President Joe Biden sought to restore the United States' postwar liberal order in his first two years as president. Biden advocated democratic partnerships, ended the war in Afghanistan, actively supported Ukraine against Russian invasion, pushed techno-nationalist policies, rearranged the Indo-Pacific alliance network, and ratcheted up "great power competition" toward China.
Despite this ambition, Biden's presidency is framed by two separate Trump administrations and is often read as a failed interval in the Trump era. Given this, could contemporaries faithfully evaluate Biden's condensed grand strategy? Can future observers do the same?
A Liberal World Restored?: Grand Strategy Analysis and the Biden Administration presents an innovative approach to identify and assess grand strategy over short time spans by distilling major grand strategy concepts into five ideal types. Despite failures, Joe Biden oversaw a grand strategy that often aligned with expectations set by these criteria. Such results are nuanced. Biden followed grand strategy ideal types related particularly to US power and standing, but his performance on criteria like process and content was mixed.

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This book examines the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and its aftermath, analysing the conflict through the lenses of war, sovereignty, power politics, international law, and unpeace, demonstrating how coercive diplomacy, conflict-persistence, and institutional failure reshaped the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and the regional order.

Combining international relations, security studies, legal analysis, and a wide range of empirically grounded analytical models, the book provides a rigorous framework for understanding the 2020 war, the geopolitical factors leading to it, the shifts in the region's structure and security architecture, the humanitarian crisis, forced displacement, and the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh. It meticulously explores not only the events that transpired, but also the underlying reasons behind them, the responses of international actors, regional players, and institutions, and the insights these reveal about the limitations of structural dependence, weak deterrence, ineffective mediation, lack of recognition, and accountability gaps in contemporary conflict.
The book is intended for scholars, students, and practitioners in international relations, conflict and security studies, post-Soviet politics, international law, peace and conflict studies, human rights, and Eurasian studies. It is also relevant for journalists, policymakers, and those working on conflict prevention, mediation, and regional security.

This edited volume explores how women's life writing from post-Communist Europe turns the continent's most persistent fault line-the East-West divide-into a space of confrontation, vulnerability, and radical reimagining.

Examining personal narratives from seven European countries (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Germany, France, and the Netherlands), the volume demonstrates how women "write back" to Western gazes, decolonize memory, and unsettle entrenched hierarchies that continue to position Eastern Europe as the 'other Europe' even after the fall of communism and EU integration. By combining transnational, transdisciplinary, and embodied approaches from the fields of life writing, literature and memory studies, this volume proposes alternative modes of scholarly engagement that privilege personal experiences, relationality, vulnerability, and genuine exchange over abstraction, offering new perspectives on how European identities, histories, and futures might be thought together.

Facilitating a distinctive collaboration among scholars from Eastern and Western Europe, The Transformative Power of Women's Life Writing in Post-Communist Europe will appeal to scholars and researchers with interests in women's life writing, European memory, memory studies, contested memory, post-communist Europe, and East-West perceptions.

This book examines the experiences of the South Sudanese displaced during the latest civil war, which caused a quarter of South Sudan's population to flee their homes. It considers how these experiences relate to the ways in which the identities, rights and sense of belonging of displaced citizens are scrutinised by local authorities and contested by the individuals and communities inhabiting the South Sudanese-Ugandan borderland.

Drawing on extensive original research documenting the personal accounts of people displaced to Uganda's settlements and urban centres, this book pushes the conceptual boundaries of what being 'displaced' or a 'refugee' entails in a borderland region. The book introduces the concept of 'multi-site living' to explore public and private efforts to coordinate settlement life and mobility across borders. The book goes on to consider what the disruptive nature of violence and insecurity in South Sudan means for modern politics and State-making processes in the world's youngest country.

Engaging with important questions across both the social and political sciences, this book will appeal to university students, scholars and researchers working on displacement, mobility, borders, and identity politics, both within South Sudan and beyond.

