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Examining the impact of revolutionary states on the international system, this book asks to what extent they become 'socialized' into adopting patterns of international behaviour and whether international society itself changes in response to new pressure arising from revolutionary states.

If Churchill's aphorism about Russia being 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' was an apt formulation of Western puzzlement about that nation, several further layers of obfuscation would be required accurately to depict Western perceptions of China. Since 1949 a number of conflicting conceptions of China's nature and purpose have vied with each other to gain the allegiance of analysts, governments and the general public alike. There was, for too many years, the China of American demonology: aggressive, expansionist and cruel, conspiring with the USSR to bring about world domination, its implacable rulers brooding malevolently over their nation of docile ants. Even while this notion held centre stage, an alternative perspective was available from such eminent Sinologists as C. P. Fitzgerald and I. K. Fairbank: that China had not undergone such a dramatic metamorphosis under the communists as many believed but was still 'eternal China', reproducing the same age-old patterns of behaviour that had persisted with little change through many centuries, if not millennia. Then, during the 1960s a new image emerged: China the ultrarevolutionary power, itself engaged upon a process of radical transformation through the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution, while simultaneously acting as the principal inspiration of violent revolution elsewhere in the world. The Sino-American rapprochement soon produced an entirely different perspective: China was now a responsible great power, maintaining a global balance of power in accordance with the Nixon–Kissinger vision of international order.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has greatly expanded its activities on behalf of political prisoners since the Second World War. The ICRC's involvement with this issue has resulted from a series of incremental steps, taken over more than a hundred years, and it raises difficult legal, political, and moral questions. Is the ICRC, by operating in this highly sensitive area, endangering its special relationship with governments–a relationship that is vital for the performance of its more traditional functions in wartime? Should the organization be more open or less Swiss? Is it evading fundamental moral issues? The ICRC's success in achieving its objectives also raises questions as to why states have permitted a nongovernmental organization to intervene in their internal affairs and whether the ICRC provides a model that other nongovernmental organizations concerned with human rights might seek to emulate.

Das Internationale Komitee vom Roten Kreuz hat seine Tätigkeiten zugunsten politischer Gefangener seit 1945 beträchtlich ausgeweitet. Damit ist eine Reihe von schwierigen rechtlichen, politischen und moralischen Fragen verbunden. Gefährdet z.B. das IKRK sein besonderes Verhältnis zu Regierungen - ein Verhältnis, das zur Erfüllung der traditionellen Aufgaben in Kriegszeiten lebenswichtig ist? Sollte die Bindung der Organisation an die Schweiz verstärkt oder gelockert werden? Warum erlauben Staaten einer Nichtregierungsorganisation, sich in ihre inneren Angelegenheiten einzumischen? Könnte das IKRK ein Modell für andere Organisationen abgeben, die im Menschenrechtssektor tätig sind? (SWP-Hld)

Includes a table, "Visits by the ICRC to prisoners of war and political detainees, 1979-1983."

"The Routledge Handbook of International Law provides a definitive global survey of the interaction of international politics and international law. Each chapter is written by a leading expert and provides a state of the art overview of the most significant areas within the field." "This highly topical collection of specially commissioned papers from both established authorities and rising stars is split into four key sections: The Nature of International Law including the interaction between the disciplines of International Law and International Relations; The Evolution of International Law progressing from the ancient world to present day; Law and Power in International Society discussing topical issues such as the war in Iraq and the international criminal court; and Key Issues in International Law including international refugee law, indigenous rights, intellectual property, trade and the challenges presented by "new terrorism"."

Giving an overview of the origins and history of the Cold War, this work considers whether the Cold War is truly over, and what the effects have been on Europe, and the former Soviet Union, as well as US foreign policy.