Critical Concepts in Political Science – serie

Nations and nationalism are central phenomena of the modern world, feeding into every aspect of personal and social life - the family, economy, culture, politics and international relations. This multi-volume collection of articles and chapters is the most comprehensive guide yet published on the subject of nationalism. It brings together in a compact format the major texts, many of which are scattered in specialist and inaccessible journals. Beginning with classic texts of Max Weber and concluding with contributions by postmodernists, this set aims to provide students and scholars with an overview of the most important debates and lines of enquiry.A general introduction outlines the main theoretical approaches and section introductions comment on the specific selections. There is also an extensive new index.

This unique set collects together 83 key articles on revolution. The set begins with theoretical approaches to the study of the subject, noting several theories advanced by revolutionaries themselves, and then moves on to major articles about individual events. Revolution: Critical Concepts provides an invaluable reference work for social scientists and historians. The articles reprinted here consider the following issues:* revolution - concept and theory * explaining the causes of revolution * revolutionary state building and the outcomes of revolutions * revolutionaries theories of revolution * case studies of great revolutions - applying theories, testing hypotheses * comparing and contrasting - explaining the success or failure of modern revolutions * revolutionary change in Eastern Europe, 1989 * the future of revolutions

Comprising more than 80 influential papers published in the 20th century, this set is the most comprehensive guide to appear to date. It is an indispensible research tool for students in upper level undergraduate programmes and taught postgraduate students. Researchers will also find it invaluable to have key essays in the development of international relations theory brought together in these volumes.The set gathers together essential papers from recent years, alongside classic studies from earlier periods. Organised into ten main areas, the themes covered include:* the nature and purpose of international theory* realism and idealism* scientific approaches* approaches to international cooperation* the liberal democratic peace* Marxism* historical sociology* critical theory* political theory and International Relations* normative approaches to world orderA substantial new index and Linklater's new introduction make this an invaluable research tool.

Encompassing the relationship between the state and the individual, society and the individual, the nature of freedom and the concept of the person, this four-volume set covers the main tenets of the liberal tradition. The collection includes material from the rich background and history of classical writings, and also emphasizes modern scholarship and contemporary issues.Fully indexed and including a new introduction by the editor, this is an invaluable reference tool for both researchers and students in the field.

This four-volume collection combines the historical with the conceptual, providing a guide to the main themes that have structured socialist thought and practice over the last 200 years. The set also examines contemporary socialism. A detailed index and new introduction makes this set an invaluable reference tool for students and researchers of politics.

One of the most contested issues of the 20th century is that of welfare - how it should be available, to whom, on what terms and by what means. The debate on welfare has taken place across the developed world, and has spread to developing nations: it encompasses a wide range of ideological positions and consumes a large proportion of the resources of states that provide it. This collection explores the ramifications of welfare and the state over the course of the 20th century, drawing material from a range of disciplines and with a geographical coverage across all the major developed countries.

Global governance is a key concept in academic and policy discussions. For many, global governance refers to the network of interstate agencies and the rules which order their relations and increasingly shape their domestic institutions. For others, global governance is a more pervasive system of diffuse, often private, authority stemming from globalization, which organizes and disciplines the affairs of communities and nations in the industrial and developing worlds. As a concept, global governance is hotly contested. These volumes illustrate the debates between divergent interpretations, document its emergence and rise to prominence and provide examples of applications.

The nature of 'fascism' has been hotly contested by scholars since the term was first coined by Mussolini in 1919. However, for the first time since Italian fascism appeared there is now a significant degree of consensus amongst scholars about how to approach the generic term, namely as a revolutionary form of ultra-nationalism. Seen from this perspective, all forms of fascism have three common features: anticonservatism, a myth of ethnic or national renewal and a conception of a nation in crisis. This collection includes articles that show this new consensus, which is inevitably contested, as well as making available material which relates to aspects of fascism independently of any sort of consensus and also covering fascism of the inter and post-war periods.This is a comprehensive selection of texts, reflecting both the extreme multi-faceted nature of fascism as a phenomenon and the extraordinary divergence of interpretations of fascism.

