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International Relations Theory

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International Relations Theory

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This book is designed as a foundational entry point to International Relations theory. Each chapter sets out the basics of a theory whilst also applying it to a real-world event or issue, creating a lively, readable and relevant guide that will help students to see not only what theories are – but why they matter. Downloaded over 300,000 times since publication, it is the world’s most read IR Theory book published in the twenty-first century. The first section of the book covers the theories that are most commonly taught in undergraduate programmes, from realism right through to postcolonialism. The book then expands in an innovative second section to present emerging approaches and offer wider perspectives. Find out more about the book here.

International Relations

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International Relations

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Downloaded over 350,000 times as of 2026, International Relations is the most read textbook in the field. It is the perfect book to get you started, or get caught back up, with the discipline. As a ‘Day 0’ beginner’s guide, this textbook condenses the most important information into the smallest space and present concepts in an accessible way. The chapters build up the foundations for understanding how the world works and then explore the key global issues that concern the discipline – taking readers from no knowledge to competency. The journey starts by examining how the international system was formed and ends by reflecting that International Relations is always adapting to events and is therefore a never-ending journey of discovery. The book is designed to capture attention with an engaging narrative that places the reader inside crucial issues and debates so they can understand how things work, and where they fit in the world around them. Find out more about the book here.

Understanding Global Politics

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Understanding Global Politics

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This book is based on a popular A-Level Politics course, taken by students typically aged 16–18 in the UK’s national curriculum system and presents both as a guide to an A-Level student and/or a starting point for any reader looking to get to grips with the fundamentals of how the world works – including as preparation for embarking on an International Relations degree at university. Find out more about the book here.

Accompanying the book is an online Glossary of Key International Relations Terms.

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Foundations Of International Relations Preview

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E-International Relations has partnered with Bloomsbury to produce a fully featured textbook for beginners. With a diverse set of authors and chapters covering topics including race, colonialism, gender, sexuality, digital globalization, the environment and security studies, this textbook takes into account the historical development of International Relations and the web of dynamics that forms the subject, resulting in a clear analysis of the field from a variety of perspectives.

As this book is published by Bloomsbury – who have invested a substantial sum in producing the book to such a high quality we are unable to offer a free-to-download version of the book. However an earlier edition of this book from 2017 is available free on E-International Relations.

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About the author

Stephen McGlinchey is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol). He is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of E-International Relations.

Table of contents

GETTING STARTED

1. Introduction to International Relations – Stephen McGlinchey

PART ONE: HISTORY AND THEORY

2. International Relations and the Global System (read online) – Stephen McGlinchey
3. Discovery, Conquest and Colonialism – Robbie Shilliam
4. Towards Global International Relations – Sahil Mathur and Amitav Acharya
5. Levels of Analysis – Carmen Gebhard
6. Traditional and Middle Ground Theories – Stephen McGlinchey and Dana Gold
7. Critical Theories – Stephen McGlinchey, Rosie Walters and Dana Gold

PART TWO: GLOBAL STRUCTURES

8. International Organisations – Shazelina Z. Abidin
9. Global Civil Society – Raffaele Marchetti
10. International Political Economy – Günter Walzenbach
11. International Law – Knut Traisbach
12. Religion and Culture – John A. Rees
13. Gender and Sexuality – Rosie Walters

PART THREE: GLOBAL ISSUES

14. International Security – Natalie Jester
15. Transnational Terrorism – Katherine E. Brown
16. Migration – Anitta Kynsilehto
17. Poverty and Wealth – James Arvanitakis and David J. Hornsby
18. Global Health – Mukesh Kapila
19. Environment and Climate – Raul Pacheco-Vega
20. Connectivity and Exploitation in the Digital Age – Clare Stevens and Andreas Haggman

REFLECTING ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

21. Crossings and Candles – Peter Vale

Reviews

An immensely user-friendly introduction to International Relations, replete with diagrams, maps, illustrations and helpful summaries of the material covered. Such care for a student text has not been taken for a very long time.

— Stephen Chan OBE, Professor of World Politics, SOAS University of London, UK

Foundations of International Relations delivers a comprehensive explanation of International Relations that includes a thorough introduction to critical theories and non-western viewpoints alongside established IR theories and narratives. The approachability of the text and relevant case studies will leave students with the tools needed to understand and analyse international events.

