller-coaster ride when it comes to intelligence gathering and analysis, and concludes that the ups and downs of the past century—combined with growing uncertainties in the regional security environment—have convinced Japanese leaders of the critical importance of striking balance between power and insight. Using examples of excessive hubris and debilitating bureaucratic competition before the Asia-Pacific War, the unavoidable dependence on US assets and popular sensitivity to security issues after World War II, and the tardy adoption of image-processing and cyber technologies, Samuels' bold book highlights the century-long history of Japan's struggles to develop a fully functioning and effective intelligence capability, and makes clear that Japanese leaders have begun to reinvent their nation's intelligence community.

The Gates of Europe
The Gates of Europe

Author: Serhii Plokhy

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2017-05-30

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0465093469

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A New York Times bestseller, this definitive history of Ukraine is “an exemplary account of Europe’s least-known large country” (Wall Street Journal). As Ukraine is embroiled in an ongoing struggle with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence, celebrated historian Serhii Plokhy explains that today’s crisis is a case of history repeating itself: the Ukrainian conflict is only the latest in a long history of turmoil over Ukraine’s sovereignty. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine has been shaped by empires that exploited the nation as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. In The Gates of Europe, Plokhy examines Ukraine’s search for its identity through the lives of major Ukrainian historical figures, from its heroes to its conquerors. This revised edition includes new material that brings this definitive history up to the present. As Ukraine once again finds itself at the center of global attention, Plokhy brings its history to vivid life as he connects the nation’s past with its present and future.

Conflict in Ukraine
Conflict in Ukraine

Author: Rajan Menon

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2015-02-06

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0262536293

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One of The New York Times’ “6 Books to Read for Context on Ukraine” “A short and insightful primer” to the crisis in Ukraine and its implications for both the Crimean Peninsula and Russia’s relations with the West (New York Review of Books) The current conflict in Ukraine has spawned the most serious crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. It has undermined European security, raised questions about NATO's future, and put an end to one of the most ambitious projects of U.S. foreign policy—building a partnership with Russia. It also threatens to undermine U.S. diplomatic efforts on issues ranging from terrorism to nuclear proliferation. And in the absence of direct negotiations, each side is betting that political and economic pressure will force the other to blink first. Caught in this dangerous game of chicken, the West cannot afford to lose sight of the importance of stable relations with Russia. This book puts the conflict in historical perspective by examining the evolution of the crisis and assessing its implications both for the Crimean Peninsula and for Russia’s relations with the West more generally. Experts in the international relations of post-Soviet states, political scientists Rajan Menon and Eugene Rumer clearly show what is at stake in Ukraine, explaining the key economic, political, and security challenges and prospects for overcoming them. They also discuss historical precedents, sketch likely outcomes, and propose policies for safeguarding U.S.-Russia relations in the future. In doing so, they provide a comprehensive and accessible study of a conflict whose consequences will be felt for many years to come.