Informed by world-systems analysis, this book examines the shifting patterns of accommodation and resistance to the offshore world, with a particular focus on Mauritius as a critical but underappreciated offshore node mediating foreign investment into India and Africa. Drawing on a large pool of financial data and elite interviews, the authors present the first detailed comparative study of the Mauritius–India and Mauritius–Africa offshore relationships. These relationships serve as indicative test cases of the contemporary global tax reform agenda and its promise to rein in offshore finance. Whereas India’s economic power and multilateral track record have enabled it to actively shape this agenda and implement it in a robust manner, most African countries have found themselves either unable to meet its stringent criteria or unwilling to do so out of fear that it might discourage investment. Its impact on offshore financial centers has likewise been limited. A few of the least sophisticated ones appear to have fallen by the wayside, but the rest have either remained largely unaffected, or, like Mauritius, succeeded in consolidating their operations and surviving the current round of regulatory headwinds. The findings suggest that the contemporary global tax reform agenda has thus far not only failed to make good on its promise but also actually reinforced numerous existing power hierarchies. The Uneven Offshore World is written in an accessible style and aimed at readers without specialized knowledge of tax issues.

In this book, Hanna Samir Kassab develops a theoretical framework that explains the formulation of power vacuums and examines their impact on the international system. A power vacuum is the fundamental absence of legitimate state authority over a geographic territory, and it is a space free of governance. With no state authority governing a geographical region, opportunistic states and organized criminal and terrorist networks may attempt to control that space. Using a variety of historical examples and centering his analysis on ungoverned spaces rather than great powers, Kassab uncovers neglected areas of great power competition. Part 1 discusses state actors: specifically, the strategic space of the Arctic, the Middle East and Africa, and Afghanistan and Central Asia. Part 2 examines non-state actors, such as terrorist networks and organized criminal networks, and the formulation of paramilitaries. Power Vacuums and Global Politics is the perfect volume for both undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations, security studies, political science, comparative politics, international political economy, and war and peace.

The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers draws on theories derived from the social sciences to address the multitude of questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic and to inspire a future generation of researchers. The book is designed to help promote recovery from the pandemic, to minimize the negative effects of similar events in the future, and to inform social science research going forward.

The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography provides an authoritative and comprehensive source of information on the discipline of human geography and its constituent, and related, subject areas. The encyclopedia includes over 1,000 detailed entries on philosophy and theory, key concepts, methods and practices, biographies of notable geographers, and geographical thought and praxis in different parts of the world. This groundbreaking project covers every field of human geography and the discipline’s relationships to other disciplines, and is global in scope, involving an international set of contributors. Given its broad, inclusive scope and unique online accessibility, it is anticipated that the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography will become the major reference work for the discipline over the coming decades. The Encyclopedia will be available in both limited edition print and online via ScienceDirect – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit http://info.sciencedirect.com/content/books/ref_works/coming/ Available online on ScienceDirect and in limited edition print format Broad, interdisciplinary coverage across human geography: Philosophy, Methods, People, Social/Cultural, Political, Economic, Development, Health, Cartography, Urban, Historical, Regional Comprehensive and unique - the first of its kind in human geography

This book critically conceptualises positive security and explores multiple areas in global politics where positive security can be studied as an alternative to the existing understandings and practices of security. Structured through a framework on the practice and ethics of everyday security, the book defines positive security as a focal point of contextual and spatiotemporal moments that emerge through encounters with ‘the other’ in everyday politics. In these moments, an actor can show attentiveness and humility towards ‘the other’. In this book, the authors present their own understandings of positive security, offering an in-depth discussion and analysis of the Global North and South divides, delving into many aspects such as human security, migration, gender, Indigenous issues and perceptions of security in the Arctic, and challenges and tensions for and within NATO. The book concludes by reflecting on the significance of positive security, looking at its application for other current issues, including how to understand and manage new (in)security challenges including hybrid threats and warfare. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, critical security, and peace studies.

