Foreign Intervention and Radicalization in Somalia: How and When Does Conflict Evolve into Violence (2001 -2009) analyzes political violence within a broader political context in which the mobilization of social movements takes place. The central focus of this book is to explain the social mechanisms through which the radicalization processes unfolded on the part of al-Shabaab between 2001 and 2009 in Somalia. H. Ibrahim Alegoez traces the intricate interactions of social mechanisms that gave rise to the steady escalation of more militant forms of conflict from a relational, dynamic, and process-oriented perspective.
The book offers an alternative approach to the existing models linking violence to ideological preferences, cultural templates, or ethnic and state-centric pathologies. Alegoez argues that historical and contentious political interactions play a crucial role in explaining violence. The author demonstrates how the interests of local, regional, and international actors have overlapped within the Global War on Terror framework. The book finds that radicalization dynamics have undergone two consecutive episodes of contentious social interactions that, at the onset, were related to the formation of the Mogadishu-based warlord alliance and escalated following the Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia. It prompted a power vacuum which allowed al-Shabaab to expand its tactical repertoire of action and modify its target preferences into a relatively institutionalized, aggressive, and clandestine character.

Critically examining how Western-funded NGO interventions have shaped post-conflict recovery in Northern Uganda, Elias O. Opongo argues that the liberal peace agenda-focused on democracy promotion, market reforms, and human rights-often marginalizes local agency and undermines culturally rooted approaches to peacebuilding.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork and grounded theory, Opongo explores how these externally driven models disconnect from the lived realities of conflict-affected communities. He introduces relational constructionism as a framework that emphasizes participatory, context-sensitive, and indigenous approaches-such as the Acholi Mato Oput ritual-that center dialogue, reintegration, and restorative justice.
The book also critiques the role of international actors, particularly the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose interventions can clash with local reconciliation efforts. Opongo's findings in Northern Uganda offer critical insights for other post-conflict African contexts dominated by donor-driven peacebuilding. He calls for a decolonial shift toward frameworks that restore African agency, reduce dependency, and prioritize community-led solutions for sustainable peace. This book is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking more inclusive, grounded, and transformative peacebuilding models in Africa and beyond.

Key Features:

• Over 50 focused entries, each discussing how digital technologies affect or could impact the entrepreneurship process
• Contributions from leading scholars and emerging scholars as well as practitioners offering diverse and international viewpoints on digital entrepreneurship
• Dialogues about digital entrepreneurship trends valuable for academic audiences but also accessible to practitioners and suitable for classroom discussions
• An Introduction furnishing a thoughtful overview of the increasing convergence of the physical and digital worlds and why it fundamentally nuances, and extends, what we (think we) know about entrepreneurship

This Encyclopedia is a vital reference for scholars and students of entrepreneurship, business and management, and innovation and technology. Practitioners will also benefit from its coverage of foundational concepts, cutting-edge debates, and forecasts.

Is the cosmos itself conscious, and could our minds be aspects of its vast, overarching consciousness?

In this ambitious and original study, Khai Wager defends cosmopsychism, the view that the universe as a whole is conscious and that individual minds like ours derive from this cosmic consciousness. Wager situates cosmopsychism within what he calls the landscape of fundamental consciousness, bringing it into productive dialogue with closely related views such as panpsychism, panqualityism, and perennialism. The result is a fresh perspective on one of philosophy's deepest puzzles: the nature and origin of consciousness.

The problem of phenomenal consciousness asks how subjective experience can emerge from non-conscious matter. Fundamental approaches reject the idea that consciousness arises from non-conscious matter, instead proposing that it is present at the most basic level of reality. Panpsychism-the most prominent such view-holds that all fundamental microphysical entities are conscious. This, however, leads to the combination problem: how do billions of micro-level minds combine to form distinct macro-level minds like ours? Cosmopsychism offers a radical alternative: rather than being formed from a combination of micro-level instances of consciousness, individual minds derive from a larger, cosmic-level consciousness. As a result, cosmopsychism sidesteps the combination problem entirely. However, a new and equally pressing challenge arises-the derivation problem: how do individual minds derive from the cosmic consciousness?

Through rigorous and insightful analysis, Wager argues that cosmopsychism can navigate these problems and offers a compelling alternative to both physicalism and panpsychism. As such, this first book-length treatment of cosmopsychism makes an illuminating contribution to debates about the nature of reality and our place within it.

