William Maley – författare

This book offers an overview of the formation of the Afghan state and of the politics, economic challenges and international relations of contemporary Afghanistan.

It opens with an account of some of the key features that make Afghanistan unique and proceeds to discuss how the Afghan state acquired a distinctive character as a rentier state. In addition, the authors outline a complex range of domestic and external factors that led to the breakdown of the state, and how that breakdown gave rise to a set of challenges with which Afghan political and social actors have been struggling to deal since the 2001 international intervention that overthrew the anti-modernist Taliban regime. It then presents the different types of politics that Afghanistan has witnessed over the last two decades; examines some of the most important features of the Afghan economy; and demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geopolitical location and international relations more broadly have complicated the task of promoting stability in the post-2001 period. It concludes with some reflections on the factors that are likely to shape Afghanistan’s future trajectory and notes that if there are hopes for a better future, they largely rest on the shoulders of a globalised generation of younger Afghans.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Middle East and Central Asian studies, international relations, politics, development studies and history.

This book offers an overview of the formation of the Afghan state and of the politics, economic challenges and international relations of contemporary Afghanistan.

It opens with an account of some of the key features that make Afghanistan unique and proceeds to discuss how the Afghan state acquired a distinctive character as a rentier state. In addition, the authors outline a complex range of domestic and external factors that led to the breakdown of the state, and how that breakdown gave rise to a set of challenges with which Afghan political and social actors have been struggling to deal since the 2001 international intervention that overthrew the anti-modernist Taliban regime. It then presents the different types of politics that Afghanistan has witnessed over the last two decades; examines some of the most important features of the Afghan economy; and demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geopolitical location and international relations more broadly have complicated the task of promoting stability in the post-2001 period. It concludes with some reflections on the factors that are likely to shape Afghanistan’s future trajectory and notes that if there are hopes for a better future, they largely rest on the shoulders of a globalised generation of younger Afghans.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of Middle East and Central Asian studies, international relations, politics, development studies and history.

This book is composed of interconnected essays which reflect on challenging new issues related to diplomacy, communication, and peace.

This book begins by drawing out some of the challenges for diplomacy that arise from modern theories of semantics and of strategic communication, as well as those posed by the need for secrecy, and by the activities of agents of influence. It then proceeds to examine important issues in contemporary diplomacy, including refugee diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, sovereignty, norms, and consular activities. It concludes with an exploration of dilemmas that confront attempts to promote peace through multilateral means, such as the limitations of peacemaking diplomacy, the difficulty of promoting democratic governance, and the problems associated with dealing with morally repugnant actors. The book is grounded in the conception of diplomacy as a social practice with multiple players, and recognises that ‘the state’ has many different elements, and that ‘state actors’ live in worlds shaped not just by their relations with other states, but also by their own complex domestic politics.

This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This book is composed of interconnected essays which reflect on challenging new issues related to diplomacy, communication, and peace.

This book begins by drawing out some of the challenges for diplomacy that arise from modern theories of semantics and of strategic communication, as well as those posed by the need for secrecy, and by the activities of agents of influence. It then proceeds to examine important issues in contemporary diplomacy, including refugee diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy, sovereignty, norms, and consular activities. It concludes with an exploration of dilemmas that confront attempts to promote peace through multilateral means, such as the limitations of peacemaking diplomacy, the difficulty of promoting democratic governance, and the problems associated with dealing with morally repugnant actors. The book is grounded in the conception of diplomacy as a social practice with multiple players, and recognises that ‘the state’ has many different elements, and that ‘state actors’ live in worlds shaped not just by their relations with other states, but also by their own complex domestic politics.

This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, and International Relations.

This book explores the implications of drone warfare for the legitimacy of global order.