— Jessica Neafie, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

The core strength of this textbook is the clarity it brings to explaining the many concepts and theories that make up International Relations – it introduces students to the nuance and complexity of the field in an exciting and accessible way. An excellent educational resource.

— Zoë Jay, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Tasmania, Australia

This introduction to International Relations is one of the most original and interesting to come to the market in a long while. Moving away from a purely European perspective, students will gain an understanding of traditional ideas about international organisation, whilst also appreciating how issues such as COVID and food security are truly international in scope.

— Anthony F Lang, Professor of International Political Theory, University of St Andrews, UK

Stephen McGlinchey has brought together a fantastic collection of authors who together present a wide-ranging, critical and accessible introduction to International Relations. Supported by helpful case studies, key insights and key term features, the book will enable its readers to navigate the complexities of global politics.

— Peter Sutch, Professor of Political and International Theory, Cardiff University, UK

Foundations of International Relations is a wonderfully rich, yet highly accessible, introduction to International Relations, both as a subject and as a discipline. Students are brought on an engaging intellectual journey through a range of contending perspectives and issues, whilst being encouraged to think critically throughout. They will find it challenging and rewarding in equal measure.

— Stephen Hill, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh, UK

This innovative and well-written textbook takes students on an exciting historical, theoretical, geographical and thematic journey of International Relations. It is truly attentive to the multiplicity of (state and non-state) actors in global politics, as well as non-Western approaches. The book presents an impressive and well-thought pedagogical outline leaving students critically engaged and encouraged to apply their new knowledge of IR to specific, concrete cases. I highly recommend this unique book to both beginner and more advanced students.

— Andréas Litsegård, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Development Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

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Critical Terrorism Studies, A Dictionary

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This book offers an unrivalled introduction to key concepts and debates within the field of Critical Terrorism Studies. Comprising 160 original entries, the book introduces readers to important events such as 9/11, organisations such as Al-Qaeda, theories such as feminism, methods such as discourse analysis, and debates such as new terrorism, and the impact these have had on research in this area. Each entry is accompanied by suggestions for further reading, helping readers to develop their understanding. The book includes a new full-length introduction to Critical Terrorism Studies, setting out how the field has evolved (read online). The dictionary’s accessible and engaging style makes it an essential resource for anyone interested in thinking critically around terrorism, counterterrorism and political violence.

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About the authors

Lee Jarvis is a Professor of Security and Society at Adelaide University, and holds honorary professorships at the Loughborough University and the University of East Anglia. He is author or editor of 17 books and over 60 articles on the politics of terrorism and security. He is co-editor of Critical Studies on Terrorism, and his research has been funded by the ESRC, the AHRC, the Australian Research Council and NATO among others.

Alice Martini is a Lecturer of International Relations at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and holds an honorary professorship at the Queen Mary, University of London. She is the author of The UN and Counter-Terrorism: Global Hegemonies, Power, and Identities (Routledge 2021), and co-editor of Encountering Extremism: Theoretical Issues and Local challenges (Manchester University Press 2020) and Contemporary Reflections on Critical Terrorism Studies (Routledge 2023).

Reviews

A pedagogically innovative format offering students and scholars brief but thought-through discussions of the key elements in terrorism and critical terrorism studies. A must for the reading lists!

– Harmonie Toros, Professor in Politics and International Relations, University of Reading.

Jarvis and Martini have constructed a well-crafted and innovative introduction to critical terrorism studies. It is comprehensive and authoritative and will serve both beginners and experts as an exceedingly useful reference tool as well.

– Michael Stohl, Distinguished Professor of Communication Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara.

A comprehensive encyclopaedia of Critical Terrorism Studies, covering the central topics as well as the lesser-known sub-fields that constitute our understandings and experiences of terrorism and political violence. Essential reading for students of political violence, critical security studies, and beyond.

– Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, UK.

This comprehensive dictionary fills a crucial gap in Critical Terrorism Studies by providing accessible yet rigorous definitions that challenge conventional understandings of terrorism, counterterrorism, and political violence. An invaluable resource for students, educators, and researchers seeking to engage with critical perspectives that move beyond state-centric and securitised approaches to understanding contemporary forms of violence.”

– Raquel da Silva, Associate Professor of International Relations, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, and Integrated Researcher, CEI-Iscte, Lisbon.

