Birthe Hansen - Böcker

A decade ago the term "new world order" was a commonly-used expression. Now at the beginning of the 21st century the contours of this order are less clear. How can this international order be described and interpreted and how can it be explained from contrasting theoretical viewpoints? Ten scholars in international politics - many of them experts in the field - offer penetrating contributions to provide a survey of the ongoing debate surrounding the new world order.

This book analyses security strategies in the American world order, systematically comparing Russian, Middle Eastern and European policies.The main finding is that the loss of relative power has decisive importance for the security strategies of states, but that particular strategies can only be explained when relative power is combined with ideology and the probability of military conflict. Research on the unipolar world order has focused largely on the general dynamics of the system and the actions of the American unipole. By contrast, this book focuses on states that lost out relatively as a consequence of unipolarity, and seeks to explain how this loss has affected their security strategies. Thus, in essence, the book tells ‘the other side of the story’ about the contemporary world order. In addition, it makes an important theoretical contribution by systematically coupling relative ideology and relative security with relative power and exploring their explanatory value. This book will be of great interest to students of international relations, security studies and foreign policy.

This new book offers a coherent model of a unipolar world order.Unipolarity is usually described either as a ‘brief moment’ or as something historically insignificant. However, we have already seen nearly twenty years of virtual unipolarity and this period has been of great significance for world politics. Two issues have been crucial since the end of the Cold War: How to theorize the distinctiveness and exceptional character of a unipolar international system? And what is it like to conduct state business in a unipolar world? Until now, a comprehensive model for unipolarity has been lacking. This volume provides a theoretical framework for analysis of the current world order and identifies the patterns of outcomes and systematic variations to be expected. Terrorism and attempts by small states to achieve a nuclear capability are not new phenomena or exclusive to the current world order, but in the case of unipolarity these have become attached to the fear of marginalization and the struggle against a powerful centre without the possibility of allying with an alternative superpower.Supplying a coherent theoretical model for unipolarity, which can provide explanations of trends and patterns in the turbulent post-Cold War era, this book will be of interest to students of IR theory, international security and foreign policy.

This new book offers a coherent model of a unipolar world order.Unipolarity is usually described either as a ‘brief moment’ or as something historically insignificant. However, we have already seen nearly twenty years of virtual unipolarity and this period has been of great significance for world politics. Two issues have been crucial since the end of the Cold War: How to theorize the distinctiveness and exceptional character of a unipolar international system? And what is it like to conduct state business in a unipolar world? Until now, a comprehensive model for unipolarity has been lacking. This volume provides a theoretical framework for analysis of the current world order and identifies the patterns of outcomes and systematic variations to be expected. Terrorism and attempts by small states to achieve a nuclear capability are not new phenomena or exclusive to the current world order, but in the case of unipolarity these have become attached to the fear of marginalization and the struggle against a powerful centre without the possibility of allying with an alternative superpower.Supplying a coherent theoretical model for unipolarity, which can provide explanations of trends and patterns in the turbulent post-Cold War era, this book will be of interest to students of IR theory, international security and foreign policy.

The end of the Cold War profoundly affected Middle Eastern politics. In Unipolarity and the Middle East a neorealist model for unipolarity is put forward in order to explain the effects of the end of the Cold War as well as the subsequent international dynamics. The new international dynamics are analysed as 'unipolar', and the theoretical model conceptualizes these dynamics and their implications for international politics. The model is applied to Middle Eastern politics from 1989 to 1996, examining the series of international political events which took place during this period. The events include the unification of the Yemens, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the formation of the Multilateral Force, the end of the Lebanese civil war, operation Desert Storm, operation Provide Comfort, the cease-fire in Western Sahara, the beginning of the Madrid process, the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty and the accords on Palestinian autonomy. Besides launching the first model of unipolarity, the book thus provides both a survey and an explanation of the changes in the Middle East since 1989, including an analysis of the disappearance of bipolarity, the very transformation of 1989, and the emergence of the new, unipolar world order.

This book analyses security strategies in the American world order, systematically comparing Russian, Middle Eastern and European policies.The main finding is that the loss of relative power has decisive importance for the security strategies of states, but that particular strategies can only be explained when relative power is combined with ideology and the probability of military conflict. Research on the unipolar world order has focused largely on the general dynamics of the system and the actions of the American unipole. By contrast, this book focuses on states that lost out relatively as a consequence of unipolarity, and seeks to explain how this loss has affected their security strategies. Thus, in essence, the book tells ‘the other side of the story’ about the contemporary world order. In addition, it makes an important theoretical contribution by systematically coupling relative ideology and relative security with relative power and exploring their explanatory value. This book will be of great interest to students of international relations, security studies and foreign policy.