Thinkers for a Complex Age offers a sustained engagement with key figures in modern and contemporary political and social thought in order to address one of the central problems of our time: how normative judgement remains possible after the collapse of philosophical foundations. Moving from Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger through Foucault, Deleuze, Butler, and Latour, and on to contemporary debates in political theory, ecology, and governance, the book reconstructs a mode of critical inquiry that is at once genealogical, relational, and normatively oriented.

Organised into six thematic sections, the book traces a clear conceptual progression across traditions and debates, from genealogies of the modern subject through poststructural, materialist, ecological, and institutional approaches to contemporary questions of justice and freedom. Each chapter provides a focused engagement with a major thinker, identifying both their key contributions and their limits, while contributing to an overarching argument. The book's modular structure and its substantial annotated bibliography also make it especially well suited for advanced teaching, offering readers a coherent orientation across complex intellectual terrain.

Against both foundational moral theory and post-foundational scepticism, it advances a distinctive account of "life continuance" as an immanent basis for ethical and political judgement-one grounded not in universal principles, but in the conditions that sustain agency, institutions, and collective life over time. Bringing together insights from continental philosophy, political theory, and contemporary social thought, this book offers a compelling framework for thinking ethics, freedom, and governance in an age marked by ecological crisis, technological transformation, and global interdependence. It will be of interest to scholars and students in political theory, philosophy, education, and the social sciences more broadly.

This book explores the existing limits of State aid law within the European Union. By examining the State aid acquis, the book provides a critical analysis of interpretative approaches to two key areas essential to the functioning of the State aid control system: when a measure constitutes State aid and the identification and assessment of its effects.

It argues that the perception of what law can realistically achieve is limited by the assumption that all processes are steerable and that lawmakers are entirely capable of achieving their results as long as they correctly identify causal links, as well as by an implied belief in the continued relevance of interpretative approaches even when they no longer fit evolving realities. The focus is on assessing how well-established interpretative approaches to Article 107 TFEU continue to function and whether they produce unintended consequences as economic conditions and forms of State interventionism evolve. It determines whether the identified limits of law are truly impassable in a complex environment and, where they are not, formulates realistic solutions to improve the functioning of the control system.

The book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of State aid law, competition law, economics and EU law.

The first English translation of Emanuele Severino's radical critique of the notion of identity.

Starting from his central intuition that Western culture is essentially nihilism, Emanuele Severino reflects anew on the problem of identity, abandoning the ambiguous (and ultimately contradictory) fashion in which being and becoming are grasped in the Western tradition. In this foundational work in Severino's philosophy, the philosopher questions the dominant understanding of identity in Western culture, tracing it back to Aristotle's definition of identity as 'tautotes'. In his endeavour, Severino discusses - with his particular depth - the most renowned philosophical passages from Hegel, Aristotle, Plato and Kant, presenting a radical critique of identity.

This book constitutes part of Severino's monumental theoretical apparatus, comprising a critique of Western metaphysics that sets him alongside Heidegger in contemporary theory. This translation of Tautotes will appeal to those interested in the central problems of Ancient and contemporary philosophy, ontology and metaphysics.

This book explores the evolution and impact of deliberative democracy in East Asia, focusing on Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan through a deliberative systems framework.

Democratization and democratic development in the region are intertwined with social movements, public participation, institutional reform, and deliberative innovation. The book highlights how deliberative democracy can transform politics, inform policymaking, and strengthen democratic governance, while also exploring the integration of deliberation with digital technologies and artificial intelligence to advance democratic innovations. Drawing on practical experiences, it demonstrates how democratic deliberation can shift public attitudes, shape policy, and address complex challenges.

Essential reading for students and scholars of East Asian politics and deliberative democracy, The Transformative Power of Deliberative Democracy in East Asia is also invaluable for political and social scientists interested in comparative democracy, public governance, and public participation in science and technology.

This book analyses the complex relations between racism and neoliberalism in the lives of middling migrants in Poland.

