Summary

This text maintains that the main analytical perspectives on international relations and national security, neo-realism and neo-liberalism, did not forsee the momentous changes of the last two decades. Furthermore, with the end of the Cold War, that scholars are uncertain about how to interpret the effects of these shifts in power. The book asks whether it is more useful to conceive of the world as arrayed in regional, cultural, institutional complexes or organized along the conventional dimensions of power, alliance and geography. It argues that perspectives which neglect the roles of culture and identity are no longer adequate to explain the complexities of a world undergoing rapid change.