S. Neil MacFarlane - Böcker

The relationship between a powerful United States of America and some of the central multilateral organizations in global society is an essential feature of contemporary international relations. 'US Hegemony and International Organizations' brings together a range of leading scholars to examine this crucial phenomenon. Its aims are two-fold: to describe and explain US behaviour in and towards a wide range of significant global and regional institutions; and secondly to examine the impact of US behavior on the capacity of each organization to meet its own objectives. The study explores US behavior and its consequences for organizations based at the regional as well as the global levels, for those located in different regions of the world, and for such issue areas as security, economics, and the environment. Although focusing on the period since the 1990s, each chapter places its findings in a broader historical context.

The relationship between a powerful US and some of the central multilateral organizations in global society is an essential feature of contemporary international relations. This text brings together a range of scholars to examine this crucial phenomenon. Its aims are two-fold: to describe and explain US behaviour in and towards a wide range of significant global and regional institutions; and secondly, to examine the impact of US behaviour on the capacity of each organization to meet its own objectives. The study explores US behaviour and its consequences for organizations based at the regional as well as the global levels, for those located in different regions of the world, and for such issue areas as security, economics, and the environment. Although focusing on the period since the 1990s, each chapter places its findings in a broader historical context.

How did the individual human being become the focus of the contemporary discourse on security? What was the role of the United Nations in "securing" the individual? What are the payoffs and costs of this extension of the concept? Neil MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong tackle these questions by analyzing historical and contemporary debates about what is to be secured. From Westphalia through the 19th century, the state's claim to be the object of security was sustainable because it offered its subjects some measure of protection. The state's ability to provide security for its citizens came under heavy strain in the 20th century as a result of technological, strategic, and ideological innovations. By the end of World War II, efforts to reclaim the security rights of individuals gathered pace, as seen in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a host of United Nations covenants and conventions. MacFarlane and Khong highlight the UN's work in promoting human security ideas since the 1940s, giving special emphasis to its role in extending the notion of security to include development, economic, environmental, and other issues in the 1990s.

Gorbachev's Third World Dilemmas (1989) examines the strategic, political and ideological criteria which shaped Soviet policies toward the developing world. Organized around particular themes and issues, it pays attention to both theoretical fundamentals in Soviet doctrine and to Soviet actions in specific regions. The topics range widely and include: the Soviet conception of regional security; Soviet arms transfers and military aid to the developing world; the developing world in Soviet military thinking; the USSR and crisis in the Caribbean; Soviet policy towards Southern Africa, notably Angola and Mozambique; and Soviet policy towards Southwest Africa. It looks at the activist foreign policy that Gorbachev inherited, and explores the elements of change and continuity that Gorbachev and the Soviets faced.

Gorbachev's Third World Dilemmas (1989) examines the strategic, political and ideological criteria which shaped Soviet policies toward the developing world. Organized around particular themes and issues, it pays attention to both theoretical fundamentals in Soviet doctrine and to Soviet actions in specific regions. The topics range widely and include: the Soviet conception of regional security; Soviet arms transfers and military aid to the developing world; the developing world in Soviet military thinking; the USSR and crisis in the Caribbean; Soviet policy towards Southern Africa, notably Angola and Mozambique; and Soviet policy towards Southwest Africa. It looks at the activist foreign policy that Gorbachev inherited, and explores the elements of change and continuity that Gorbachev and the Soviets faced.