Chapters present essential background knowledge as well as an actionable course plan and syllabus that allows teachers to prepare for and organise UN and EU simulations. The chapter contents are designed in order to support students to successfully act as delegates for an assigned country and thus gain a unique understanding of political practice. Ultimately, the book transmits how political action shapes the practice of transnational politics.

Practising Transnational Politics is a valuable resource for scholars, students and educators of international relations, politics, EU studies and public policy looking to enhance their engagement in the UN, the EU, and simulations. It is also beneficial for those interested in participating in or preparing others for Model United Nations, Model European Union or other model simulations.

What am I doing here, and what do I want this class to be? What kind of class am I designing, and why? What does a meaningfully inclusive classroom look like? Innovations in Teaching Philosophy tackles the current challenges in higher education with bite-size chapters offering practical advice on a variety of issues.

Here you will find guidance from award-winning teachers about what they have tried in the classroom, how it worked, and why they did it. Motivated by a recognition of the ever-changing landscape philosophy teachers face, the conversational tone of the short chapters emphasize accessibility and practicality. Standalone chapters allow you to gravitate toward what worries or inspires you the most.

The focus throughout is on the most pressing features of the current teaching environment: the role of technology and the desire to make classrooms more inclusive. Contributors encourage and make space for building a community, rethinking who teachers and students are and what a philosophy class can and should look like. A final section written exclusively by students considers the wonders and woes of the various styles of teaching they have encountered.

This essential companion is packed with tried and tested tools ready to be modified and adopted to suit your goals as an instructor. Here is a chance to better understand what you want for your course, for the students and for the immensely rewarding experience of teaching philosophy.

Organised into three parts, each of which investigate a different area of concern, chapters outline key theoretical approaches and historical developments, identify the mechanisms and practices through which cultural diplomacy is enacted and reflect on critical contemporary challenges. The book showcases case studies on a range of topics, including Australian sports diplomacy in the Pacific, cultural relations at the Venice Biennale and K-pop as a vehicle of Korean museum diplomacy. It further sheds light on crucial concepts such as 'nation brand' and 'soft power'. Featuring expert contributors from across the globe, this definitive volume presents diverse insights into the rapidly evolving field of cultural diplomacy and relations.

Scholars and students of international relations, political science and public policy will greatly benefit from this illuminating book. With a broad scope covering education, sport, arts and media, it is also a helpful resource for policymakers and practitioners working in NGOs and government institutions, as well as creative producers, artists and community leaders.

What are the mainsprings of international rivalry and conflict and how are they to be uncovered - by international relations theory, history or by the practice of diplomacy? Cyprus is ideal for thoroughly testing theory and practice. The island has been at the epicentre of international relations rivalry throughout its history and to this day Cyprus remains a geopolitical tinder-box with acute tension between Cyprus and Turkey over the Turkish occupation of a third of the island. Hostility has now been transferred to the forum of the EU, with Cyprus as a member and the US and Britain pushing for Turkey to join. Meanwhile in the geopolitical hinterland, Russia remains suspicious of the island's British bases which project NATO power in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. William Mallinson's approach in analyzing Cyprus' problems and the dangers for international relations is unique. He applies practical hands-on experience of international diplomacy with academic research as an historian and international relations theorist.
Mallinson applies international theory to his minute analysis of revealing documents - the life-blood of the historian of diplomacy - and shows how historical research provides the essential basis for international relations theory.

Contributing authors analyse topics such as climate change, energy transitions, demographic shifts, digital governance and planetary equity, through the tandem lens of sustainability and geopolitics. They identify critical risks as well as opportunities for positive change. They also present approaches, methodologies, and tools for navigating uncertainty and advancing integrated perspectives, including from systems thinking, risk science, AI-based modelling, critical security studies, and scenario analysis.

This Handbook contributes to the emergence of geopolitics of sustainability as a field in its own right - distinct from the two traditional fields of geopolitical analysis and sustainability science. It further demonstrates that this emerging field has its own dedicated methodologies, conceptual frameworks, empirical focus, institutional spaces, and communities of practice.

This collection is an essential resource for students and scholars in environmental studies, sustainability studies, geopolitics, security studies, international relations, political science, geography, and science and technology studies. The Handbook also offers valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners looking to better understand and navigate the complex dynamics shaping our planetary future.

Lee and editors bring together a group of international scholars to map the overall landscape of "de-risking" China ? a concept that drew consensus among the Group of Seven (G7) countries.

