Author Description

Written in clear and accessible prose, this text discusses the major theories of international relations and provides students with the historical background to understand global politics. With this new edition, the text has undergone a thorough revision to reflect the latest developments in world events and the study of international relations. The text is organized into five parts: theory and history, states and foreign policy, security relations, economic relations, and global challenges. It focuses on today\'s most urgent issues, such as international conflict, economic alliances, and terrorism and global security. A theoretical chapter on global politics covers six major perspectives on international relations and clearly explains the premise and significance of each theory. New! The book has been reorganized so that students are introduced to non-state actors (MNCs, NGOs, terrorist groups) earlier in the text (in Chapter 4 rather than Chapter 13). Chapter 4, renamed "The Power of States and the Rise of Transnational Actors," now includes both state and non-state actors. New! Ethnic Conflict and International Terrorism, topics previously covered in Chapters 13 and 6 respectively, are now covered together in Chapter 7. New! Developments in global politics relating to security and economic issues have been incorporated throughout the book. These include the Iraq war (both the decision to go to war and the aftermath), ethnic and religious conflicts (such as in Iraq and Darfur), the state of WTO negotiations in the Doha Round, the "leftist turn" in Latin America, the failure of the EU constitution, nuclear proliferation (including Iran and N. Korea), international terrorism (including London, Madrid, and Mumbai bombings), and U.S. unilateralism and the backlash to it. New! Figures, events, and scholarship have been fully updated. New! The text now includes a marginal glossary of key terms. Coverage of globalization focuses on the growing importance of the global ec