Focusing on 'middling migrants' - a heterogeneous category of migrants who are neither a highly paid elite nor low-paid or low-skilled workers - it offers a novel approach to the manner in which the intricate relationship between racism and neoliberalism plays out in migrants' lived experiences of and their strategies for coping with racism. Based on qualitative research among migrants from Western Europe, South Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and the post-Soviet area, the authors argue that while experiencing racism on a daily basis, middling migrants perpetuate the neoliberal hierarchy of desirable and undesirable migrants, while reproducing its logic of silencing and marginalising racism as a social problem.

An empirically grounded study of the relationship between racism and neoliberalism in relation to migration - and the conditions under which racism is enabled to persist - Neoliberalism, Racialisation and Middling Migrants in Poland will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and politics with interests in migration and diaspora and race, racism and ethnicity.

In the first monograph dedicated exclusively to the nexus requirement, Dr. Elvina Pothelet explores the idea that an issue is governed by IHL only if it bears a sufficient connection to an armed conflict. Challenging the prevailing assumption that the nexus is merely an element of war crimes, the book demonstrates instead that it constitutes a regime-wide condition of IHL applicability. Developing a systematic theory of the nexus, Pothelet reveals that this requirement is polymorphous: different rules of IHL require different types and degrees of connection to an armed conflict. Through detailed analysis of doctrine, jurisprudence, and contemporary operational practice, the book proposes practice-oriented nexus tests applicable across a wide range of factual scenarios relevant to courts, governments, armed forces, and humanitarian actors confronting the legal boundaries of war.

This path-breaking book will become a foundational reference for students and scholars in the fields of IHL, public international law and international criminal law. It will also serve as a valuable resource for practitioners and policymakers within the judicial, legal, and humanitarian sectors.

This book explores the possible routes to transform the current hostile dynamic between North Korea and South Korea into a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Through critical assessments of the current political and security conditions in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia the book presents innovative ideas for peacebuilding, with a particular focus on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Focusing on issues such as North Korea's nuclear proliferation, strategies for peaceful coexistence and a peace regime between the two Korean states, and the quest for peace and stability in Northeast Asia, the chapters examine the interests of the four surrounding powers concerning the Korean issue and their roles in establishing a peaceful regime in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. Providing expert scholarship from the United States, Korea, and Japan it provides novel information, diverse viewpoints, thoughtful analysis, and valuable insights on the issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula and security in Northeast Asia.

Highlighting the plausible pathways to establish a peace regime in both Korea and Northeast Asia, whilst considering the roles of neighbouring powers in this process this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Korean Politics, Security Studies, Peace Studies.

This book examines the 2024 U.S. presidential election, providing a critical analysis of how race shaped one of America's most consequential political moments. In a society as racialised as the United States, presidential elections are inherently racialised affairs, and this collection addresses urgent questions arising from Trump's return to power.

The contributions to this volume explore the historical conditions that allowed a nativist, white supremacist political movement to go mainstream in the twenty-first century, examine how racism is embedded in American political institutions, and discuss how differently racialised people understand the connections between their racial positionality and their political interests. Contributors analyse, variously, how racial ideologies and constructions of racial selfhood are stratified by liberal or conservative political identification, the connections between emotions, politics, and race, and how gendered and racial projects intersect in contemporary political discourse.

This book will appeal to to academic researchers, graduate students, and policy analysts interested in political sociology, racialization, and American electoral politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Contributors address critiques of decolonialism and anthropocentrism, reimagining cosmopolitanism to incorporate global knowledge traditions, including Indian thought, African feminism and Confucian political philosophy. They investigate pressing topics such as resurgent nationalism, populism, mass displacement and the climate crisis. Chapters respond to the so-called motivation problem facing the modern cosmopolitan movement, featuring groundbreaking research on sentimental, ambassadorial and solidarity approaches. This book is a cutting edge summary of contemporary cosmopolitan political theory and an insightful analysis of how it can meet the global challenges of our time.

A Modern Guide to Cosmopolitanism in the 21st Century is an essential resource for scholars and students of public policy and politics, geography, social policy and sociology. Political theorists and philosophers will also benefit from its reconceptualising approach.

