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In this discerning book, Monteagle Stearns, a former career diplomat and ambassador, argues that U.S. foreign policymakers do not need a new doctrine, as some commentators have suggested, but rather a new attitude toward international affairs and, most especially, new ways of learning from the Foreign Service. True, the word strangers in his title refers to foreigners. However, it also refers to American foreign policymakers and American diplomats, whose failure to "speak each other's language" deprives American foreign policy of realism and coherence. In a world where regions have become more important than blocs, and ethnic and transnational problems more important than superpower rivalries, American foreign policy must be better informed if it is to be more effective. The insights required will come not from summit meetings or television specials but from the firsthand observations of trained Foreign Service officers.Stearns has not written an apologia for the American Foreign Service, however. Indeed, his criticism of many of its weaknesses is biting. Ranging from a description of Benjamin Franklin's mission to France to an analysis of the Gulf War and its aftermath, he offers a balanced critique of how American diplomacy developed in reaction to European models and how it needs to be changed to satisfy the demands of the twenty-first century. Full of examples drawn from Stearns's extensive experience, Talking to Strangers addresses the problems that arise not only from an overly politicized foreign policy process but also from excessive bureaucratization and lack of leadership in the Foreign Service itself. Anyone interested in our nation's future will benefit from reading Stearns's pull-no-punches analysis of why improving American diplomacy should be a matter of urgent concern to us all

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- 1. Introduction -- 2. China's Changing Strategic Landscape -- 3. Growing Capabilities, Growing Problems -- 4. China's Growing Power: Why the Worry? -- 5. Stimuli for a New Strategy -- 6. China Adjusts -- 7. China and the Major Powers -- 8. Will the Current Grand Strategy Endure? -- 9. The Rising Challenge -- Works Cited -- Index

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 RWANDA THE GENOCIDE THAT MIGHT HAVE BE EN PREVENTED -- 2 RWANDA THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE -- 3 HAITI A TALE OF TWO PRESIDENTS -- 4 BOSNIA THE PARIAH PROBLEM -- 5 BOSNIA FACING REALITY -- 6 BOSNIA AND KOSOVO BREAKING THE CYCLE -- 7 THE CHINA SYNDROME -- 8 CHINA COLLISION COURSE -- 9 STRATEGIES FOR PEACE 283 -- Chronology -- State Department Organizational Chart -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Decolonization Process -- 2. The Question of Palestine -- 3. Decolonization in Africa: Experiences in International Responsibility -- 4. The Iran-Iraq War and Its Bearing on the Future of International Order -- Afterword -- Appendix A: The United Nations System and the Future -- Appendix B: The Future of Peacekeeping -- Appendix C: Remarks at the Nobel Prize Banquet -- Notes -- The Distinguished Visiting Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- One. Setting The Stage -- Two. Heritage In Crisis -- Three. A Family Of Multitudes -- Four. Legends of the Forefathers -- Five. Feuding Over Power -- Six. Contest for the Sacred Spears -- Seven. The Maternal Link -- Eight. In the Eyes of a Sister -- Nine. A Legacy at the Crossroads -- Conclusion -- Special Thanks -- Sources

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction. Nation-States in History -- PART 1. NATIONAL IDENTITIES -- Chapter 1. Nationalism, Popular Sovereignty, and the Liberal Democratic State -- Chapter 2. What States Can Do with Nations: An Iron Law of Nationalism and Federation? -- Chapter 3. A State without a Nation? Russia after Empire -- Chapter 4. The Return of the Coercive State: Behavioral Control in Multicultural Society -- PART 2. STATE SECURITY -- Chapter 5. States, Security Function, and the New Global Forces -- Chapter 6. States and War in Africa -- PART 3. STATE AUTONOMY -- Chapter 7. National Legislatures in Common Markets: Autonomy in the European Union and Mercosur -- Chapter 8. The Tax State in the Information Age -- Chapter 9. States, Politics, and Globalization: Why Institutions Still Matter -- Chapter 10. Globalization, the State, and Industrial Relations: Common Challenges, Divergent Transitions -- PART 4. STATE CAPACITY -- Chapter 11. The State after State Socialism: Poland in Comparative Perspective -- Chapter 12. Rotten from Within: Decentralized Predation and Incapacitated State -- Conclusion. What States Can Do Now -- Contributors -- Index

Moving beyond state-centric and elitist perspectives, this volume examines everyday security in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and written by scholars from Central Asia and beyond, it shows how insecurity is experienced, what people consider existential threats, and how they go about securing themselves. It concentrates on individuals who feel threatened because of their ethnic belonging, gender or sexual orientation. It develops the concept of 'securityscapes', which draws attention to the more subtle means that people take to secure themselves – practices bent on invisibility and avoidance, on disguise and trickery, and on continually adapting to shifting circumstances. By broadening the concept of security practice, this book is an important contribution to debates in Critical Security Studies as well as to Central Asian and Area Studies