One of the most notable advances of the last half century was the development of international human rights norms and procedures, with some degree of institutionalization within the United Nations. Human rights, perhaps as much as any topic of global significance, has reflected the influence of transnational civic associations, which have pushed governments and international institutions to take the subject seriously. Moreover, the complex pattern of the evolution of human rights reflects the unevenness of economic development, political outlook and civilizational values around the world.Reflecting the importance of this fascinating area, this collection brings together representative selections of the best writing on the main dimensions of human rights.

Providing a history of modern rebel or non-state terror, this impressive collection takes a chronological approach to the area, highlighting the fact that terrorism as a concept has developed in the form of four consecutive waves. Each wave is characterized by distinctive features - most specifically purposes, organizational forms and tactics - which in turn shape the relationship between terrorist groups on national and international levels. In addition to articles from academic journals, the collection also includes discussions by participants in each wave, statements from involved groups, and relevant government documents. Principle events in terrorist history also receive special attention; for example, the first terrorist act, the assassination that provoked World War I and the 9/11 attacks on the US.

The academic field of peace studies emerged during the Cold War to address the nature and sources of interstate and internal conflict, as well as the methods to prevent this conflict and deal with its consequences.Peace studies, much like political science itself, is an interdisciplinary field, built upon contributions from psychology, sociology, history and economics among others. It differs from related fields, such as strategic studies or security studies, in its implicit normative and teleological orientation: an expectation that scholarly research can contribute to reducing the sources of conflict to produce a more just and peaceful world.

Contrary to the optimistic predictions at the turn of the last century about ‘the demise of major war’, the War on Terror, major civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, and the continuing conflict in the Middle East suggest that the study of warfare has never been so urgent. War stubbornly remains the ulimate arbiter of international disputes and continues to be a prominent feature of contemporary life: over one hundred states currently have forces overseas in one form of operation or another, and the United States, Britain, and France collectively have over 200,000 soldiers deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Cote d’Ivoire, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chad, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Haiti. (In 2006 alone, the UN Security Council passed nearly fifty resolutions relating to armed conflicts around the world.)But those interested in understanding why, how, and with what effect wars are fought are confronted by a bewildering range of theories, narratives, and cases, and a burgeoning amount of scholarly research. The sheer scale and diversity of war scholarship makes this new Routledge Major Work especially timely and welcome. It answers the need for a wide-ranging collection to make sense of the great variety of perspectives and approaches from which social scientists and other thinkers have understood, and continue to understand, war.The collection is organized into four volumes. Volume I (‘Nature of War’) explores the nature of war and addresses fundamental questions such as: what is war? And, what marks it out from other forms of violence? Volume I also contains material about the different types of war, the incidence of war, the causes of war, and how wars end.Volume II (‘History of War’) collects material on the historical development of war in different eras. The selected materials have been carefully chosen from across history to shed light on a common set of issues and to permit comparison across different eras. Volume III (‘Strategies of War’) focuses specifically on military strategy. The material collected here includes the main ideas of the most important strategic thinkers in history, together with learned commentaries on them. Key research on contemporary and future strategy is also included.Finally, Volume IV (‘Ethics and Laws of War’) brings together the best and most influential scholarship in four sections: ‘Contending Ethical Traditions’, ‘Recourse to Force’, ‘Conduct of War’, and ‘Justice after War’.With a full index, together with introductory material, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, War is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and practitioners of war and defence studies—as well as those working in allied disciplines such as security studies, international relations, politics, international law, and history—as a vital research resource.