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The Praeter Colonial Mind – An Intellectual Journey Through The Back Alleys Of Empire

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For good or ill, the lingering legacies of imperialism play a key role in our post-colonial societies of today. Drawing on anecdotal evidence and philosophical analysis, this book spans across the war in Ukraine, British and American imperialism, the so-called Global South, anti-colonialism and decolonization, culture wars and political violence, Trumpism, the rules-based international order, the rise of China, and the advent of AI, all against the backdrop of the author’s personal experiences in America, Europe, and post-Soviet spaces. The mind that tries to make sense of all of this sees colonialism simultaneously as past and present as it is confronted with the evidence of its many legacies – and attempts to step aside to gain perspective and go above and beyond colonialism.

About the author

Francisco Lobo holds a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London. He also holds an LLM in International Legal Studies (New York University), an LLM in International Law and an LLB (University of Chile). He has worked as a legal practitioner in the private and public sectors. He has more recently worked as an advisor for an international development project to train the Armed Forces of Ukraine in IHL and military ethics standards. His research focuses on international law, human rights, the laws and ethics of war, legal theory, moral philosophy, and history.

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International Relations Theory

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This book is designed as a foundational entry point to International Relations theory. Each chapter sets out the basics of a theory whilst also applying it to a real-world event or issue, creating a lively, readable and relevant guide that will help students to see not only what theories are – but why they matter. Downloaded over 300,000 times since publication, it is the world’s most read IR Theory book published in the twenty-first century. The first section covers the theories that are most commonly taught in undergraduate programmes, from realism right through to postcolonialism. The book then expands in an innovative second section to present emerging approaches and offer wider perspectives.

Accompanying this book is a curated bank of online IR theory resources.

To support our open access publishing mission, please consider a donation (via Paypal) or become a subscriber on Substack.

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Contributors: Victor Adetula, Amitav Acharya, Sandrina Antunes, Lina Benabdallah, Isabel Camisão, Irena Leisbet Ceridwen Connon, Jeff Corntassel, Alix Dietzel, Hugh C. Dyer, Clara Eroukhmanoff, Marcos Farias Ferreira, Dana Gold, Richard Ned Lebow, Aishling Mc Morrow, Jeffrey W. Meiser, Carlos Murillo-Zamora, Sheila Nair, Maïa Pal, Alex Prichard, Felix Rösch, Archie W. Simpson, Sarah Smith, Yannis A. Stivachtis, Sarina Theys, Markus Thiel, Marc Woons and Pichamon Yeophantong.

Reviews

This is a superb book. It offers a comprehensive listing that is imaginatively presented and enormously accessible. Helpfully, too, it takes the form of a global conversation. IR theory at its sparkling best.

— Peter Vale, Professor of Humanities, University of Johannesburg; Professor of Public Policy and Global Affairs, Nanyang Technological University and Nelson Mandela Professor of Politics Emeritus, Rhodes University

In the plethora of textbooks on IR almost none depart from ‘playing it safe’, giving forms of instruction in the rudiments of established theories. The great breakout of this volume is its entire second half of proposing quite radical new ways of looking at the world. The book is both ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ and in both it is sometimes witty in a way that students will savour – learning what IR is, and what it could be. A lovely book in which even the doyens of ‘old’ IR are sometimes bold.

— Stephen Chan OBE, Professor of World Politics, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London

This rich volume offers a highly accessible and exceptionally broad-ranging introduction to the field of International Relations theory. In 20 short chapters the book provides a highly readable and comprehensive overview of core theoretical frameworks ranging from ‘mainstream’ realism and liberalism all the way to queer theory and critical geography. By placing each theory in context, and by providing a wealth of easily graspable examples, the book provides ‘one-stop shopping’ for the full range of theoretical frameworks and concepts – along with welcome attention to non-western perspectives. An excellent place to start.

— Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Senior University Lecturer in International Relations at Cambridge University

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Caliphates And Islamic Global Politics

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The events of the Arab Spring, beginning in December 2010, saw renewed hope for Arab Civil Society. However, the fall of authoritarian regimes did not always seem to benefit Civil Society – whilst Political Islamic movements often took advantage. In Syria, Iraq, and beyond, groups like the Islamic State are declaring Caliphates in the territories they seize in an attempt to fulfil the Political Islam ideal of a ‘global Islamic Caliphate’ encompassing the Muslim world. This collection of articles aims to address common questions about Political Islam, as well as to provide an assessment of the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL and finally challenge common understandings on the issue of Islam and democracy.

