Global Security in the Twenty-First Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace

This thoroughly updated edition of Global Security in the Twenty-First Century offers a balanced introduction to contemporary security dilemmas throughout the world. Sean Kay assesses the impact of the global economic crisis on international security and considers how the range of thinking about power and peace has evolved in relation to major flashpoints including in the Middle East, Asia, and Eurasia. Kay builds on the first and second edition’s emphasis on the roles of trade and technology, the militarization of space, the privatization of security, the use of sanctions, ethnic conflict, and transnational crime. This edition goes even farther to incorporate traditional thinking about national security in the context of human rights, democracy, population, health, environment, energy, and especially education. The author includes full updates on emerging challenges out of Iraq, Russia, and viral diseases in the context of larger strategic questions like the rise of China and America’s “pivot” to rebalance its priorities toward Asia. Writing in an engaging style, Kay integrates traditional and emerging challenges in one easily accessible study that gives readers the tools they need to develop a thoughtful and nuanced understanding of global security.

Table of Contents:
Contents Preface 1. Dynamics of Global Security Globalization of Security The New Distribution of Power The Nation-State Soft Power Asymmetric Power The Power of Nature Overview of the Book Suggested Reading 2. The Quest for Power The Traditions of Realism The Security Dilemma and Incentives for War Misperception, Coercion, and Credibility Offensive Realism The Realist Path to Security Deterrence Alliances and Concerts Hegemonic Stability and Offshore Balancing Realism Revised Global Security Primacy and the New Balancing Alliances, Dissuasion, and Strategic Partnerships Asymmetric Threats, Ethnic Conflict, and Identity Realism Clash of Civilizations Economic Realism Realists as Optimists Summary Suggested Reading 3. The Search for Peace Liberalism Neoliberal Institutionalism Cooperative Security Peace through Commerce Democratic Peace and Security Communities Emerging Security Paradigms Constructivism Transnational Civil Society Pacifism and Peace Movements Postmodernism Feminism and Gender Revolutionary Approaches Summary Suggested Reading 4. Great Powers and Grand Strategy The United States Russia China The European Union Summary Suggested Reading 5. Regional Flash Points India and Pakistan The Balance of Power and Nuclear Weapons Limited Deterrence Nuclear Dangers The Korean Peninsula The North Korean Threat The Nuclear Environment Averting Conflict—or a Nuclear Chain Reaction? Taiwan One China or Two? Unconventional War and Strategic Consequences Taiwan’s Security Dilemma Interdependence and the Case against War The Persian Gulf and the Middle East American Primacy and the Iraq Conundrum Iran, Israel, and the Geopolitical Balance The Saudi Question An Uncertain Future Eurasia Russian Hegemony and Balancing Great Power Alignments Beyond the Status Quo Summary Suggested Reading 6. Technology and the Business of Security Revolution in Military Affairs The Limits of Technology in War From Science Fiction to Modern War The Dilemma of Advanced Technology Information and Security Information Power Knowledge and Power The Military Use of Space Spacepower Space Dominance The Space Race Strategic Dilemmas in Space: Missile Defense and Antisatellite Weapons The Business of Security The A. Q. Khan Nuclear Shopping Center Security Privatization Private Security Companies Outsourcing War The New Agenda Setters Sanctioning Security The Sanctions Dilemma Are Sanctions Better Than Nothing? Summary Suggested Reading 7. Asymmetric Conflict Strategy and Tactics of Asymmetric Conflict Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing The Balkans Rwanda Never Again? Terrorism and Insurgency The Meaning and Use of Terror The Evolution of Modern Terrorism Al Qaeda The Globalization of Terror Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction Defensive Dilemmas Summary Suggested Reading 8. Human Security What is Human Security? Human Rights and Democracy Contemporary Challenges to Human Rights Degrees of Democracy Population and Demographic Change Population Trends and Demographic Developments Migration and Refugees Food and Health The Human Costs of War The Impact of War on Individuals The Social Effects of War The Impact of War on the Environment Summary Suggested Reading 9. The Environment and Energy Security What is Environmental Security? The Environment as a Source of Conflict An Evolving Environmental Security Paradigm Beyond Environmental Security Conceptualizing Energy Security Security Energy Resources and Flows Economic Development and Energy Security Environmental Dangers Climate Change Deforestation and Land Use Water Security Energy Scarcity and Safety Nuclear Energy Summary Suggested Reading 10. Meeting the Challenges of Power and Peace Applying Global Security Concepts The Quest for Power The Search for Peace From Theory to Practice: Education and Global Security Education and Global Security Education and National Power Education in Peace and Conflict What Can You Do? Conclusion Suggested Reading

About the Author :
Sean Kay is Robson Professor of Politics and Government at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he is also director of the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and chair of the International Studies Program. He is also an associate of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University and a fellow at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C.

Review :
Writing in an engaging style, Kay integrates traditional and emerging challenges in one easily accessible study that gives readers the tools they need to develop a thoughtful and nuanced understanding of global security. Sean Kay has written one of those rare studies that is truly as important as its subject. With clear-eyed prose, sober intelligence, and scholarly depth, he examines a comprehensive array of today's new global security challenges—illuminating every important issue of the day related to international peace and stability, from crucial new areas such as the security consequences of global warming and energy scarcity to perennial problems in the search for international peace and prosperity. Anyone looking to make an impact on international affairs should start here I would rank Global Security in the Twenty-first Century as one of the finest textbooks on the market today for international security courses. It presents an innovative and effective balance of classic and contemporary dimensions of security. Another great asset is Kay's deft ability to combine theoretical approaches and policy-oriented questions and frameworks. His book offers an authoritative, thoughtful, and highly engaging discussion of critical issues in global security. Sean Kay's comprehensive book provides an important guide to power and peace in the era of globalization. It places traditional international relations theories into the modern context, analyzes great power relations, assesses regional flashpoints, discusses human and environmental security, and evaluates the impact of technology on security policy. This is essential reading for any student of national security affairs. This book addresses the dialectic between the quest for power and the search for peace, one of the most important issues of our time. A work of exceptional clarity and depth, it ought to set the agenda for how the international community understands and provides security for the rest of us. Sean Kay has written a brilliant and sweeping strategic survey of today's world environment. It is a must-read for all those who want to understand the security complexities and challenges we face and the policy implications this changing world presents. The book is so well organized and written that it provides students with a solid foundation upon which to build their understanding of the evolving geopolitics of security. In this fully updated edition of Global Security, Kay responds to national and transnational challenges confronting Americans after lackluster economic growth, enormous increases in the national debt, and emergence of new militarized threats, doubling down on the well-founded optimism of his earlier work. Here, students learn that great power struggle over the future of Europe and the developed world’s response to continuing poverty and public health catastrophes in the Global South are of a piece. In this democratic age, Kay teaches how ordinary individuals prepare important contributions to improve global security through determined pursuit of a liberal education, one that is imbued with scientific reasoning, empathy for the human condition, and a passion for testing theories as much as delivering the ideological goods.