This book sheds light on the process in which the sub-state actor of Greenland has expanded its autonomy and strengthened its de jure participation in the national security of Denmark. By focusing on the case of the US Thule Air Base in Greenland, the largest military base in the Arctic, the authors endeavor to show that in the relationship between great powers, small countries and local actors within them, it is possible for local actors (sub-national entities) to have an influence on higher-level actors in the field of diplomacy on the national security level. For that purpose, the book examines political trends involving Greenland, Denmark, the US and Russia by using the multilateral multi-archive approach. The authors also take up the cases of Okinawa (Japan) and Olongapo (the Philippines) as reference points that provide additional insight into the interaction between the US policy regarding overseas military bases and the host countries’ polities. The competition involving political and economic interests of a number of countries in the Arctic region has been intensifying in recent years, causing significant concern in the international community. Due to the accelerated melting of sea ice and the increase in the accessibility of natural resources and water lanes, the security situation in the Arctic has been changing rapidly, and this book helps meet the need for understanding the political and military factors behind those changes.

Facing Asia examines the political and economic processes of regionalism and regionalization in Asia with a focus on Japan and Japanese actors. The articles by eminent scholars address the forces that tie the region together. They treat topics ranging from Japanese bilateral and multilateral ODA and the activities of state and non-state actors on the regional level to issues such as Japanese multinational corporations, foreign direct investment in Asia, and regional financial institutions. Methodologically, the authors draw on disciplinary strengths in either the social sciences or economics while organizing their treatment around a shared political-economic perspective. By looking at Asia through an interdisciplinary lens, the volume offers something to anyone interested in Japanese involvement in the politics and economics of the region. In the final chapter, the editors weave together the different approaches to Japan's place in Asian regional cooperation in the 1990s and beyond.

This book examines India’s Northeast borderland – strategically positioned at the confluence of South Asia, East and Southeast Asia – from the perspective of international relations. The volume interrogates the geopolitics of region-making in both colonial and postcolonial times and traces the transformation of Northeast India from a British strategic frontier into a securitised borderland. It situates the region in transnational interactions both in conflict and cooperation with its immediate neighbouring regions of China, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, especially in the context of India’s Look East/Act East policy. The volume paves the way for a new ‘region-state’ framework borne out of the constructivist worldview and offers answers to many conundrums centring border studies. It further delineates approaches to overcoming the present geopolitical and territorial challenges of India’s Northeast with a critical thrust on regional policymaking. The volume will be of interest to students and researchers in the disciplines of social sciences and humanities in India as well as South and Southeast Asia. It will be especially useful to those in politics and international relations, strategic studies, international political economy, foreign policy, development studies and regional development, besides foreign policy-makers and diplomats, development practitioners, economists and policy analysts.

This book sheds light on the mechanisms of base politics that surround US overseas military bases, comparing several countries across different regions. Analysing cases from Japan, Greenland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Singapore, the contributors paint a detailed and complex picture of the role and impact of US bases. In times of war they project military power, and in times of peace they deter the emergence of general and latent threats. Furthermore, they are used to secure access to resources, and as a means of politically and economically influencing small and mid-size countries. From the viewpoint of the countries that host them, military bases allow the host many benefits of the US security umbrella, but can cause internal problems, including accidents and noise pollution that accompany the functioning of a base, as well as constraining their own sovereignty. Military bases do not simply serve to bring America strategic and security benefits - as symbols of the hierarchical structure of the international system, they influence power relations in the entire world. An invaluable resource for scholars of International Relations with an interest in the practical and theoretical challenges of the US’s relationship with its allies.

Put quite simply, the twin impacts of globalization and environmental degradation pose new security dangers and concerns. In this new work on global security thinking, 91 authors from five continents and many disciplines, from science and practice, assess the worldwide reassessment of the meaning of security triggered by the end of the Cold War and globalization, as well as the multifarious impacts of global environmental change in the early 21st century.

The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis provides an inclusive and forward-looking assessment of this subfield. Edited and written by a team of word-class scholars, it sets the agenda for future research in FPA and in IR.

In the vocabulary of International Relations (IR), States had traditionally been the centre of the discourse; such State-Centric elucidation concentrates on Westphalian model of Nation-State that laid down the foundation of contemporary state system and understanding of International Relations. Theoretically, the understanding of IR was dominated by Realist paradigm and field was often described as child of Morgenthau, Hobbesian, Machiavellian etc. revolved around the concept of Power. However, the end of Bipolarity witnessed a paradigm in two distinct ways. The first is in a geographical sense, with power moving from certain traditional strong states such as U.K, U.S to other states like China, Japan. Second is parallel where power is shifting from State to Non-State Actors (NSAs). Parallel Shift is more transformative and is substantially a different kind of shift. In such circumstances, new actors have increased its involvement in IR. Scholarly analysis in the discourse was built on State not NSAs. There is less comprehensive understanding on NSAs. If one agrees on parallel shift then such transformation needs further theoretical analysis. This book provides an analysis on parallel shift and uses ISIS to elucidate transformation that has been taking place in IR.

Volume 111 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, Discerning President Obama's National Security Strategy, makes available documents from the first fifteen months of the Obama administration that provide insights into its developing national security strategy. Included are documents that include detailed intelligence estimates and strategies as well as documents that outline important lessons regarding stability and reconstruction in Iraq. Additional documents provide valuable insight into the Obama Administration's Afghanistan and Pakistan Strategy. General Editor Douglas Lovelace, an expert in U.S. military matters, elucidates the complexities of military spending and of counter-insurgency tactics.

This volume critically engages with the phenomenon of civil militias in Africa, especially the nature of threats and challenges they pose to national and human security. It questions why the African political scene is increasingly inundated with the activities of civil militias, examines the socio-political and economic conditions that trigger and/or encourage and sustain the operations of civil militias, and investigates the dominant motivations of African civil militias. In the face of this complex security emergency, the volume conceptualizes and theorizes the phenomenon of civil militias; focuses the academic debate and policy on the links between civil militias and the growing cycle of state failure, instability, collapse and fragmentation in Africa; broadly and critically explores and expounds the short-term security consequences of the operations of civil militias; and articulates a corpus of policy-relevant knowledge. The book is ideally suited to courses on African studies, security and peace studies and military studies but would also be of interest to practitioners.