The literature on drone warfare has evolved from studying the proliferation of drones, to measuring their effectiveness, to exploring their legal, moral, and ethical impacts. These "three waves" of scholarship do not, however, address the implications of drone warfare for global order. This book fills the gap by contributing to a "fourth wave" of literature concerned with the trade-offs imposed by drone warfare for global order. The book draws on the "English School" of International Relations Theory, which is premised on the existence of a society of states bounded by common norms, values, and institutions, to argue that drone warfare imposes contradictions on the structural and normative pillars of global order. These consist of the structure of international society and diffusion of military capabilities, as well as the sovereign equality of states and laws of armed conflict. The book presents a typology of contradictions imposed by drone warfare within and across these axes that threaten the legitimacy of global order. This framework also suggests a confounding consequence of drone warfare that scholars have not hitherto explored rigorously: drone warfare can sometimes strengthen global order. The volume concludes by proposing a research agenda to reconcile the complex and often counter-intuitive impacts of drone warfare for global order.

This book will be of considerable interest to students of security studies, global governance, and International Relations.

This book explores the implications of drone warfare for the legitimacy of global order.

The literature on drone warfare has evolved from studying the proliferation of drones, to measuring their effectiveness, to exploring their legal, moral, and ethical impacts. These "three waves" of scholarship do not, however, address the implications of drone warfare for global order. This book fills the gap by contributing to a "fourth wave" of literature concerned with the trade-offs imposed by drone warfare for global order. The book draws on the "English School" of International Relations Theory, which is premised on the existence of a society of states bounded by common norms, values, and institutions, to argue that drone warfare imposes contradictions on the structural and normative pillars of global order. These consist of the structure of international society and diffusion of military capabilities, as well as the sovereign equality of states and laws of armed conflict. The book presents a typology of contradictions imposed by drone warfare within and across these axes that threaten the legitimacy of global order. This framework also suggests a confounding consequence of drone warfare that scholars have not hitherto explored rigorously: drone warfare can sometimes strengthen global order. The volume concludes by proposing a research agenda to reconcile the complex and often counter-intuitive impacts of drone warfare for global order.

This book will be of considerable interest to students of security studies, global governance, and International Relations.

This book explores various dimensions of recent international relations scholarship, taking the case of Afghanistan as a point of departure for discussion of these different themes.

Contributors investigate a broad range of topics, including international relations theory, the nature of global order, ‘othering’ discourses, diplomacy, international law, the transformation of war, terrorism, gender politics, social media, state building, democratisation, refugee movements, globalisation, and historical lessons. The Afghanistan case helps illuminate the complexities of all these areas of analysis, and the book takes the analysis of Afghanistan in new directions. Theoretically, the authors interrogate the Afghanistan case’s implications for international relations, and vice-versa, by integrating multiple and complementary global or structural, state or institutional, and behavioralist or leader-centric lenses. Conceptually, the chapters bridge the gap between theory and practice, thus reflecting the emergence of a problem-oriented approach to international relations scholarship. Methodologically, the research design employed by the authors is best characterised as ‘analytical eclecticism’. The majority of contributors originate from Afghanistan, something which again makes this book notable, and all three editors have extensive experience from time spent in Afghanistan.

Using the Afghan case to explicate the importance of the relevance of theory and its related concepts to international relations studies, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of international relations, Asian and Middle East Studies.

This book explores various dimensions of recent international relations scholarship, taking the case of Afghanistan as a point of departure for discussion of these different themes.

Contributors investigate a broad range of topics, including international relations theory, the nature of global order, ‘othering’ discourses, diplomacy, international law, the transformation of war, terrorism, gender politics, social media, state building, democratisation, refugee movements, globalisation, and historical lessons. The Afghanistan case helps illuminate the complexities of all these areas of analysis, and the book takes the analysis of Afghanistan in new directions. Theoretically, the authors interrogate the Afghanistan case’s implications for international relations, and vice-versa, by integrating multiple and complementary global or structural, state or institutional, and behavioralist or leader-centric lenses. Conceptually, the chapters bridge the gap between theory and practice, thus reflecting the emergence of a problem-oriented approach to international relations scholarship. Methodologically, the research design employed by the authors is best characterised as ‘analytical eclecticism’. The majority of contributors originate from Afghanistan, something which again makes this book notable, and all three editors have extensive experience from time spent in Afghanistan.

Using the Afghan case to explicate the importance of the relevance of theory and its related concepts to international relations studies, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of international relations, Asian and Middle East Studies.