Contributors: Maximilian Lakitsch, Juan A. Macías-Amoretti, Adel Elsayed Sparr, Joseph Kaminski, Haian Dukhan, Sinan Hawat, Rana Khalaf, Mohammed Nuruzzaman, and M. A. Muqtedar Khan.

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Global Climate Justice – Theory And Practice

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This book offers philosophical and interdisciplinary insights into global climate justice with a view to climate neutrality by the middle of the twenty-first century. The first section brings together a series of introductory contributions on the state of the climate crisis, covering scientific, historical, diplomatic and philosophical dimensions. The second section focuses on the challenges of justice and responsibility to which the climate crisis exposes and will expose the global community in the coming years: on the one hand, aiming for the ambitious mitigation target of 1.5°C and, on the other hand, securing resources for adaptation and for climate-damage compensation to the most vulnerable. The third section investigates normative aspects of the transition towards a fossil-fuel free society, from the responsibility of oil companies to the gender-differentiated effects of climate change, passing through what is owed to transition losers and the legal protection of future generations.

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Contributors: Silvia Bacchetta, Roberto Buizza, Daniel Burkett, Elena Casetta, Marco Grasso, Tahseen Jafry, Rutger Lazou, Kirk Lougheed, Elias Moser, Samantha Noll, Gianluca Ronca, Nishtha Singh, Sue Spaid, Olle Torpman, Vera Tripodi.

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Global Politics In A Post Truth Age

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This book brings together ten chapters that reflect upon the state of global, regional and national politics in the twenty-first century within the context of post-truth. The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of post-truth describes it as circumstances in which facts are less influential in shaping public opinion and political action than emotion, belief and distortion. What unites the chapters in this book, other than their focus on the meaning and nature of post-truth, is that they also consider the (supposed) erosion of many of the norms and patterns of political and social behaviour established in the second half of the twentieth century. This is especially pertinent given the rise in social media and the internet, political polarisation, and new patterns of state rivalries that harness post-truth politics. Each chapter is styled to engage with academic themes and leading-edge research, yet also to present complex ideas accessibly where possible.

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Contributors: Atal Ahmadzai, Evanthia Balla, Emil Sondaj Hansen, Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen, Theresa Man Ling Lee, Spiros Makris, Kyriakos Mikelis, Ido Oren, Silvério da Rocha-Cunha, Hasmet M. Uluorta, Rafael Franco Vasques, Irene Viparelli.

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Neutrality After 1989 – New Paths In The Post Cold War World

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Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the United States as the world’s sole superpower, neutrality was seen by many as a relic of the Cold War. However, the arrival of rising powers on the scene and the gradual shift towards multipolarity as countries like Russia and China assert their influence and challenge the US-dominated international order has in turn revived neutrality in its various forms. This book begins with a range of chapters examining the ‘old neutrals’ of Europe via contemporary Austrian and Swiss neutrality, the decline and end of Swedish and Finnish neutrality, and the resilience of Irish neutrality. Later chapters deal with the emergence of ‘new neutrals’ via examinations of Vietnamese ‘bamboo diplomacy,’ Israel’s efforts to balance its relations with Washington and Moscow, and Oman’s non-interventionist foreign policy. As the range of chapters show, the role of neutrality – and its perception or misperceptions – remain vital in understanding contemporary geopolitics and international relations.

Contributors: Roby C. Barrett, Karen Devine, Pascal Lottaz, Nguyen Khac Giang, Erik Noreen, Jussi Pakkasvirta, Liudmila Samarskaia, Roxanna Sjöstedt, Leah Sherwood, Hanna Tuominen.

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Policy And Politics Of The Syrian Refugee Crisis In Eastern Mediterranean States – National And International Approaches

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The large and continuing refugee stream that arose from the long-lived Syrian Civil War that began in 2011 has deeply affected the politics and demography of the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. This book’s chapters suggest several cross-cutting themes or phenomena. First, they highlight the problem of alterity or othering as a central feature of the reactions to the Syrian mass migration challenge. Second, human tendencies to xenophobia and fear of difference and change have played a key role in producing broad popular ill-will and government opposition to assisting Syria’s displaced. Finally, these currents merged, although at varying speeds and to changing degrees during the decade of the Syrian migration, to generate calls by many individuals that migrants and refugees constituted a security threat to be met with demonization and removal and/or with efforts to ensure they were kept ‘at bay’ at all costs.