Especially since the end of the Cold War, the concept of ‘civilization’ has been frequently deployed by those who seek to describe and explain the world in which we live. The events of 11 September 2001, and the subsequent ‘war on terror’, have further elevated the concept's use in the discourse of politics and international relations. There has, for instance, been feverish speculation and increasingly heated rhetoric about struggles ‘for civilization’ or a possible ‘clash of civilizations’, particularly between the West and the Islamic world. The term is used both to describe—and to cast value-laden judgements about—people, places, and events. It is often misinterpreted and misapplied, with sometimes dangerous consequences.In response to the revival and misuse of ‘civilization’, this new four-volume collection from Routledge Major Works meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a vast and growing scholarly literature. It brings together canonical and the best cutting-edge research to provide a comprehensive overview of the origins, contested meanings, contextual applications, and general history of this critical concept.Volume I (‘The Origins and Meaning of Civilization’) is made up of the best work from a distinguished line-up of political scientists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, and linguists. It outlines the origins of the concept and its many and disputed meanings. This first volume establishes the foundations on which much of the analysis included in the three subsequent volumes is based. Volume II (‘Civilization, Civilizations, Progress, and History’) includes a range of materials that intimately outline the relationship between the ideal of civilization and the idea of progress, including progress in the social, cultural, moral, scientific, and political realms. Research gathered here further examines how the concepts of civilization and progress in turn relate to the more general passage of history, particularly the idea of history with a purpose. Volume III (‘Civilization and its Others’) brings together the best scholarship to explore what civilization is not. The scholarship collected here comes from some of history’s most distinguished political scientists, leading international lawyers, anthropologists, and controversial ethnologists. Can one, for example, usefully draw a distinction between civilized, savage, and barbarian peoples? The final volume (‘Civilizational Relations: Past, Present, and Future’) enables researchers and students to navigate through the equally sensitive field of historical and contemporary relations between the world’s major civilizations or religio-cultural groups. It includes the catalysts of debates such as ‘the clash-of-civilizations thesis’ and the responses it has provoked.With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Civilization is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers of politics, political philosophy, and international relations—as well as those working in allied disciplines such as security studies and international law—as a vital research resource.

Islam has had a significant impact on world history, not only as a major religion that has directed the personal beliefs and actions of individuals, but also as the basis of a distinct system of government that has developed its own institutions, practices and philosophies.This new Routledge Major Work collection is concerned with the development of political thought in Islam. By political thought is meant, broadly, the study and interpretation of Islamic political culture, ideas, beliefs, and institutions; the contribution of key political theorists and authorities to the understanding or practice of governance; what people and groups believed about political authority and institutions and their political convictions; and how politics in the Islamic world has related to and interacted with other disciplines, such as religion, law, ethics, and philosophy.Although contemporary issues in Islamic political thought are very much in the public focus at the moment, this set also focuses on the history and development of Islamic political theories and thought, from their inception until the twentieth century. Political thought in the Muslim world is connected to its history and by understanding the past, those who study contemporary political thought will have a better grounding to understand current and future developments.Moreover, understanding how Islamic political thought developed also helps shed light on the political thought of other civilizations, such as Western political thought. Political thought in Islam did not develop in isolation—it responded to and interacted with the political institutions and theories of other civilizations throughout history.

The growing importance of Islam in the world coincides with the growing interest by scholars in understanding Islam as a religion and its political and social influences. The geographic scope of Islam goes far beyond the Middle East, ranging from the Far East to sub-Saharan Africa.There is a vast diversity of Islamic movements and every country has its own distinctive pattern. But of the main categories of Islamic groups, only the Islamist political groups, the best-known in the West such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Hamas and Hizballah, have been thoroughly analyzed and documented; but these are only a small portion of the variety and stance of groups. Indeed, the ‘Arab Spring’ has brought a resurgence of Islamic, as well as Islamist, civil society organizations.This new four-volume set provides a comprehensive study of the other main categories of movements: Muslim non-political, non-Islamist groups, including charitable and educational organizations as well as the association of imams, courts, and so on. These incorporate the networks of the traditional Muslim institutions which, in most cases, actually run the communities and provide services to them; Muslim non-Islamist political groups, that is the efforts to create communal representational or communal interest groups, commonly called ‘moderate Muslim’ groupings; the non-political aspects of Islamist groups, that is the social welfare, educational, theologically oriented, and special interest organizations created by Islamist groups to spread their influence and enlarge their base of support.This truly ground-breaking and timely work collects for the first time in one reference work the latest scholarship on a previously-neglected aspect of the Muslim political and social experience, and will be invaluable to researchers and students across a wide range of disciplines.