Divided into three themes of conceptual evolution, national responses of individual Indo-Pacific countries and prospects of success with featured case studies, this groundbreaking work explores the origins and developments of "de-risking" China in a region that will define the 21st century. Drawing on rich findings by different scholars, it demonstrates that a wide spectrum of variations exists insofar as the Indo-Pacific countries' observance to the concept of 'de-risking' China.

This is a must-read book for academics, scholars and university students of International Relations and Political Science, as well as those interested in understanding the evolving dynamics of "de-risking" China among the Indo-Pacific countries today.

The European Union (EU) faces immediate and long-term challenges as it responds to the changing nature of the 21st-century global order. While the EU is the world's most successful multilateral institution that continues to attract applications from prospective member states, it faces the challenge of responding to the increasing support for populist political parties and dealing with erosion of democratic values within its member states.

In this fully revised and updated third edition, Alasdair Blair examines the economic, political, personal, and social factors that have shaped the process of European integration since the end of the Second World War. Reflecting the most recent developments and presented in clear, accessible language, the book explores:

• The context of European integration
• The relations between the EU and its member states
• The evolution of the EU's institutions
• Methods of decision-making
• Key EU policies
• The rise of populism
• The crises that the EU has faced in the 21st century
• The future direction of European integration

Comprehensive and accessible, this book is an essential guide to understanding how the EU works and why it is even more important in the 21st century than when it was founded after the Second World War.

Few regions have transformed as consequentially as Asia in the twenty-first century. In recent decades, China has risen faster than its neighbours and today outranks its major proximate competitors - India and Japan - on economic and defence indices by huge margins. The United States' interest in balancing against China is especially significant for India, because the contradictions between New Delhi and an increasingly assertive Beijing are the sharpest in the region.

In this Adelphi book, C. Raja Mohan delineates the prospects for an Indian role in structuring a new Asian geopolitical order. Grounding his analysis in the (often neglected) evolution of modern Indian foreign and security policies from the colonial era to the twenty-first century, Mohan argues that China's rise has compelled India to discard its traditional ambivalence about Chinese power and counter Beijing by strengthening its own national power and developing partnerships with other states, primarily the US. In addition to considering potential challenges to the emerging US-India strategic relationship, the book evaluates India's likely contributions to a new Asian security, political and economic order in the light of both New Delhi's enduring regional interests and the policy changes envisioned by the second Trump administration.

The fourth edition of this popular core textbook provides wide-ranging coverage of the structure, workings, policies and performance of international organizations such as the UN, EU, IMF and World Bank. Such organizations have never been so important in addressing the challenges that face our increasingly globalised world. This book introduces students to theories with which to approach international organizations, their history, and their ability to respond to contemporary issues in world politics from security and defence and climate change, to trade, migration and refugees, human rights protection, and international development. Underpinning the text is the authors' unique model that views international organizations as actual organizations. Reacting to world events, political actors provide the 'inputs' which are converted by the political systems of these organizations into 'outputs' that achieve varying levels of real-world impact and effectiveness.

This is the perfect text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of politics and international relations taking courses on international organization and global governance, as well as essential reading for those studying the UN, the EU and globalization.

New to this Edition:
- Draws on the most recent research in the field and considers some of the significant world events of the last decade to ensure that the book is completely up to date.
- New separate chapters considering NATO, international organizations in the field of migration and refugees as well as a new chapter on regional organizations such as the African Union, ASEAN and MERCOSUR.
- Fully accounts for the challenges to international organizations by the emerging powers, the Trump administration, geopolitics and crises of legitimacy.

Western Intervention in the Middle East and North Africa: The 'Responsibility to Protect' in Libya, Syria and Beyond offers a groundbreaking investigation into one of the most contested questions in international relations: why states intervene to stop mass atrocities in some contexts but not in others.

Focusing on the United States and the United Kingdom, this book examines two pivotal cases - Libya (2011) and Syria (2011-2013) - to reveal how decisions under the third pillar of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) are shaped less by universal norms than by nationally constructed identities and interests. Through detailed case studies, qualitative interviews, and extensive engagement with social constructivist theory, the book demonstrates how the U.S. and U.K. positioned themselves as 'intervener' in Libya but as 'non-intervener' in Syria, and how the Libya experience itself influenced subsequent restraint in Syria. By tracing the complex interaction of social, political, and institutional factors, it challenges the assumption that R2P operates as a purely international agenda and instead uncovers the national-level dynamics that determine whether and how military interventions occur.