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Contributors: Renad Abbadi, Fatima Alzyoud, Sukaina Alzyoud, Evanthia Balla, Emma Casey, Muddather Abu Karaki, Erica Martin, Zeynep S. Mencutek, Neda Moayerian, Augusta Nannerini, Ayat Nashwan, Georgeta V. Pourchot, Alexandra Prodromidou, Dina Rashed, Dania Shahin, Dimitris Tsarouhas, Faye Ververidou.

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Mongolian Independence And The British – Geopolitics And Diplomacy In High Asia, 1911–1916

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This work focuses on some High Asian diplomatic, geopolitical and trade issues, from the point of view of the British Empire, in the period between the last phase of the Ch’ing dynasty and the early years of the Chinese Republic. In particular, the significance for the British of Mongolian independence in the geopolitical dimension of Tibet will be analyzed within the framework of the international equilibrium system that had originated from the Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907. The geopolitical role of Tibet was called into question by the fall of the Ch’ing Empire and by the declaration of independence of Mongolia – a country strongly linked for religious, cultural, and historical reasons to the Land of Snows but connected for political and economic reasons to Russia. The research reconstructs the British attempt to use the relationship between Outer Mongolia and Russia to its advantage, in a sort of exchange necessary to make Saint Petersburg accept the Simla Convention of 1914 – finally signed by the British and Tibetans without the Chinese – and which came into conflict with what had been decided between the Russians and the British in 1907.

Matteo Miele (Frosinone, 1984) is an Affiliated Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Between August 2011 and July 2012, he was a Lecturer at the Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan. He received his Ph.D. (Dottorato di Ricerca) from the University of Pisa in 2014.

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Asian Territorial And Maritime Disputes – A Critical Introduction

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This volume is designed to be a practical, yet critical, introduction to the main maritime and territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region. It covers the most controversial disputes, including those in the South China Sea, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, Dokdo/Takeshima, the Kuril Islands, Taiwan, and Sino-India border issues. In addition, the role of the key actors in the region is examined, offering various perspectives on the disputes along with the basic rationales behind claimant nations’ diplomatic approaches. With a team of contributors made up of both senior and early-career scholars, diplomats, and legal specialists, the book provides a wide range of insights that go beyond what is provided in the media.

Contributors: Yoichiro Sato, Serafettin Yilmaz (Yao Shifan), Bhaso Ndzendze, Mark Henderson, Adam Gerval, Duan Xiaolin, Alana Camoça, Valentina Maljak, Gleice Miranda, Mayuri Banerjee, Leticia Simões, Astha Chadha.

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Understanding Global Politics

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This book is aimed at those with an interest in cultivating a clearer understanding of global politics. It will hopefully bring together those who are interested in the changing dynamics of the international system with those who seek to comprehend the often-bewildering pace of change in the world around them. Above all, it is aimed at those who recognise that in global politics the last page is never truly written. We therefore need a theoretical and conceptual framework in order to ground us in stormy waters. It is only through a better awareness that we can hope to offer any lasting improvement to the world we inhabit. The book is based on a popular A-Level Politics course, taken by students typically aged 16–18 in the UK’s national curriculum system and presents both as a guide to an A-Level student and/or a starting point for any reader looking to get to grips with the fundamentals of how the world works – including as preparation for embarking on an International Relations degree at university.

Accompanying the book is an online Glossary of Key International Relations Terms.

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Kevin Bloor is an author, Principal Examiner and teacher. He has over twenty years of experience in the social sciences and is the author of several texts and educational resources such as Understanding Global Politics, The Definitive Guide to Political Ideologies, Understanding Political Theory and Sociology: Theories, Theorists and Concepts. He holds a BA in Politics and International Relations and an MA in International Relations, both from Staffordshire University, and an MPhil in Government from Manchester University.

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Decolonizing Politics And Theories From The Abya Yala

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This book addresses, from a decolonial approach, various aspects of the original history of Abya Yala. Together, the chapters provide a critical view of the colonization of Indigenous Peoples that not only explains social or economic subjugation of Latin American people, but also makes it clear that colonization is ontological and epistemological. It is a way of conceiving history and memory as subjugation imposed by those who set themselves up as lords and masters of the land and of the social and cultural heritage of Latin America. Thus, colonization must be conceived as a totality. Therefore, deconstructing the hegemonic vision of history is necessary in order to recognize the ancestral rights of Indigenous communities. The decolonial vision is radical in the sense that it goes beyond the European descendants or mestizo visions from which the explanation of Latin American development was constructed. This book aims to investigate the roots of hegemonic thought and provide theoretical and empirical tools to imagine other readings of Abya Yala.