Contributors provide in-depth analysis of concerns related to the methods and procedures in private international law reflecting on their relevance in different legal situations. They illustrate the application and stress testing of traditional approaches and evaluate how specific categories are distinguished according to the vulnerability of the person to be protected, the legal position, and the values to be enhanced. The book considers the role of contractually weaker parties and the torts' victim, and concludes by addressing these values on a global scale.

Values in Private International Law is a vital reference for scholars and students of private international law, European law and comparative law. Its insights will also be pertinent for practitioners, judges, and international lawyers seeking legislation and case law for challenging issues in these evolving fields.

Written in an accessible style that breaks down complex legal principles, this timely book highlights landmark case studies to illustrate the application of IHL and IHRL in practice. Using these as a foundation, Caceres-Solari dissects the interplay between armed conflicts and their effects. Chapters provide a comprehensive global perspective, examining how legislation operates across borders: covering treaties, international organizations, and state interactions. They analyze cities as centres of control and the importance of dual-use objects, considering recent adaptations from open-field combat.

This book, written by a combat veteran turned scholar, is a valuable resource for students and scholars of public international and humanitarian law owing to its interdisciplinary approach. Law makers and practitioners of military law will also benefit from the clear insights into legal principles.

This handbook examines the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the context of a rapidly evolving global security landscape.

Shifting away from 'hard security' models, this book demonstrates how gender-inclusive governance predicts state stability. Providing a truly global scope, with insights from nearly fifty countries, the work bridges theory and practice, showing that gender-responsive approaches are fundamental to security sector development, democratic institution-building, and navigating state fragility. Beyond traditional frameworks, the handbook addresses emerging challenges such as tech-facilitated online violence, AI, and climate change. It also offers critical analysis of the erosion of international human rights, highlighting the implications for national security and the protection of civilians. A core focus remains the integration of gender perspectives within military operations and security sector reform. The volume evaluates both international peacebuilding and military interventions, examining the practical complexities of operationalizing WPS in active conflict. Notably, the volume rejects gendered tropes to examine the full spectrum of women's agency-from institutional leaders and grassroots organizers to participants in political violence as insurgents and terrorists. By exploring these multifaceted realities, the volume reflects the true complexity of women's influence in global peace and conflict.

This book will be of much interest to students of peace and conflict studies, security studies, defence studies. gender studies and International Relations, as well as to defense and security practitioners.

This collection of over fifty essays provides a comprehensive overview of the Pacific theater of World War II. Scholars and practitioners from around the globe unite their expertise to explore the interaction of the belligerents, with multiple chapters co-written by Japanese and American authors.

Part I provides the political, economic, military, strategic, and legal backdrop. Part II highlights operational and strategic concepts and approaches: assessment, deterrence, strategic culture, war gaming and planning, access and anti-access campaigns, cumulative and sequential operations, strategic and operational intelligence, and logistics. Part III focuses on turning points: the Axis alliance, wartime mobilization, naval buildups, the key campaigns of Malaya, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte Gulf, unrestricted submarine warfare, and aerial bombing. Part IV turns to the warzone societies with chapters on Australia, China, Indonesia, India, Indochina, Japan, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Part V concludes with the war's diverse legacies: the Communist victory in China, suspicions of a Pearl Harbor coverup, the transformation of international law, the fate of veterans, the teaching of the war, its operational and doctrinal lessons, and the many movies and museums about it.

The handbook offers original and enduring analyses that will interest scholars, students, policymakers, and history buffs alike.

The book provides a fresh conceptual lens for rethinking international investment contracts as dynamic instruments of governance. Chapters challenge conventional boundaries by questioning established assumptions about the limits of contract law, the role of contracts in global governance, and the relationships between private and public ordering. Contributing authors explore the interdisciplinary nature of the topic, covering issues from historical development, methods of harmonisation, and model contracts to corruption and tensions between investments and the commercial nature of sovereign debt contracts. The book examines both the need for, and the potential to, redesign of international investment contracts for a more resilient and accountable global economy.

