What does it mean to be secure in the 21st century?
Mark Beeson argues that some of the most influential ideas about national and even global security reflect untenable, anachronistic strategic views that are simply no longer appropriate for contemporary international circumstances.
At a time when climate change poses an existential threat to the continuation of life itself, Beeson argues that there is an urgent need to rethink security priorities while we still can. Providing an explanation of the failures and dangers of the conventional wisdom, he outlines the case for a new approach that takes issues like environmental and human security seriously.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. Getting Real: The Way the World Works?
2. Hope Springs? Peace, Progress and Pluralism
3. Environmental Security
4. The Psychological and Cultural Dimensions of Security
5. (Not So?) Grand Strategy
6. Unequal Security
Conclusion
About the Author :
Mark Beeson is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. He formerly taught at the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, the University of Queensland, Griffith University, York University and Birmingham University. His work is centred on the politics, economics and security of the Asia-Pacific region and he has written over 200 journal articles and books. He is the founding editor of Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific (Palgrave).
Review :
"Witty, startling and depressing in equal measure, Beeson offers a searing critique of global politics in the Anthropocene. He shows how a different future might be imagined while doubting it ever will be. A must-read for anyone interested in the state of things to come." Alex J. Bellamy, University of Queensland
"Makes a compelling case that today's national elites have misjudged the dangers from climate change and other states. At a time when the USA and China are plunging into a new cold war, this important book urgently needs to be read." Anatol Lieven, Georgetown University in Qatar