Contributors: Rocio Arredondo Botello, Marina Bolfarine Caixeta, Francisco Javier Castellón Najar, Christian Crevels, Aura Cumes, Guilherme de Lima Souza, Ellen Monielle do Vale Silva, Sebastián Granda Henao, Carla Ladeira Pimentel Águas, Marcos Moraes Valença, Adriana Teresa Moreno-Gutiérrez, Etienne Mulume Oderhwa, Iran Neves Ordonio, Kenia María Ramirez Meda, Maria do Carmo Rebouças dos Santos, Alina Ribeiro, Valeria Victoria Rodríguez Morales, Miguel Alejandro Saquimux Contreras, Marina Scotelardo, Deisy Milena Sorzano Rodriguez, Christina Soto van der Plas.

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Ukraine’s Outpost – Dnipropetrovsk And The Russian Ukrainian War

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This is the first book to analyse the Russian-Ukrainian war considering the role played by the Dnipropetrovsk region as the country’s forpost (outpost) in Russia’s war against Ukraine. In the Soviet Union, Dnipropetrovsk was a closed city due to its large military industrial complex, and it was the world’s biggest producer of nuclear missiles. This book analyses how a city that was once the pride of Soviet power became a bastion of Ukrainian patriotism in the face of Russian military aggression in 2014 and thereafter. Led by Jewish-Ukrainian Russian speakers, the city of Dnipro and the region of Dnipropetrovsk prevented the spread of the Kremlin’s so-called ‘New Russia’ project beyond the Donbas into the heart of Ukraine. This book challenges disinformation and stereotypes which portray Ukraine as a regionally divided country with the military conflict as a ‘civil war’ between Russian and Ukrainian speakers.

Contributors: Olena Andriushchenko, Olena Ishchenko, Nicholas Kyle Kupensky, Ihor Kucheriv, Eugenia Kuznetsova, Kostyantyn Mezentsev, Oleksiy Musiyezdov, Oleh Repan.

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Dignity In Movement – Borders, Bodies And Rights

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This book brings together a diverse range of contributors to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on developments across the forced migration sphere – including reflections on international migration and refugee law, global health, border management, illegal migration, and intersectional migration experiences. The chapters address subjects ranging from the Global Compact for Migration, migration laws, fundamental human rights discourse and principles, colonial violence, environmental migrants, and internal displacement. The book additionally delves into the interplay between such notions as the role of women in migration trends, the Kafala System, unaccompanied minors, and family dynamics. Along with tackling border practices, transnational governance, return migration, and complementary protection, the chapters featured in this volume discuss the notions of belonging, stigma, discrimination, and racism.

Contributors: Fiore Bran Aragón, Sabrina Andrea Avigliano, Keshav Basotia, Hadjer Belghoul, Pat Rubio Bertran, Anna Closas Casasampera, Diotima Chattoraj, Guadalupe Chavez, Manuela da Rosa Jorge, Mitxy Meneses Gutierrez, Kensiya Kennedy, Anne-Cecile Leyvraz, Kendra Morancy, Oanh K. Nguyen, Hannah Owens, Lorcán Owens, Sara Riva, Chiara Scissa, Alma Stankovic, Flo Strass, Monica Trigos Padilla, Domiziana Turcatti, Meredith Veit, Alexander Voisine, Meltem Yilmaz Sener, Benedetta Zocchi.

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Signature Pedagogies In International Relations

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This volume builds on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research to showcase a wide range of IR teaching and learning frameworks. Contributors explore their signature pedagogies relevant to the study and practice of teaching IR by detailing how pedagogical practices and their underlying assumptions influence how we teach and impart knowledge. Authors critically engage with their approaches by exploring the following questions: What concrete and practical acts of teaching and learning do we employ? What implicit and explicit assumptions do we impart to students about the world of politics? What values and beliefs about professional attitudes and dispositions do we foster and in preparing students for a wide range of possible careers? Authors, as such, provide educators, students, and practitioners’ pedagogical insights and practical ways for developing their own teaching and learning approaches.