In the fifty or so years since the Treaty of Rome, the European Union has evolved far beyond the scope of any other comparable entity. The EU is now a unique model of international cooperation and integration, and its reach extends into almost every sphere of the lives of its half a billion citizens. As well as the establishment of a single market, the Union has its own currency, is developing a foreign policy, and has a growing role in justice and cultural matters.Scholarly work on the European Union has undergone a similarly rapid evolution. For example, with the major expansions of the Union since the end of the Cold War, there has been a huge growth in the range and depth of research into the many challenges of integration. As serious thinking about and around this and other crucial aspects of the European Union continues to flourish and develop, this new title in Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Political Science series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject’s vast literature and the continuing explosion in research output. Edited by Simon Usherwood, a leading EU scholar, it is a five-volume collection of foundational and cutting-edge contributions.The first volume in the collection (‘The Development of the European Union’) assembles the key work on the historical evolution of the European Union from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Even before the Constitutional Treaty proposed in 2004, there was much academic and political discussion about the degree and manner to which the EU transcended traditional political units and the materials gathered in Volume II (‘The Organization of the European Union and the Constitutional Turn’) explore the nature of the Union at this most fundamental level. The third volume in the collection (‘The Institutions of the European Union’) collects the most important research on the institutional structure of the EU. Here, the focus is on the dynamic processes at work within institutions and the models of understanding that academics have developed. Volume IV (‘Member States as Actors in the European Union’), meanwhile, brings together the best work on particular member states, considering, for example, why certain states have remained dominant actors within the Union, despite the scope and depth of EU expansion. In addition, the processes and outcomes which underpin this dominance—such as europeanisation—are also explored. The final volume in the collection (‘Citizens as Actors in the European Union’) concentrates on a very particular feature of the Union: the role of individual citizens. The material gathered here probes issues such as the perceived ‘democratic deficit’ in the Union.Fully indexed and with comprehensive introductions to each thematic part, newly written by the editor, which place the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, The European Union is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by political science scholars and researchers—as well as by EU specialists and policy-makers—as a vital one-stop research tool.

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE!(Valid until 3 months after publication)It is commonplace to observe that the Internet—and the dizzying technologies and applications which it continues to spawn—has revolutionized human communications. But, while the medium’s impact has apparently been immense, the nature of its political implications remains highly contested. To give but a few examples, the impact of networked individuals and institutions has prompted serious scholarly debates in political science and related disciplines on: the evolution of ‘e-government’ and ‘e-politics’ (especially after recent US presidential campaigns); electronic voting and other citizen participation; activism; privacy and surveillance; and the regulation and governance of cyberspace.As research in and around politics and the Internet flourishes as never before, this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Political Science series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing—and ever more complex—corpus of literature. Edited by William H. Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), the collection gathers foundational and canonical work, together with innovative and cutting-edge applications and interventions.With a full index and comprehensive bibliographies, together with a new introduction by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Politics and the Internet is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as a database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For researchers, students, practitioners, and policy-makers, it is a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Why is the Middle East the only part of the world which has drawn the West into wars in the last thirty years? With a sequence of events since 1945, including the Six-Day War, the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and the two Gulf wars, the Middle East has been the most important region of diplomacy, crisis, and controversy for the West. More recent events - notably the 2001 attack on the United States but also a number of other events (Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, nuclear proliferation, oil) - have even further escalated both engagement and debate. This has been punctuated by large-scale immigration to the West from the region. Islamism is the only ideology that challenges the dominant, globalizing, modern form of society.All of these factors have greatly increased interest in the West toward its engagement in the region and the need for good materials explaining the history, the strategies, events, and ideas. This new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in Political Science, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to answer these and other questions, and to enable users to make sense of the subject’s vast literature and the continuing explosion in research output.

International Political Economy is a thriving interdisciplinary area of study and research based on the combined insights of international economics and international relations theory. It has become one of the fastest growing fields of study in the social sciences, and this new title in the Routledge series, Critical Concepts in Political Science, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject’s already vast literature and the continuing expansion of research output. Edited by Benjamin J. Cohen, a prominent scholar in the field, it is a four-volume collection of classic and key contemporary contributions to the political economy of global economics.The first of the four volumes concentrates on theory, encompassing the full range of conceptual and analytical perspectives that characterize this diverse field of study. The second and third volumes address core structural elements of the world economy while a variety of contemporary policy challenges is taken up in the fourth volume, including problems of economic development, security and conflict, and the environment.With a comprehensive introduction newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, International Political Economy is an essential work of reference. Researchers, teachers, and students will value the collection as a vital one-stop scholarly and pedagogic resource.

