Libros de Política internacional, página 5 de 233

This book highlights the main features of the economic, commercial, political, fiscal and financial systems of each of the ASEAN countries from a domestic and an international point of view. Moreover, it analyses the most relevant international treaties signed by ASEANs members. Published after the 50th anniversary of ASEAN to promote the association, the book is a valuable tool for practitioners who are interested in developing economic activities or investments in this area.

The authors examine how far internal policies in the European Union move towards the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 80 95 per cent by 2050 and how or whether the EU s 2050 objective to decarbonise could affect the EU s relations with a number of external energy partners

The reality of the Arab-Israeli military balance now consists of two subordinate balances: Israel versus Syria and Israel versus the Palestinians. This book analyses these two balances in detail and their impact on defence planning in each country and on the overall strategic risk to the region as a whole. It covers military developments in each of six states - Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine - and provides an analytical view with charts and tables of how the changing natures of the military and political threats faced by each is affecting its military force readiness and development. The author has included the most comprehensive data on past, current, and future military force structure currently available, drawn from the widest range of sources. Responding to the most recent events in the region, this book is the first to deal with the effects on the Arab-Israeli military balance of the strategic uncertainty created by the Iraqi insurgency and the Iranian nuclear programme.It also studies how the Gaza pullout, the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, the changing political landscape in Israel, and the threat of nuclear proliferation are having an impact on the Egyptian-Israeli and Jordanian-Israeli peace accords, and the prospects for a settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis. The roles of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are analysed in light of the changing political landscape in both Israel and Palestine. The author also explores the ways that internal instability in Lebanon could escalate into a regional conflict.

Utilising individual interviews and focus group discussions, primarily from two Chinese cities, The Chinese Mafia: Organized Crime, Corruption, and Extra-Legal Protection contributes to the understanding of organized crime and corruption in the Chinese context, filling a significant gap in criminological literature, by investigating how extra-legal protectors-corrupt public officials and street gangsters-emerge, evolve and operate in a rapidly changing society.China''s economic reforms have been accompanied by a surge of social problems, such as ineffective legal institutions, booming black markets and rampant corruption. This has resulted in the rise of extra-legal means of protection and enforcement: such is the demand for protection that cannot be fulfilled by state-sponsored institutions. This book develops a new socio-economic theory of mafia emergence, incorporating Granovetter''s argument on social embeddedness into Gambetta''s economic theory of the mafia, to suggest that the rise of the Chinese mafia is primarily due to the negative influence of guanxi (a Chinese version of personal connections) on the effectiveness of the formal legal system. This interplay has two major consequences. First, the weakened ability of the formal legal system sees street gangsters (the ''Black Mafia'') providing protection and quasi law enforcement. Second, it allows for escalating abuse of power by public officials; as a result, corrupt officials (the ''Red Mafia'') sell public appointments, exchange illegal benefits with businesses and protect local gangs. Together, these outcomes have seen street gangs shift their operations away from traditional areas (e.g. gambling, prostitution and drug distribution), whilst corrupt public officials have moved to offer illegal services to the criminal underworld, including the safeguarding organized crime groups and protection of illegal entrepreneurs.A study of crime and deviance located within a fast growing economy, The Chinese Mafia offers a unique understanding of these activities within contemporary Chinese society and a new perspective for understanding the interaction between corruption and organized crime. It will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the fields of criminology and criminal justice, sociology, and political science, with particular interest for those researching China and Chinese politics and governance.

This volume addresses the central theme of adjusting the United Nations system in light of, firstly, the broadening definition of security, secondly, a perceived shift from modernity to postmodernity; and finally, the contemporary debate about reform, adaptation and institutional learning in multilateral institutions during transnational periods. The UN has not been successful in learning appropriate lessons that could facilitate requisite changes to its structure and operations. Thus the authors in this study focus on the lessons learned from the organizations'' recent performance in collective security, preventative diplomacy, preventative deployment, peacekeeping, peacemaking, peace maintenance, and international legal, environmental and trade regulation.

Chufrin, Gennady (Editor)Over the past decade the Caspian Sea region has risen from relative obscurity to considerable prominence in global affairs. Located at the crossroads of traditional trade routes between Europe and Asia and possessing vast natural resources, oil and natural gas among them, it attracts widespread international interest. The emergence of new sovereign states in the region has fundamentally transformed its political landscape. The future of the Caspian region is far from certain, however, as it is challenged by a wide variety of political, socio-economic and military threats which include the declining living standards of vast segments of local populations, inter-ethnic and inter-confessional tensions and conflicts, militant separatism, international terrorism, and illegal trade in arms and drugs. The security of the region is also affected by the intensifying strategic competition among major outside powers over establishing their political and economic influence in regional affairs.The book offers a competent analysis of the major political, economic and security developments in the region by a diverse group of highly qualified experts from the Caspian littoral states, the USA and the European Union.

A landmark work of international relations theory, Power and Interdependence first published in 1977 and posited a radically comprehensive explanation of the mechanics driving world affairs-"power politics" on one hand and "complex interdependence" on the other hand. This widely influential book reexamined the military and economic interests of state and non-state actors, and in an argument made before the end of the Cold War, the authors broadened the prevailing realist worldview of the time and anticipated many of the developments in our modern era of globalization. With a new preface by the authors and a foreword by Fareed Zakaria that looks at world affairs after the Cold War, the terrorist attacks of September 11, and the global financial crisis, Power and Interdependence is required reading for all students of international relations.