Contributors: David Andersen-Rodgers, Shane Joshua Barter, Patricia Capelini Borelli, Xira Ruiz-Campillo, Antonio Moreno Cantano, Daniel Clausen, Mathew Davies, Kattya Cascante Hernández, Roberta Silva Machado, Lisa MacLeod, Talita de Mello Pinotti, Patrícia Nogueira Rinaldi, Jenny H. Peterson, Xiaoye She, William J. Shelling II, Archie W. Simpson, Erzsébet Strausz, Ismail Erkam Sula, Tamara A. Trownsell.

Reviews

This volume offers an informative and highly readable examination of pedagogic approaches from an international perspective. In doing so, it presents an admirably diverse array of teaching and learning frameworks from educators in different systems and geographic locations. The volume is notable for its critical eye and attention to the practical implications and applications of pedagogy as contributors describe, situate, and reflect upon their own signature pedagogies. The result is a thought-provoking, and thoughtful, collection that is at once personal in its insights and generalisable for those looking to develop their own teaching and learning skillsets.

— Adam Bower, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Relations & Director, Centre for Global Law and Governance University of St Andrews

A thrilling volume on signature pedagogies and International Relations that offers the worldwide community of educators in this field with timely guidance on the signature pedagogies model. The book edited by Jan Lüdert summons IR educators to raise awareness on the worldviews and values they impart on their students through their pedagagical choices, while also vindicating the practical dimension of IR. The book invites to envisage the situatedness of the IR classroom in the world -namely, in a world that needs to be acted upon by future practitioners, activists or scholars. Thirteen chapters in the volume offer detailed reasoning and experience-based insights into a selection of active learning strategies which range from the well-known simulations to the rarer anecdote-based learning. A volume that will accompany many IR teachers in their noble commitment with good teaching.

— Marina Díaz, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Deusto University, Bilbao, Spain

By its very nature broad and inclusive almost beyond description, International Relations (IR), as a field of study, calls for pedagogical practices no less diverse, and no less interwoven. This book not only meets those criteria; it goes beyond them, introducing readers to the signature teaching and learning frameworks of over a dozen scholars worldwide. Whether field-based or classroom-based, or some creative, experiential combination of the two; whether career-based or wholly non-vocational; whether game-less or employing this simulation or that, storytelling or Model United Nations (MUNs), for example; all the signature pedagogies here share a common goal, the uplifting of students and teachers alike in a unique form of social capital building, one in which the sense of self is made to align not with any particular in-group or community, but with the generic idea of community itself, a vibrant and healthy associational life.

What for one author is about “facilitating thoughtfulness,” for another about “disrupting surface structures in our thinking,” and for still another about “ontological agility” and the de-provincialization of IR, is for all pedagogies here an aversion against presenting this theory or that as an absolute right or an absolute wrong, wanting to adjudicate between them all, past, present, and future, as neither dependent nor interdependent ways of knowing. And toward what end? —toward the creation of global citizens with the wisdom, courage, and compassion to make a positive difference in the world wherever they find themselves. At the same time, as one author argues, this points to the liberal arts tradition of “know thyself” first as the proper measure of knowledge acquisition, but more than that as the stimulus to life-long learning—analytical ability, curiosity, and imagination at the center.

This book will truly resonate with all readers. There is something here for everybody.

— John M. Heffron, Director of the MA Program in Educational Leadership and Societal Change, Professor of Educational History and Culture, Soka University of America

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Understanding Ukraine And Belarus – A Memoir

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This book describes the author’s academic journey from an undergraduate in London to his current research on Ukraine and Belarus as a History professor in Alberta, Canada. It highlights the dramatic changes of the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods, his travel stories, experiences, and the Stalinist legacy in both countries. It includes focus on his visits to Chernobyl and the contaminated zone, as well as a summer working with indigenous groups in eastern Siberia. Visiting Belarus more than 25 times since the 1990s, he was banned for seven years before the visa rules were relaxed in 2017. In the case of Ukraine, it chronicles a transition from a total outsider to one of the best-known scholars in Ukrainian studies, commenting on aspects of the coalescence of scholarship and politics, and the increasing role of social media and the Diaspora in the analysis of crucial events such as the Maidan uprising and its aftermath.

David R. Marples is a Distinguished University Professor of Russian and East European History at the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Canada. He is the author of sixteen single-authored books, including Our Glorious Past: Lukashenka’s Belarus and the Great Patriotic War (2014), and Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine (2008). He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has also co-edited four books on nuclear power and security in the former Soviet Union, contemporary Belarus, and most recently, Hiroshima-75: Nuclear issues in Global Contexts [with Aya Fujiwara] (Stuttgart: ibidem Verlag, 2020).