This new Routledge Major Work collection of the best scholarly research and serious writing on Al Qaeda will be welcomed by researchers, students, and counter-terrorism specialists as the go-to resource. The gathered materials are mainly drawn from scholarly journals of the first rank and chapters from the most authoritative books. Also included are a small number of newspaper and magazine articles which have already made an enduring impact on what is a very new field of research.Al Qaeda is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Since at least the time of Plato, political scientists and philosophers have been concerned about what citizens and rulers should know if they are to be governed—and govern—well. Moreover, the increasing complexity of modern societies has revivified thinking about and around the critical concept of political knowledge. Vital questions arise, such as: does effective democracy demand an informed electorate? is such an aspiration realistic, given the size and reach of modern governments? how can electorates compensate for their ignorance, given the vast amount of information that might be necessary to make sound political judgements? or is such ignorance ‘rational’?This new collection from Routledge brings together canonical and cutting-edge research to interrogate these and other issues. Edited by leading scholars, Political Knowledge assembles in four volumes the best and most important scholarship, from the ancients to the work of the deliberative democrats. The collection also gathers the key survey research, from the Columbia and Michigan schools down to the present. Further, it makes sense of the main lines of normative debate about these findings, and addresses the various causal and theoretical understandings of political knowledge and ignorance, while illuminating directions for future research.With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Political Knowledge is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as an essential database allowing scattered and often fugitive material from less accessible books and specialized journals to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For researchers, students, and policymakers, it is a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Citizenship, denoting full and active membership of the national and political community, has been recognized as a critical concept since ancient times. However, three key and related changes have occurred to each of the basic components of this concept that have altered dramatically to whom and to what it now refers, and the contexts in which it seems proper to use it. First, the scope of membership—or who can be a citizen—has broadened considerably. Second, the rights and duties of citizenship have likewise been transformed. Finally, the contours of the political community, or the loci where it is appropriate and necessary to adopt civic behaviour, has similarly altered. Changes in one dimension have tended to lead to concomitant changes to the others. For example, the inclusion of women as full members of the political community has initiated a long process of reform to the entitlements and obligations of citizenship, and has challenged not only the traditional contours of the public and private, but also the venues for citizenly activity and the forms it might take.This new collection from Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Political Science series brings together in four volumes both canonical and cutting-edge research to enable users to make sense of the theory and practice of citizenship. Volume I explores the classic theories of citizenship: starting with historical accounts of ancient and early modern citizenship, and then charting the shift from republican to liberal citizenship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The volume’s focus is then on T. H. Marshall’s view of citizenship within the liberal democratic, national welfare states that emerged after the Second World War, and the critiques that came from new left and new right alike from the 1970s onwards. Volume II asks ‘Who is a Citizen?’. The major works gathered in this volume take particular account of the impact of feminist activism and scholarship; the emergence and critique of multiculturalism in addressing ethnic, ‘racial’ and religious diversity; and the rights asserted by immigrants and asylum seekers. Volume III, meanwhile, gathers the best scholarship on citizenship practice, and explores how the rights and duties of citizenship have moved from the state sphere strictly defined, to encompass a much broader reading of politics that also includes much of civil society. The final volume of the collection addresses the ways in which issues about and around citizenship have simultaneously extended beyond the state into transnational and supranational contexts (such as the European Union), and have also, in some instances, become devolved from the state to the regional and local levels.With a full index, and a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Citizenship is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as a database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For researchers, students, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Law and politics are deeply intertwined. Law is an essential tool of government action, an instrument with which government tries to influence society. Law is also the means by which government itself is structured, regulated, and controlled. It is no surprise, then, that law is an important prize in the political struggle and that law shapes how politics is conducted.As serious thinking about and around law and politics continues to flourish and develop, this new title in Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Political Science series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to map and make sense of the subject’s vast literature, and the ongoing explosion in research output. Edited by a leading scholar in the field, Law and Politics is a four-volume collection of foundational and cutting-edge contributions.The materials gathered in the first volume cover jurisprudence and constitutionalism. The assembled major works examine crucial questions such as: what is law? And: what purposes do constitutions serve? Volume II, meanwhile, focuses on how courts operate and how judges make their decisions, examining the judicial process from trial courts to appellate courts. The third volume addresses the relationship between law and society and assesses the intersection between the legal process and social actors, considering such issues as how ordinary people think about the law and how legal compliance works. The final volume in the collection considers law, courts, and politics from an international and comparative perspective, bringing together the best and most influential research on such topics as the foundations of judicial independence and the relationship between law and economic development.With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Law and Politics is an essential work of reference. The collection will be particularly useful as an essential database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. It will also be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. For political scientists and lawyers, as well as those working in cognate disciplines, it is sure to be valued as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

