Includes sections "Recent books on international relations" and "Source material."

This book critically examines how US foreign policy has produced a regional regime of instability and insecurity in South Asia and the Middle East. It focuses on three interconnected zones of conflict—Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia, Iran and the Persian Gulf states, and Iraq and its neighbours. In a comprehensive historical survey, this work compares the governing behaviour of these states with that of the West, where the American foreign policy establishment has, in contrast, pushed for investing in collective security. The author studies various events throughout history such as the Taliban regime; the US-led war in Afghanistan; the Obama administration and Pakistan; the first and second Gulf wars; the Arab Spring, and the rise of ISIS to present a theoretical analysis of Washington’s consistent pursuit of multibalancing and regime change wars in the region. An important critical assessment of Western foreign policies, this book will be indispensable for students and researchers of US foreign policy, defense and security studies, strategic affairs, politics and international relations, political economy, nation-state building, identity studies, globalization studies, Middle East studies, and South Asian studies.

Neutrality serves different purposes during times of war and peace. ‘Notions of Neutralities’ portrays those historical challenges that neutrals faced, and are still facing, to maintain some form of economic stability and political order as chaos and wars rage. Neutrals are exposed to existential issues and questions of civil-society, international politics, and morality, in a world defiant to principles of universal peace. Every age has its own armed conflicts and while the questions they raise are often the same, the answers are different because the international word order changes. Is neutrality justifiable even when the humanity of civilization is at risk as in the Second World War or the wars of the post-Cold War era? Can those who refuse the call to arms still act by providing humanitarian services to contain the impact of war or, on the contrary, are neutrals shut-off from global politics – mere weaklings that “suffer what they must?" This book addresses such questions through an interdisciplinary scholarship by some of the world’s foremost experts on neutrality. Twelve chapters tackle different but profound aspects of the concept over a span of five hundred years. They succinctly show the evolution of international norms in the context of war and peace. What is more, the essays portray fundamental categories of thinking about a variety of neutralities that the international system has produced in the past and present. The authors discuss the complexities of neutrality, providing a new and refreshing understanding of international relations and security for the past as well as for the multipolar world of the twenty-first century.

After more than a decade of reform efforts in Africa, much of the optimism over the continent's prospects has been replaced by widespread Afropessimism. But to what extent is either view well founded? Democratic Reform in Africa plumbs the key issues in the contemporary African experience - including intrastate conflict, corruption, and the development of civil society - highlighting the challenges and evaluating the progress of political and economic change. Case studies of Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa complement the thematic chapters, exploring the interactions between democracy and development.