Reviews

This is a remarkable memoir that highlights the permeability of the Iron Curtain near the end of the Cold War – most notably through a personal account of visiting Chernobyl following the nuclear disaster – and is a testament to the continued importance of historical work that challenges the legacy of tyrants of the past, and of the present.

— Rylan Kafara, Killam Doctoral Fellow, University of Alberta, Canada

This very readable book offers thoughtful personal insights into academic life and perceptive strategic analysis of the complexities of contemporary politics in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

— Terry Mackey, Former Director of International Projects, Alberta International, University of Alberta, Canada

History is made and written by humans, and this book is the best proof of it. David R. Marples has written an honest and enlightening memoir revealing the human side of professional history writing and academic study of Belarusian and Ukrainian societies.

— Mikhail Minakov, Senior Advisor on Ukraine, Kennan Institute / Editor-in-Chief of Focus Ukraine Blog

Highly recommended reading as an inside account of the development of Ukrainian studies (and more) in Canada, a factor that I think will go some way to explain the support Ukraine received in its time of greatest need, when somebody in the future writes the history of our times. I took my first course in Soviet history from David R. Marples and for me this book is a real trip!

— Mark Opgenorth, Former Deputy Director, NATO Liaison Office in Kyiv, Ukraine

The theme of this engrossing memoir that impressed me the most is how close ties with an immigrant community, representing a part of a culturally divided country, shaped the author’s perspective on that country in its entirety and how this perspective subsequently evolved to become more meaningful, comprehensive, and even-handed. A punishment for even-handedness meted out by that community is instructive, too, as it stems from herd mentality and its inherently abusive relationship with social science.

— Grigory Ioffe, Professor of Geospatial Science, Radford University, Virginia

This memoir is entertaining and relevant. It gives an intimate window into the challenges of doing research on authoritarian regimes in the former Soviet Union over the last forty years, and reinforces the importance of protecting academic freedom during an age when identity politics increasingly threatens academic historical research. It also acts as excellent brief introduction to the history contemporary Belursian politics.

— Tolly Bradford, Associate Professor of History, Concordia University of Edmonton

A great book, especially considering its relevance to what’s happening in Belarus today. A good reminder that folks have been working on this topic for a long time.

— John Vsetecka, Founder and Co-Editor of H-Ukraine

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Crisis In Russian Studies? Nationalism (imperialism), Racism And War

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The book analyses the Ukraine crisis through five perspectives. The first is how Western historians continue to include Ukrainians within an imperial history of ‘Russia’ which denies Ukrainians a separate history. The second perspective is to counter the common narrative of Crimea as ‘always’ having been ‘Russian’ which denies that Tatars are the indigenous people of Crimea – not Russians. The third perspective focuses on academic orientalist approaches to writing about Ukraine and the Russian-Ukrainian war. The fourth perspective downplays Russian nationalism (imperialism) in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and completely ignores the revival of Tsarist and White émigré Russian nationalism that denies the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Meanwhile, academic orientalism exaggerates the influence of Ukrainian nationalism in post-Euromaidan Ukraine. The fifth perspective counters the claim of Putinversteher (Putin-Understander) scholars of a ‘civil war’ taking place in Ukraine through extensive evidence of Russian military aggression and imperialism.

Taras Kuzio is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and a Non-Resident Fellow in the Foreign Policy Institute at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington.

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Remote Warfare – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

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Modern warfare is becoming increasingly defined by distance. Today, many Western and non-Western states have shied away from deploying large numbers of their own troops to battlefields. Instead, they have limited themselves to supporting the frontline fighting of local and regional actors against non-state armed forces through the provision of intelligence, training, equipment and airpower. This is remote warfare, the dominant method of military engagement now employed by many states. Despite the increasing prevalence of this distinct form of military engagement, it remains an understudied subject and considerable gaps exist in the academic understanding of it. Bringing together writers from various backgrounds, this edited volume offers a critical enquiry into the use of remote warfare.

Contributors: Baraa Shiban, Camilla Molyneux, Christopher Kinsey, Daniel Mahanty, Delina Goxho, Helene Olsen, Hendrik Huelss, Ingvild Bode, Jennifer Gibson, Jolle Demmers, Joseph Chapa, Julian Richards, Lauren Gould, Malte Riemann, Norma Rossi, Rubrick Biegon, Sinan Hatahet, Tom Watts.