Complexity Science and World Affairs

Complexity Science and World Affairs PDF Author: Walter C. Clemens Jr.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438449038
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Why did some countries transition peacefully from communist rule to political freedom and market economies, while others did not? Why did the United States enjoy a brief moment as the sole remaining superpower, and then lose power and influence across the board? What are the prospects for China, the main challenger to American hegemony? In Complexity Science and World Affairs, Walter C. Clemens Jr. demonstrates how the basic concepts of complexity science can broaden and deepen the insights gained by other approaches to the study of world affairs. He argues that societal fitness—the ability of a social system to cope with complex challenges and opportunities—hinges heavily on the values and way of life of each society, and serves to explain why some societies gain and others lose. Applying theory to several rich case studies, including political developments across post–Soviet Eurasia and the United States, Clemens shows that complexity science offers a powerful set of tools for advancing the study of international relations, comparative government, and, more broadly, the social sciences.

Complexity Science and World Affairs

Complexity Science and World Affairs PDF Author: Walter C. Clemens Jr.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438449038
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why did some countries transition peacefully from communist rule to political freedom and market economies, while others did not? Why did the United States enjoy a brief moment as the sole remaining superpower, and then lose power and influence across the board? What are the prospects for China, the main challenger to American hegemony? In Complexity Science and World Affairs, Walter C. Clemens Jr. demonstrates how the basic concepts of complexity science can broaden and deepen the insights gained by other approaches to the study of world affairs. He argues that societal fitness—the ability of a social system to cope with complex challenges and opportunities—hinges heavily on the values and way of life of each society, and serves to explain why some societies gain and others lose. Applying theory to several rich case studies, including political developments across post–Soviet Eurasia and the United States, Clemens shows that complexity science offers a powerful set of tools for advancing the study of international relations, comparative government, and, more broadly, the social sciences.

Encounters with World Affairs

Encounters with World Affairs PDF Author: Assoc Prof Emilian Kavalski
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1472411188
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
This book is designed to familiarise students with leading International Relations (IR) theories and their explanation of political events, phenomena, and processes which cross the territorial boundaries of the state. Thus, students will be exposed to the interplay between power, interest, ideas, identity, and resistance, in explaining continuity and change in international relations. Developed to provide students with the analytical tools and intellectual frameworks needed to understand the behaviour of different international actors in contemporary global affairs. This textbook responds to the challenges of a dynamic job market by assisting students to gain both thorough theoretical knowledge and training them to apply this knowledge to real world problems. In short, this textbook delivers: A comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the examination of national, regional and global trends in politics, economics and socio-cultural developments allowing students to understand: • the practice and theory of contemporary international relations • the politics, culture, history, and economies of different regions around the world • the role played by international interactions, culture, and government in local, national, and global settings. Equipping students with the proficiency: • to understand and interpret the dynamics, patterns, and issues of global affairs • to know how to get more information about particular questions • to evaluate that information independently and effectively. To these ends, the textbook provides a number of features that will appeal to students and avoids overwhelming students with chapters on topics which (in practice) are rarely on courses, while nonetheless providing a comprehensive overview of the field. Introduces students to the main debates, topics, and terms in the field and allows them to decide which they would like to focus on in their further studies.

Africa in World Affairs

Africa in World Affairs PDF Author: Rajen Harshé
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0429535341
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Africa finds itself at the centre stage of world politics in the twenty-first century. To truly determine its rising influence and role in world affairs would mean unravelling the politics of imperialism, the Cold War and globalisation. Going beyond Euro-American perspectives, this book presents a comprehensive study of Africa and its role in world politics. Africa in World Affairs: • Closely examines the transition of Africa in its colonial and post-colonial phases; • Explores the intellectual history of modern Africa through liberation struggles, social movements, leaders and thinkers; • Investigates the continent’s relationships with former colonial powers such as Britain, France and Portugal; untangles complexities of French neo-colonialism and sheds light on the role of the superpower, such as the USA and major and rising powers like China and India; • Highlights complex and wide-ranging diversities of the region, and the ways in which it continues to negotiate with issues of modernity, racism and globalisation. A core text on Africa and the world, this book will be indispensable for students of African studies, politics and international relations, and history. It will also be a must-read for policymakers, diplomats and government think tanks.