Essential reading for scholars, policy makers, and practitioners in international relations, human rights, and Middle East and North African studies, this book provides critical insights into the politics of atrocity prevention and highlights the nuanced conditions required for future third pillar responses.

Emphasising that the G7 has continually been in a state of structural transformation, expert contributors explore the group's history before exploring the political economy of its policy formulation. They cover a wide range of topics including macroeconomic dialogue, sanctions, exchange rates, trade, debt relief, energy, climate change, agriculture, gender equality, and health. Chapters also engage with the group's external relations, focusing on interactions with Africa, China, and Russia. The Companion looks ahead to the future of the G7, dealing in particular with current and emerging issues in geoeconomics and geopolitical relations.

The Elgar Companion to the G7 is an invaluable resource for scholars of political science, economics, international relations, and law. Policymakers, journalists, think tanks, and businesses working on international economic issues will also benefit from the book's theoretical and practical insights.

Since the 1979 revolution, Iranian leaders have persisted in advancing a foreign policy aimed at achieving regional prominence and, in particular, rebuffing U.S. efforts to limit Iran's influence. But what are the drivers of Iran's foreign policy in light of the country's tumultuous history? How do the challenges posed by regional and global actors impact Iranian foreign policymaking? And how can we expect Iran to behave in the future?

This book uses a 'strategic lens' to explain how Iran conducts its current foreign policy and to unpack the dilemmas and strategic quandaries facing the Islamic Republic today. Ross Harrison argues that to understand Iranian behavior it is essential to look at it from the perspective of how Iran interprets its history, the region, the international community and itself; and the state's capabilities and conception of time and territory. Iranian foreign policy - in searching for a winning strategy for power and influence - is revealed to evince ideological strains, but also realpolitik considerations based on current interpretations of the national interest. These different strains in Iran's foreign policy represent the complexity of the challenges and opportunities the state faces. They also help us to understand the present and future of Iranian foreign policy behavior.

This timely book presents an in-depth examination of how social science research contributes to understanding governance and security in the Arctic. Leading scholars across disciplines critically map the intersection of environmental shifts, geopolitical tensions, Indigenous sovereignty and regional cooperation in this rapidly transforming region.

Drawing on empirical, theoretical and ethical perspectives, contributors advocate for an integrative interdisciplinary approach to governance and security research. They provide actionable insights into Arctic policymaking, spanning cooperation, conflict and diplomacy. Chapters explore the impact of pressing regional and transnational issues, including Russia's war on Ukraine, the developing climate crisis and resource geopolitics. By evaluating relevant literature and case studies, the book identifies forward-looking research frontiers and methodologies to tackle the complex entanglements between sovereignty, sustainability and security in the Arctic.

A Research Agenda for Arctic Security and Governance is a valuable resource for scholars and students of international relations, political geography, Arctic studies and environmental politics. It is also beneficial to policymakers, think tanks, NGOs and ministries involved in Arctic, environmental and security policy.

From the Rose Revolution to Ukraine today, an in- depth analysis of Russia's strategy toward Georgia- and the story of a war that never truly ended.

Fourteen years before Putin launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, he waged a brief five-day war with Georgia. For Moscow, the 2008 war was an opportunity to punish its neighbour-for pursuing European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations-as well as to send a signal to Ukraine. Once the dust of war settled, international focus shifted away from Georgia. Yet, Putin's aims remained firm, and the conflict turned into a silent war, with Russian intervention persisting below the threshold of military escalation.

From independence to the present day, Natia Seskuria examines how conflict with Russia has shaped modern Georgian politics and foreign policy, and considers what 'war by other means' entails in Georgia's case. Drawing on sources in Georgian, Russian and English, she explores the country's dilemma: pursuing its foreign policy ambitions while constrained by geographic proximity to Russia.

This comprehensive analysis of political developments in post-independence Georgia traces the evolution of Georgian statehood and the growing sophistication of Russia's coercive strategy. Seskuria's nuanced and probing account centres Georgian agency, and exposes the mechanisms of Russian interference and influence.

This book explores the lessons that can be gleaned through a look from the East Central European experience of dissent for dissent and resistance as general modern phenomena.

