Ramsbotham:Contemporary Conflict Resolution

"Since it was first published, Contemporary Conflict Resolution has become the definitive guide to the emergence of conflict resolution as a field of academic and practical enquiry. In this new edition, the authors have substantially updated and extended their analysis, both to reflect the many developments in the field but, more importantly, to embrace the radical new trends in international conflict since the 9/11 attacks. Contemporary Conflict Resolution is an essential text for students of conflict at any level."

Paul Rogers, University of Bradford

Part I offers a comprehensive survey of the theory and practice of conflict resolution. Part II enters into the controversies that have surrounded conflict resolution as it has become part of the mainstream.

Kaldor:New & Old Wars 2e

"If you don’t read Mary Kaldor’s New and Old Wars you won’t understand the world of violence we live in. And you will miss the only way out: the perspective of a cosmopolitan realpolitik that Kaldor opens up and paints in detail in her highly sophisticated and original analysis. It is the classical book on new wars."

Ulrich Beck, University of Munich

Kaldor’s analysis offers a basis for a cosmopolitan political response to these wars, in which the monopoly of legitimate organized violence is reconstructed on a transnational basis and international peacekeeping is reconceptualized as cosmopolitan law enforcement. This approach also has implications for the reconstruction of civil society, political institutions, and economic and social relations.

In a new chapter, Kaldor shows how old war thinking in Iraq has has greatly exacerbated what is, in many ways, the archetypal new war – with insurgency, chaos and the occupying forces’ lack of direction prescient of a different kind of conflict now emerging in the 21st Century.

Dannreuther:International Security

"Sets a very high standard of scholarship which others must now strive to emulate."

Jolyon Howorth, Yale University

The book is organized into 4 main sections:

Section 1 provides an analytical framework for the book, identifying the most significant post-Cold War shifts in international security and recent theoretical developments in security studies.

Section 2 looks at environmental security, including the threat of resource-based conflict, most notably over oil and water, and the perceived security challenges of international migration.

Section 3 analyses the root causes of the so-called new wars, and the broader insecurity found in many regions of the South. Dilemmas and problems of intervention, including the controversial debate over humanitarian intervention, are examined in detail.

Section 4 discusses new security challenges posed by international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It explores the strategies and policies adopted by the United States, particularly in the aftermath of 9/11.

Dowty:Israel/PalestineSECOND EDITION

"A superb little gem … very well written, makes good use of quotes and sources, and, most of all, is an excellent introduction to the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Steven David, Johns Hopkins University

Alan Dowty demystifies the conflict by putting it in broad historical perspective, identifying its roots, and tracing its evolution up to the current impasse. His account offers a clear analytic framework for understanding transformations over time, and in doing so, punctures the myths of an "age-old" conflict with an unbridgeable gap between the two sides. This expanded edition also includes a new chapter on the so-called ‘fourth stage’ of the conflict.

Esman:An Introduction to Ethnic Conflict

"This is a highly knowledgeable and briskly moving text written by a scholar who has himself contributed with distinction to the literature over a number of years."

Oliver Ramsbotham, University of Bradford

Milton Esman explores the origins of ethnic pluralism and analyses the causes and manifestations of conflicts, both peaceful and violent, involving ethnic communities across the globe. He discusses the role of outsider-governments, diasporas, international agencies, and non-government organizations in provoking and managing ethnic conflicts, and appraises methods which have proven effective for their peaceful resolution. The book concludes with a look at the future of ethnic conflict and argues for the need to regulate such conflicts in an increasingly interdependent world.

Weiss:Humanitarian Intervention

“In Humanitarian Intervention, Thomas G. Weiss combines conceptual sophistication, an authoritative analysis of past cases of humanitarian intervention, and a compelling discussion of the problems and challenges that bedevil the international community’s attempts to rescue imperiled humanity. This book is indispensable reading for students, practitioners, and general readers wanting to diagnose the ills of past interventions and understand how the international community might do better in the future.”

Nicholas Wheeler, The University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Drawing on two decades of research, Weiss examines political, ethical, legal, strategic, economic, and operational dimensions of humanitarian intervention, and uses a wide range of cases to highlight key debates and controversies.

Robinson:Dictionary of International Security

"Here is a great reference volume that puts authoritative and clearly written definitions for a wide array of terms in the international security studies field readily into the hands of graduate and undergraduate students."

Richard L. Russell, Georgetown University and National Defense University

The 200 entries are arranged alphabetically, from absolute war to weapons of mass destruction, and cover:

• types of security, such as national security and co-operative security;
• key concepts, including anarchy and balance of power;
• threats to security, from biological weapons to proliferation;
• responses to these threats, such as arms control and containment;
• terrorist organisations;
• topics related to peace and peacebuilding, such as conflict prevention and war termination;
• key international treaties and arms control initiatives;
• security and intelligence organisations;
• international organisations.

Stansfield: Iraq

"This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about what is transpiring in Iraq and the modern Middle East; even specialists in Iraqi politics will find much to provoke new ways in which to view and understand the region."

Eric Davis, Rutgers University

Stansfield explores several pertinent questions, framed in an analysis that takes into account Iraq's diverse society, and the geopolitical interventions of regional states and great powers.

Why did the post-war fragmentation occur? Have Sunni–Shii tensions always been present? Are the Kurds seeking secession, or accommodation within the state? What has been the social and political impact of years of dictatorship, war and hardship? And why have US attempts to restructure the Iraqi state resulted in Iraq being on the verge of becoming a failed state, rather than the first democratic domino in the Middle East?

Gill and Phythian: Intelligence in an Insecure World

"Gill and Phythian describe Intelligence in an Insecure World as an 'informative and relevant introduction' but it is much more than this. They have produced a unique study of the state of the intelligence world, ranging widely over the whole system, using a remarkable range of sources and maintaining a level of critical analysis that is as impressive as it is unusual."

Paul Rogers, University of Bradford

Drawing on a range of contemporary examples, the authors examine the limits of intelligence and ask whether the 9/11 attacks, the bombings in London and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq may be seen as intelligence 'failures'? They conclude by discussing the need for democratic control of intelligence to prevent its future abuse by unaccountable state or corporate agencies.

David Keen: Complex Emergencies

"Complex Emergencies is the indispensable text on the topic of internal war and its humanitarian implications. It analyses how conflict functions systemically and the role of psychological factors in extreme violence. Moreover, despite dealing with such a difficult subject, this book is also a delight to read."

Alex de Waal, Harvard University

Keen analyses war as a system that has significant functions and that yields complex economic, political and psychological benefits. He argues that understanding the complex functions of wars alongside other forms of human disaster, such as famine and ethnic strife, is essential if we are to reduce suffering and move towards lasting peace agreements.