Global Rivalries From the Cold War to Iraq

This book offers a highly original analysis of world events in the light of the Iraq War. It explores the history and development of relations between major countries in the international community and the impact that successive wars and changes in the global political economy have had on the way states relate to each other today. Tracing the liberal state structure back to the closing stages of the English Civil War and settlement in North America, it argues that the rise of the English-speaking West has created rivalries between contender states that are never entirely put to rest. With each round of Western expansion, new rivalries are created. Offering a truly global analysis that covers every area of the world - from Europe and America to China, the Middle East, Latin America and Russia -- he analyses the development of international relations post WWII, and questions whether the neoliberal project and its human rights ideology have collapsed back into authoritarianism under the guise of the 'war on terror'.

Table of Contents:
1. Fractures and Faultlines in the Global Political Economy 2. Integrating Atlantic Europe 3. America’s Crusade in Asia and the Euro-Atlantic Rift 4. The Spectre of Social and Economic Democracy 5. Transnational Rivalries and the Neoliberal Turn 6. From Pinochet to the Reagan Doctrine 7. The Rapallo Syndrome and the Demise of the Soviet Union 8. America over Europe in the Balkans Crisis 9. The Rise of China as the New Contender 10. Energy Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Era 11. From Human Rights to the Global State of Emergency References Index

About the Author :
Kees van der Pijl is a Fellow of the Centre for Global Political Economy and Professor Emeritus at the University of Sussex. His books include The Disciple of Western Supremacy (Pluto, 2014) The Foreign Encounter in Myth and Religion (Pluto, 2010), the Deutscher prize-winning Nomads, Empires, States (Pluto, 2007).

Review :
One of the best books of last year's crop ... I can't think of a more effective way to bring economic history back into political discussions -- European Tribune Kees Van Der Pijl has done a remarkable job of viewing the global rivalries in a fresh perspective of 'contender states'. -- Free Press Journal This is a delightfully objective, fair and fearless analysis of a strife-tired world. ... A strategist's collector's item. -- Tribune Global Rivalries adds more punch to your repository of arguments against the ongoing mindless violence. -- The Financial Express Kees van der Pijl has written a remarkable panorama of both the substance and meaning of recent world history, one of those rare books that will change the way thoughtful people think. Global Rivalries is rich in insight, making coherence of disparate events, and it offers again and again fresh insights into the way our war-torn, beleaguered world has operated. This is a basic book, extremely well documented, that will force people to think critically about history and the world we now live in. -- Gabriel Kolko Just when you thought International Relations as a field was brain-dead, along comes Kees van der Pijl's new book. His inspired account brings together history, economics and politics to create a far more nuanced view of rivalry and cooperation among the great powers over time. His analysis of the post-1989 "world order" demonstrates the emptiness of claims about the "end of history" and poses searching questions about the compatibility of market fundamentalism, international order, and democracy. -- Thomas Ferguson, University of Massachusetts, Boston This book should be required reading for all students of international relations and global political economy. It is a magisterial work that explains and demystifies the rivalries and conflicts which have characterised the foreign relations of the "great powers" in the modern era. His thesis is consistent, provocative, and compelling. Particularly important is his reading of the regressive nature of the current "global state of emergency" which goes against the grain of 200 years of efforts to sustain liberal hegemony in global politics. -- Stephen Gill, York University, Toronto