This book seeks to determine what is meant by 'evil' when used to describe actors and events in international politics. Focusing on the history of evil in western secular and religious thought, it reintroduces a classical understanding of evil as the means to which we seek to understand otherwise meaningless human suffering.

This book offers original essays on the subject of evil in international relations. It considers questions of moral agency associated with the perpetration of evil acts by individuals and groups in the international sphere, and the range of ethical responses the international community has available to it in the aftermath of large-scale evils.

This volume argues that a wide range of policies in the international system today – economic sanctions, military intervention, and counter terrorism policy – are part of a ‘punitive ethos’ that has arisen since the end of the Cold War.

This book evaluates the major debates around which the discipline of international relations has developed in the light of contemporary feminist theories.

Featuring over twenty new entries, International Relations: The Key Concepts, now in its second edition, is the essential guide for anyone interested in international affairs. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it introduces the most important themes in international relations in the post 9/11 era. Key areas cover international criminal law, human rights, the developing world (the Arab League, African Union), globalization and strategic studies. New entries include: the English School the Digital Divide the War on Terror the Bush Doctrine the International Criminal Court legitimacy global warming unilateralism the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC). Featuring suggestions for further reading as well as a unique guide to web sites on international relations, this accessible guide is an invaluable aid to an understanding of this expanding field and is ideal for the student and non-specialist alike.

Challenges Kantian International Relations scholars to reassess their relationship with the philosopher and his work

Butler sheds light on how American political leaders sell the decision to intervene with military force to the public and how a just war frame is employed in US foreign policy. He provides three post-Cold War examples of foreign policy crises: the Persian Gulf War (1990-91), Kosovo (1999), and Afghanistan (2001).

Religion is prevalent in world politics today, and international relation theory is at pains to understand and explain this phenomenon. This unique study aims to introduce political theology as an appropriate tool to the study of international relations. In accordance with the political theology of Carl Schmitt, which states that modern political concepts are secularized theological concepts, the work questions the "secular" foundations of contemporary international relations theory. Thus it reveals the Christian foundations of the discipline of international relations and delivers a critique of some of its most fundamental theoretical elements, such as its secular view of religion as part of the "irrational," its deification of the political form of the nation state, and its negation of theism in its understanding of responsibility in world politics. The result is a primer on how international relations and its studies have grown out of the political imagination of Christian theology. It will appeal to anyone interested in critical approaches to the field as well as in politics and religion, political theory, and political theology.

Resilience has become a central concept in government policy understandings over the last decade. In our complex, global and interconnected world, resilience appears to be the policy ‘buzzword’ of choice, alleged to be the solution to a wide and ever-growing range of policy issues. This book analyses the key aspects of resilience-thinking and highlights how resilience impacts upon traditional conceptions of governance. This concise and accessible book investigates how resilience-thinking adds new insights into how politics (both domestically and internationally) is understood to work and how problems are perceived and addressed; from educational training in schools to global ethics and from responses to shock events and natural disasters to long-term international policies to promote peace and development. This book also raises searching questions about how resilience-thinking influences the types of knowledge and understanding we value and challenges traditional conceptions of social and political processes. It sets forward a new and clear conceptualisation of resilience, of use to students, academics and policy-makers, emphasising the links between the rise of resilience and awareness of the complex nature of problems and policy-making.

Trauma, from the fall of Adam and Eve forward impacts human lives in overpowering ways. A review of the lives of biblical personalities and missionaries reveals shared traumatic experiences. In addition to the stress of cultural adjustment, missionaries often live in contexts of violence, political unrest, economic instability, natural disasters, and relational conflict. The examined biblical personalities faced similar issues, yet a majority coped with trauma in ways that led to well-being. The proposed biblical theory of well-being assists missionaries to move deeper in their trust of God by utilizing the coping skills of the biblical personalities including asking God for help, lifting up their praise and worship to God, standing on a sense of call, working with God, lamenting/venting to God in healthy ways, embracing a theology of suffering, and accepting assistance from friends and family. The adherence to the constructs of this theory protects missionaries from the ravages of psychological trauma by avoiding negative coping and developing positive coping skills that lead to trusting in the only One who gives hope in seemingly hopeless situations.