Given the increasing presence of non-Western nations in global affairs, Hiro Katsumata and Hiroki Kusano explore their responses to the backlash taking place in the West against the global spread of liberalism – against the global spread of free trade, multilateral institutions, and liberal-democratic politics. Katsumata and Kusano concentrate on the cases of Egypt, Brazil, Japan, ASEAN members, Russia, and China. Mounted by these non-Western nations are three kinds of responses: illiberal bandwagoning, counter-backlash, and thirdway charting. Each of these responses inevitably has significant consequences for the fate of the existing liberal international order established and sustained by the Western countries in the post-war era, either accelerating the collapse of this order by causing additional damage to it, or putting the brakes on its collapse by giving support to it. An invaluable resource for scholars in International Relations and Comparative Politics.

With a range of case studies from every continent, the contributors to this book analyze the challenges that arise for states living with much larger neighbors, and the policies they develop to account for this asymmetry. Bringing together the perspectives of bilateral relations and the study of small states, this book analyzes a range of scenarios where one or more smaller countries must manage relations with a much larger neighbor or neighbors, from the perspective of the smaller countries. Each case presents different priorities, depending on the relationship between the states concerned, while highlighting the commonalities across the various scenarios. The range of cases and contributors is wide and diverse, with examples including Togo’s relationship with Ghana, Mongolia’s with China, and Colombia’s with Brazil – as well as more widely known examples such as Canada and the United States, or Australia and New Zealand. A valuable resource for scholars and students of international relations, and public policy of small- and medium-sized states.

Contributors from Japan, Korea, and China explore the reaction of the United Nations to emerging global issues. A collaboration between the Japan Association for United Nations Studies with the Korea Academic Council on the United Nations System and the China Academic Net for United Nations Studies, this book presents a range of perspectives from both academics and practitioners. The areas explored and discussed include global governance, peace and security, global health governance, global citizenship, nuclear disarmament, and the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular and among other issues it addresses both the coordination of COVID-19 management and responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An invaluable, diverse, and concertedly non-Western approach to the challenges facing the UN.

Today, there is plenty of evidence that Russia has become a prominent external actor in Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet, few books have attempted to better understand the reasons behind Russia ́s return and Moscow’s continuous engagement in the region. In order to fill the gap, this volume offers the first interdisciplinary study of Russian-Latin American relations after the end of the Cold War. Across 16 chapters, leading experts from Russia, Europe, the United States, and Latin America collectively re-examine the Soviet legacy to reveal the conditions in which Russia operates today and identify the key trends of contemporary Russian relations with this part of the world. The book then moves on to provide a detailed case study analysis of Russia’s bilateral relations with Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, identifying the most critical dimensions of Russian engagement. Rethinking Post Cold-War Russian-Latin American Relations allows readers to identify the fundamental driving forces of Russia’s renewed commitment to the area, its strategies and experiences. The book will be of interest to readers of international relations and area studies, historians of modern Latin America, migration studies, political economy, and any political scientists interested in Russian decision-making.

In his new book, Hanna Samir Kassab examines changes and trends in international politics and the competition between great powers for control of the international system. He argues that the increase in geopolitical, economic, nationalist, and resource competition between three great powers, the United States, China, and Russia, points to the changing structure of the international system. This competition is a systemic one, focusing more on the rules and norms that defined the system since the end of the Cold War. This American-led unipolar order is translating into a multipolar one. Kassab begins by tracing the decline of the United States after the Iraq War (2003) and the Great Recession (2008) as well as the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia. He describes major foreign policy changes from George H.W. Bush to Donald J. Trump and how the various administrations approached the international system. Russia and China will increase their international influence as the United States pulls back from the international system. Written using simple jargon, Globalization, Multipolarity and Great Power Competition is equally accessible to academics and casual readers and laypeople interested in international politics.