The learned editors of this new four-volume collection from Routledge argue that—at its core—postcolonialism makes two substantial claims, with corresponding research agendas and political implications. First, that the emergence and functioning of the modern world cannot be truly understood and explained as if it originated in Europe and was then ‘exported’ to the non-West; such Eurocentric accounts must be interrogated and challenged. Second, that since the humanities and social sciences developed in Europe, as an attempt to make sense of Western developments, the analytical tools and disciplinary formations by which we seek to explain and represent the world also need to be critically questioned, and where necessary, rethought.This timely new collection from Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Political Science series enables users to comprehend the scope and ambition of these claims, and to make sense of the dizzying diversity of texts, generated across different continents and in different languages, and spanning numerous fields of intellectual and literary endeavour, that constitute the formative and central works of Postcolonial Politics. The four volumes that make up the collection are edited by the directors of the Centre for Postcolonial Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, and unite the expertise of three distinguished scholars who have produced a unique ‘mini library’ that is as diverse as its subject matter. Postcolonial Politics brings together foundational and cutting-edge essays and journal articles, and it draws on sources from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, as well as those in the Western world, including some newly translated pieces.Fully indexed and with new introductions to each volume, this collection will be welcomed by scholars, other researchers, and advanced students as an indispensable reference and pedagogic resource.

Scholars and students of African politics address some of the thorniest issues of our time. Indeed, over the last thirty years or so, the subdiscipline has expanded in scope and ambition, and leads the way in major fields of research, such as the study of ethnicity and identity politics.Now, this timely new collection from Routledge, edited by Nic Cheeseman (the former Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University), brings together the classic and essential texts of African politics, creating a top-quality and easily accessible resource for students, researchers, and policymakers alike. The four volumes that make up the collection are structured around the biggest questions that have dominated African Studies: What was the legacy of colonial rule, and has Africa broken free of its international dependency? How are ethnic identities formed, and what impact have they had? Why is Africa so poor? What are the main barriers to development? Is democracy feasible in Africa, and, if so, how can it be designed to promote political stability?Each volume is introduced by a comprehensive summary chapter, newly written by the editor, which both provides a valuable overview of the key trends in the literature and explains what we know, what we don’t know, and what controversies remain.

The study of ethnic conflict saw its heyday in the aftermath of the Cold War with a proliferation of theories about its causes and management. But its origins as a subject of academic inquiry not only predate the end of the Cold War but also its inception, with some of the earliest works of significance emerging as far back as the end of the First World War. Since then, the field has become both multidisciplinary (in the sense of different disciplinary perspectives engaging individually with ethnic conflict as an object of study) and interdisciplinary (with novel insights emerging from the combination of various disciplinary approaches). In a similar vein, the range of methods applied to the study of ethnic conflict ranges from the purely theoretical, to the single ethnographic case study, to large statistical analyses, and various combinations thereof.While the study of ethnic conflict may have lost some of its early dynamism, as an empirical manifestation of political crisis it has, if anything, gained in importance and, alas, is unlikely to decline in relevance. Now, this new four-volume collection from Routledge answers the growing need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the different approaches to the study of ethnic conflict, and to offer a comprehensive and representative overview, combining foundational texts with the very best cutting-edge contemporary scholarship.Ethnic Conflict is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential reference work and is destined to be valued by scholars and students—as well as policy-makers and practitioners—as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.