Lessons from the Revolutions of 1989 in East Central Europe has a two-fold purpose: (1) to teach about, in an accessible way, the East Central European culture of dissent, and (2) to explore connections between that time and place and our own post-1989 globalized world where dissent and resistance are more prominent and necessary than ever. Scholars of the pre-1989 East Central European culture of dissent do not, as a matter of course, look for lessons in their subject, and the scarcity of scholarly literature that explores this angle only confirms our point. At the same time, this avoidance, perhaps for good methodological reasons, does seem rather odd. Why not try to draw lessons-for us in the here and now-from studying the cultural-historical space of pre-1989 East Central Europe? This question seems especially important given that the intellectual dissidents did not think that what was happening in their time and place was isolated from the modern world as a whole: they thought that there were lessons to be drawn for the "West" from the experience of the "East."

Exposes the inner workings of Orban's Hungary and assesses how his style of politics has affected states and electorates worldwide.

How did a simple boy from the Hungarian countryside end up leading political life in his country for decades? How, as Prime Minister of a small Central European state, did he become one of the most influential illiberal rulers in the world? How and why did Hungary turn into a neo-authoritarian laboratory? And what geopolitical game is Viktor Orban playing between continental alliances and global powers?

This book is a political biography of Orban, but also offers first-hand historical analysis of Hungary post-1989. What started as an imperfect, albeit fully-fledged, democracy has been replaced by a new constitutional system. Orban's Hungary is a constantly radicalising electoral autocracy, with two intertwined role models: Putin's Russia and Trump's new America.

The Orban Enigma explains how Hungarian democratic backsliding has become a hot-button issue for the Western political community; and charts how, over the course of fifteen years, the Orban regime has ushered in illiberal rule while maintaining Hungary's global connections via the EU and NATO. Stefano Bottoni's timely study reminds us that democracy dies if it loses its spirit and civic commitment.

Examines how contemporary populism in the United States is the political expression of an underlying cultural decadence.

By scrutinizing both the far left and the far right, and seeing them as sharing the same locus classicus, this book offers concrete recommendations for engaging in genuinely inclusive language that gets Americans back to doing the hard work that liberal democracy demands. With a new theoretical framework, built upon an exploration of cultural decadence and postmodern communication technology, O'Keefe brings a fresh approach to the field of populism studies. Both progressive and traditional-minded readers will be better equipped to engage with and understand the causes and draws of populism in today's increasingly polarized political culture.

By examining how three American national security institutions (the U.S. Army, Department of State, and U.S. Agency for International Development) adapted to address unexpected and unfamiliar post-combat crises, this book reveals the four shared techniques which led to their success.

Focusing on topics such as crisis response, adaptation, pragmatic policy solutions, and personal relationships, Jeremy Kasper introduces four pivotal case studies which examine how national security institutions responded to post-combat operations in Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, and Afghanistan between 1983-2008.

This book gives a key account of the soldiers, diplomats, and foreign aid practitioners who responded to unexpected crises during post-conflict reconstruction - a dynamic, unfamiliar, and complex mission far outside their respective organization's core mission. Focusing on how bureaucracies struggled to apply the diplomatic, military, and economic dimensions of national power in pursuit of U.S. policy goals, this book ultimately exposes institutional forgetfulness, such that hard-won lessons did little to shape subsequent crises.

Drawing on empirical case studies, leading scholars discuss the global and regional implications of this developing rivalry, covering key topics including regime security, the technological race, US-China competition in international institutions, Beijing's role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the challenges that Canada faces in the US-China rivalry, the fragility of the US-South Korea alliance, and strategic choices that East Asian democracies have to take amid the US-China rivalry. In an era of intensified great power competition, strategic realignments and growing uncertainty, this book considers how the US-China rivalry is reshaping international governance institutions and norms, fracturing economic and technological networks and reconfiguring alliances across the globe.

The US-China Rivalry is a valuable resource for scholars, students and researchers of international relations, political science, international economics and Asian politics. It is also beneficial for policymakers and government officials seeking to formulate effective policies and strategies in the areas of diplomacy, trade and technology.

Since the mid-1990s, the perspective on Belarus that Western authors have been guided by has been the promotion of democracy and the perceived necessity to fight the authoritarian regime. However, repeated failure in this area has called attention to the inadequacy of the research informing this approach. This book considers the fundamental issue of handling society pervaded by a schism or fundamental disunion in terms of values and geopolitical issues.
Belarus in the Time of Crisis considers the societal split between the pro-Russian and pro-Western Belarusians, the relationships between these two segments of society, and the Belarusian political regime to be the internal factors of political change in Belarus. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war in Ukraine, and the Western sanctions imposed on Belarus are the external factors. As a relatively small country squeezed between the two centers of power, Russia and the European Union, Belarus has always stood out for the exceptional role of external influences on all aspects of its existence.