Bridging theory and practice, The Redesign of International Investment Contracts is an essential resource for students and scholars of international investment and arbitration law. Practitioners and policymakers in contract, sustainability, and private international law will also benefit from the book's forward-looking and pragmatic approach.

Drawing on regional case studies and spatially differentiated impacts, this book counters one-size-fits-all solutions, capturing the diversity of transition pathways, risks and opportunities across the EU. Expert authors evaluate the effectiveness of EU policies, emphasizing practical governance strategies, monitoring approaches and deliberative democracy as key factors in achieving sustainable and resilient regional development outcomes. Engaging with case studies from across Western and Eastern Europe and key governance challenges, this book proposes pathways for advancing transitions in future EU programming cycles.

Academics and students of human geography, public policy, environmental governance, EU studies and sustainability will appreciate the conceptual debates and empirical case studies this book offers. With its practical insights and evidence-based recommendations, policymakers and practitioners will also find it a useful tool for policy implementation.

From Walter Benjamin in Argentina to Theodor Adorno in Japan, this collection brings together leading scholars of Critical Theory to examine the impact of the Frankfurt School across global histories of the 20th century.

Featuring essays on Critical Theory's role in Brazil during dictatorship and redemocratization; the influence of Herbert Marcuse in Pinochet's Chile; the politics of Critical Theory in South Korea and intellectual relationships across Yugoslavia, Germany and the United States, the chapters in this volume consider how social, political, historical and intellectual conditions shaped local receptions of the Frankfurt School, and how the School's key thinkers in turn helped to transform these conditions.

Guided by Max Horkheimer's seminal distinction between critical and traditional theory, in which Critical Theory is distinguished by its self-reflexivity and awareness of its location within a larger social totality, The Internationalization of Critical Theory offers a groundbreaking reflection on Critical Theory at an international scale. Tracing the legacy of the Frankfurt School across Latin America, East Asia, Europe and North America, this volume offers new insights into the intellectual histories of both Critical Theory and global politics.

Is philosophy a playful pursuit?

This book's central argument is that playfulness is an essential quality of philosophical practice, and that there is something essentially philosophical about play. Ways of doing philosophy well invariably require the same wonder, hope, co-operation and positive freedom that define healthy modes of play.

Matthew McLennan explores this intrinsic connection in the way that philosophy and play shed light upon one another through three core concepts: the realities of play define what it is and how it manifests; the rules of play determine how it functions; the 'what comes next' of play depends on what we want or hope to find in it. Together, these meditations explain how both play and philosophy are essentially oriented towards the indefinite, the infinite and the possible. Working across disciplinary boundaries and calling on an eclectic range of thinkers, this paradigm-shifting approach redefines how we understand the doing of philosophy and how we perceive the traditions that underpin it.

In a time of global crises, governments, international agencies and various experts claim to promote political participation that is inclusive of children and young people. This book details how these claims tend to be deceptive.

The Politics of Deception demonstrates how youth parliaments, councils and roundtables are governance exercises not just designed and tightly managed by adults but limited by them. Informed by adultist ways of seeing, young people are represented as vulnerable and citizens-in-waiting and cannot be taken seriously as political agents. Parallel to these formal initiatives, large numbers of young people are recognising the interconnected nature of contemporary crises, mobilising politically in diverse ways, from street marches to digital action, to strategic litigation and even 'lying flats' to push for equality, social justice and planetary survival. Animated by optimism and recognition that intergenerational solidarity is essential for creating a future in which humans and 'more-than-humans' can flourish, Judith Bessant and Rob Watts illustrate how youth participation, as it is commonly practised, is deeply political, deceptive, highly contested and too often informed by outdated and harmful representations of young people.

This volume is for young people, researchers, policymakers, parents and educators wanting to better understand what is happening in the world and who appreciate the value of recognising young people's political capacity and right to help shape the world.