Provides a critique and an extention of the "democratic peace" theory by focusing on the regional level and by offering alternative explanations for the maintenance of democratic and non-democratic "zones of peace."

International relations scholars have traditionally focused on explaining war rather than peace, resulting in the concept of peace being understudied and underemphasized. This book in contrast explains the maintenance of extensive periods of international peace in two regions of the Third World: South America and West Africa. The term "zones of peace" has been used in reference to the Cold War (1945–1989) and to separate peace among the democracies developed progressively throughout the last two hundred years. In this book, however, Kacowicz moves beyond a European focus to consider the theoretical and historical significance of the term in the context of the Third World. He argues that there have been periods of "long peace," so that zones of peace, characterized by the absence of interstate war, have developed in South America since the late 1880s and among the West African countries since their independence in the early 1960s. Kacowicz explores how regional peace is maintained in South America and West Africa through the distilling of alternative explanations, including Realism, Liberalism, and satisfaction with the territorial status quo. He also examines how peace can be maintained among states that usually do not sustain Western democratic regimes by offering a critique (and improvement) upon the "democratic peace" theory. Peace can indeed be maintained, he asserts, among nondemocratic states, although there is a direct relationship between the quality of the regional peace and the type of political regimes sustained by the countries in any given region.

This volume is a collection of the best essays of Professor Benjamin Miller on the subjects of international and regional security. The book analyses the interrelationships between international politics and regional and national security, with a special focus on the sources of international conflict and collaboration and the causes of war and peace. More specifically, it explains the sources of intended and unintended great-power conflict and collaboration. The book also accounts for the sources of regional war and peace by developing the concept of the state-to-nation balance. Thus the volume is able to explain the variations in the outcomes of great power interventions and the differences in the level and type of war and peace in different eras and various parts of the world. For example, the book’s model can account for recent outcomes such as the effects of the 2003 American intervention in Iraq, the post-2011 Arab Spring and the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine. The book also provides a model for explaining the changes in American grand strategy with a special focus on accounting for the causes of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Finally, the book addresses the debate on the future of war and peace in the 21st century. This book will be essential reading for students of international security, regional security, Middle Eastern politics, foreign policy and IR.

A collection of leading international scholars examine the concept of regions from a range of perspectives and assess leading contemporary examples.

This volume provides a unique open inter-disciplinary dialogue across the Humanities and Social Sciences to further our understanding of the phenomenon of regions and regionalism in a globalized world both at the theoretical and empirical levels. What comprises a region? What are the different regional dynamic processes that take place? What is the relationship between the regional and the global? What role does identity building play? Bringing together scholars from various disciplines within and across the Social Sciences and the Humanities to reflect on these questions, the book explores how regions are imagined, constructed, understood, and explained in different academic disciplines. Each chapter addresses these common questions and uses its own disciplinary lenses to answer them. In addition, the volume offers interesting reflections on the academic borders constructed in the study of regions, thus demonstrating the importance of obtaining insights from both social scientists and humanities scholars in order to better understand the relevance of regions in a complex and globalized world. An important work for scholars and postgraduate students in many fields, including political science, international relations, sociology, economics, geography, history and literature, as well as for those interested in regionalism and area studies.

This edited volume examines how the multiple manifestations of social violence in Brazil impacts the building of a peaceful society. The chapters reflect on the role of state, organized crime and civil society. They provide a unique analysis of how the Brazilian state deals with criminal violence, but also finds challenges to comply with Sustainable Development Goal 16, to interdict police violence, and to provide an efficient gun policy. The book shows the agency of civil society in a violent society, in which NGOs and communities engage in key peace formation action, including advocacy for human rights and promoting arts. The overall aim of this book is to advance the research agenda regarding the intersections between peace, public security, and violence, under the lens of peace studies. In Brazil, the challenges to peace differ markedly from areas in regular conflict.

Is the phenomenon of state failure better understood through a focus on the regional context? To what extent may studies of regional security benefit from a focus on the capacities and vulnerabilities of the states involved? This title addresses these questions.

Provides a unique reference source for students and academics covering all aspects of global international relations and the contemporary discipline across IR's major subject divisions of diplomacy, military affairs, international political economy, and theory.

This study investigates the overall Soviet conception of non-alignment in the Third World and assesses Soviet policy in relation to this issue.

This encyclopaedia provides a comprehensive overview of major theories and approaches to the study of peace and conflict across different humanities and social sciences disciplines. Peace and conflict studies (PCS) is one of the major sub-disciplines of international studies (including political science and international relations), and has emerged from a need to understand war, related systems and concepts and how to respond to it afterward. As a living reference work, easily discoverable and searchable, the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies offers solid material for understanding the foundational, historical, and contemporary themes, concepts, theories, events, organisations, and frameworks concerning peace, conflict, security, rights, institutions and development. The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Peace and Conflict Studies brings together leading and emerging scholars from different disciplines to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on peace and conflict studies ever produced.