Human Security in World Affairs

Human Security in World Affairs PDF Author: Alexander K. Lautensach
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783902890009
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
This book is intended as an introductory text from senior undergraduate level up, to be used in courses on international studies and relations, political studies, history, human geography, anthropology and human ecology, futures studies, applied social studies, public health, and other fields. It represents in a coherent fashion the new subject of human security and sets it apart from more traditional models of security. Its approach is deliberately multidisciplinary and transcultural. In addition to a thorough overview of the human security concept, the chapters address problems and opportunities in international law, politics, international relations, human ecology, ethics, law enforcement, development aid, human rights, and public health. The reader is also introduced to specific human security regimes that address human rights violations, peace building and conflict resolution, as well as global environmental governance. The book encourages a vision of the future that acknowledges the certainty of change, extrapolates significant current trends, and questions the values, beliefs and ideals that tend to inform dominant notions of development. Because of its transdisciplinary approach, the book will appeal to a very wide range of interests at the post-secondary/tertiary level. It will be of particular interest to college and university undergraduate students as well as graduate students and researchers, and also to educators from various disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Impact in International Affairs

Impact in International Affairs PDF Author: James Gow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000170950
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
This book examines how and to what extent academic research in politics and international studies has had 'impact' — in doing so, it also considers what might characterise ‘world-leading’ research impact. International Relations was always meant to have impact – it was intended to make a difference in the world, when the subject was formally founded to understand and prevent war in 1919. This volume addresses the concept of ‘impact’ and offers a typology of the term — instrumental, conceptual, capacity building and procedural. The authors examine 111 impact case studies in the UK Research Excellence Framework (2014) that were classified as having achieved the highest level of evaluation, and they identify eight characteristics that mark ‘world-leading’ impact. The book concludes that process and public and media engagement are previously underestimated aspects of impact in official approaches. It further demonstrates that achieving the top levels of impact in international relations is possible, but that factors such as the nature of the subject, the approach of researchers and mean-spiritedness in the peer review process inhibited this. This book will be of much interest to students of politics and international studies, as well as educational research and policy makers, and anyone interested in, or working on, research impact.

Universities and World Affairs

Universities and World Affairs PDF Author: Howard Eugene Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
This small volume is addressed to all who are concerned with the role of colleges and universities in the conduct of international relations and the defense of a free world. It is an introduction to the subject, and is, in many respects, a handbook intended for the use of members of the university community.

World Affairs: an Analytical Overview

World Affairs: an Analytical Overview PDF Author:
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814293881
Category : International relations
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description


Hierarchies in World Politics

Hierarchies in World Politics PDF Author: Ayşe Zarakol
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108416632
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This book showcases the best new international relations research on hierarchy and moves the discipline forward in this new direction.

Studies in Universities and World Affairs

Studies in Universities and World Affairs PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description


New Thinking In International Relations Theory

New Thinking In International Relations Theory PDF Author: Michael W Doyle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429967233
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This book of ten original essays provides a showcase of currently diverse theoretical agendas in the field of international relations. Contributors address the theoretical analysis that their perspective brings to the issue of change in global politics. Written for readers with a general interest in and knowledge of world affairs, New Thinking in International Relations Theory can also be assigned in international relations theory courses.The volume begins with an essay on the classical tradition at the end of the Cold War. Essays explore work outside the mainstream, such as Jean Bethke Elshtain on feminist theory and James Der Derian on postmodern theory as well as those developing theoretical advances within traditional realms from James DeNardo's formal modeling to the more descriptive analyses of Miles Kahler and Steve Weber. Other essays include Matthew Evangelista on domestics structure, Daniel Deudney on naturalist and geopolitical theory, and Joseph Grieco on international structuralist theory.