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among nations for forty-five years after World War II was dominated
by the major bipolar struggle between the United States and the Soviet
Union. With the end of the Cold War, states in differing regions of
the world are taking their affairs more into their own hands and working
out new arrangements for security that best suit their needs. This
trend toward new "regional orders" is the subject of this book, which
seeks both to document the emergence and strengthening of these new
regional arrangements and to show how international relations theory
needs to be modified to take adequate account of their salience in
the world today.
Rather than treat international politics as everywhere the same,
or each region as unique, this book adopts a comparative approach.
It recognizes that, while regions vary widely in their characteristics,
comparative analysis requires a common typology and set of causal
variables. It presents theories of regional order that both generalize
about regions and predict different patterns of conflict and cooperation
from their individual traits.
The editors conclude that, in the new world of regional orders,
the quest for universal principles of foreign policy by great powers
like the United States is chimerical and dangerous. Regional orders
differ, and policy must accommodate these differences if it is to
succeed.
Contributors are Brian L. Job, Edmond J. Keller, Yuen Foong Khong,
David A. Lake, David R. Mares, Patrick M. Morgan, Paul A. Papayoanou,
David J. Pervin, Philip G. Roeder, Richard Rosecrance and Peter
Schott, Susan Shirk, Etel Solingen, and Arthur A. Stein and Steven
E. Lobell. |
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