As popular uprisings spread across the Middle East, popular wisdom often held that the Gulf States would remain beyond the fray. In Sectarian Gulf, Toby Matthiesen paints a very different picture, offering the first assessment of the Arab Spring across the region. With first-hand accounts of events in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, Matthiesen tells the story of the early protests, and illuminates how the regimes quickly suppressed these movements. Pitting citizen against citizen, the regimes have warned of an increasing threat from the Shia population. Relations between the Gulf regimes and their Shia citizens have soured to levels as bad as 1979, following the Iranian revolution. Since the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain in mid-March 2011, the "Shia threat" has again become the catchall answer to demands for democratic reform and accountability. While this strategy has ensured regime survival in the short term, Matthiesen warns of the dire consequences this will have—for the social fabric of the Gulf States, for the rise of transnational Islamist networks, and for the future of the Middle East

Frontmatter -- FOREWORD -- Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy Outlook / Arase, David -- Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy Outlook / Arase, David -- FOIP ROLLOUT -- FOIP IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE -- THE UNITED STATES ENDS CHINA ENGAGEMENT AND BEGINS FOIP -- BASIC ASPECTS OF THE FOIP STRATEGY -- MUTUAL INTEREST AS THE BASIS FOR PARTNERSHIP -- THE ROLE OF REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS -- PROSPECTS FOR SUCCESS

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface / Dhruvarajan, Vanaja -- Part I. Sociology of Globalization -- Chapter One ~ Explaining Globalization / Atasoy, Yildiz -- Part II. Economic Shaping of Globalization -- Chapter Two ~ Is Globalization a Reality, a Tendency or a Rationale for Neoliberal Economic Policies? / Chernomas, Robert / Sepehri, Ardeshir -- Chapter Three ~ Undoing the End of History: Canada-Centred Reflections on the Challenge of Globalization / Carroll, William K. -- Chapter Four ~ Explaining Local-Global Nexus: Muslim Politics in Turkey / Atasoy, Yildiz -- Part III. Global Politics: The Role of Non-Governmental and Governmental International Oranizations -- Chapter Five ~ Globalization, Competitiveness and Human Security: Revisited / O'Neill, Helen -- Chapter Six ~ Interrogating Globalization: Emerging Contradictions and Conflicts / Coburn, Elaine -- Part IV. Politics of Alternatives -- Chapter Seven ~ Women and Globalization in the Economic North and South / Denis, Ann -- Chapter Eight ~ Two Faces of Globalization in Mexico: Maquiladoras and Zapatistas / Chodkiewicz, J.L. -- Chapter Nine ~ Feminism and Resistance to Globalization of Capitalism / Dhruvarajan, Vanaja -- Afterword: September 11 and the Reorganization of the World Economy / Atasoy, Yildiz -- Selected Bibliography -- Index

Through a range of case studies spanning the post-Cold War period in Iraq, Moldova and Serbia, this innovative book breaks new ground in its study of asymmetric conflicts where warring sides exhibit vast power differentials. It uses multiple theories to examine the different pathways that encourage minor powers to engage in both offensive and defensive wars that they are likely to lose, analysing domestic crisis as a key catalyst and considering ways to mitigate conditions that drive conflict. The author provides an important framework that can be applied to contemporary conflicts elsewhere

A look at how the desire to improve international status affects Russia's and China's foreign policies Deborah Welch Larson and Alexei Shevchenko argue that the desire for world status plays a key role in shaping the foreign policies of China and Russia. Applying social identity theory-the idea that individuals derive part of their identity from larger communities-to nations, they contend that China and Russia have used various modes of emulation, competition, and creativity to gain recognition from other countries and thus validate their respective identities. To make this argument, they analyze numerous cases, including Catherine the Great's attempts to westernize Russia, China's identity crises in the nineteenth century, and both countries' responses to the end of the Cold War. The authors employ a multifaceted method of measuring status, factoring in influence and inclusion in multinational organizations, military clout, and cultural sway, among other considerations. Combined with historical precedent, this socio-psychological approach helps explain current trends in Russian and Chinese foreign policy

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part 1. Theoretical Issues -- 1. Migration and the Conceptualization of World Politics -- 2. European Integration and State Sovereignty -- Part 2. Demography Shaping Political Institutions -- 3. Nation-States -- 4. Citizenship -- 5. Political Union -- Part 3. Migration, Citizenship, and the Emerging European Polity -- 6. European Union Citizenship -- 7. Dual Nationality -- 8. Border Control and State Sovereignty -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index