The latest in IR - summer book round up
Welcome to our quarterly book round up. Each quarter we bring you updates on the latest International Studies releases by BISA members. To be included in the next update contact Communications Manager, Chrissie Duxson: Chrissie.Duxson@bisa.ac.uk
Diasporas and Transportation of Homeland Conflicts
Inter-group Dynamics and Host Country Responses
Edited By Élise Féron and Bahar Baser
Bahar Baser is Associate Professor at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs. She was the joint winner of BISA's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize in 2024. Élise Féron is a Docent and Senior Research Fellow at the Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University, Finland.
Blurb
This book explores the transformation and reinvention of conflict-generated diaspora groups’ politics in countries of residence. Numerous narratives link diasporas and conflicts: diasporas are seen alternatively as peace wreckers or peace makers, as products of forced migration related to conflicts, or as targets of securitization policies. “Transported conflicts” occurring within and between diasporas in their countries of residence, however, remain relatively underexplored, tend to be misunderstood, and often associated with “criminal” or “terrorist” activities.
The chapters in this volume draw our attention to various interconnected temporalities explaining patterns of conflict transportation, such as the temps long of diasporic mobilisation, the here and now of what is happening in both host and home countries, and micro-temporalities and diasporans’ life trajectories. Finally, the contributions demonstrate that patterns, shapes and even occurrence of conflict transportation vary according to scale and space. Highly politicized forms of confrontation are not necessarily representative of everyday interactions between diaspora groups, which can entail discrete but tangible forms of cooperation and even solidarity. This edited volume calls for nuancing our approach to the links between diasporas and conflicts, to avoid falling into the essentialisation trap.
The chapters in this book were originally published in Ethnopolitics.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Routledge website.
The Cultural Politics of Veterans’ Narratives
Beyond the Wire
Nick Caddick
Nick Caddick is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Veterans and Families Institute. He is the current BISA Conference Programme Chair and a trustee.
Blurb
The Cultural Politics of Veterans’ Narratives investigates the role of veterans’ stories in our collective cultural and political life. Drawing on contemporary narrative theory, it offers a conceptual framework for studying veterans’ narratives, followed by a series of unique empirical chapters dealing with different genres of veteran storytelling, including trauma, transition, culture and identity, and the Afghanistan war memoir. The book questions the British veteran as a political figure, exploring what their stories tell us about the morality and politics of war as well as military life. It also traces how social norms about militarism, nationalism, and patriotism pivot as a result. Caddick considers what the stakes are for veterans as their stories interact with wider cultural narratives, and for society in grappling with the ‘militarist terms of reference’ these stories impart to us.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Edinburgh University Press website. Receive a 30% discount using the code NEW30.
Understanding International Politics
The Student Toolkit
Megan Dee
Megan Dee is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling.
Blurb
Understanding International Politics offers a comprehensive and accessible guide to the key systems, actors, and issues of international politics. It covers core concepts and questions for political study, and presents a 'toolkit' that enables students to apply theory and historical context in independent research. This introduction frames complex international systems coherently by focusing on political players, and, as a single-authored work, delivers a consistent critical approach throughout.
This authoritative and clearly organised textbook offers:
- Contemporary examples and case-studies for approaching international relations from the perspective of its actors
- 'How to' guides, including methods for constructing an argument, conducting analysis, and preparing a policy brief
- Companion digital resources for both students and lecturers, including lecture slides, a testbank, role-play exercises, and discussion materials, adaptable to various class sizes
- A thorough grounding in Marxist, feminist and postcolonial perspectives, as well as more traditional viewpoints.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Bloomsbury website.
The Official Record
Oversight, national security and democracy
Edited by Peter Finn and Robert Ledger
Peter Finn is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at Kingston University.
Robert Ledger is a guest researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt.
Blurb
The construction, control and preservation of the Official Record is inherently contested. Those seeking greater openness and (democratic) accountability argue 'sunlight is [...] the best of disinfectants', while others seek stricter information control because, to their mind, sound government arises when advice and policy are formulated secretly. This edited volume explores the intersection of the Official Record, oversight, national security and democracy. Through US, UK and Canadian case studies, this volume will benefit higher level undergraduate readers and above to explore the Official Record in the context of the national security operations of democratic states. All chapters are research-based pieces of original writing that feature a document appendix containing primary documents (often excerpts) that are key to a chapter's narrative. As a result, this book interrogates the boundaries between national security, accountability, oversight, and the Official Record.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Manchester University Press website.
A New Cold War
US–China Relations in the 21st Century
Zeno Leoni
Zeno Leoni is a Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London.
Blurb
The last decade or so has seen US-China relations enter a negative spiral. The evolution of this complex relationship has triggered a fast-growing debate on whether this is a New Cold War.
Building on a deconstruction of concepts such as cold wars and Cold War, this book illustrates how the relationship between the US and China has been a "marriage of convenience" - with both cooperation and competition - for years, but also that we might be close to the end of it. The US and China, it is argued, are locked in a "new type of cold war" where mechanisms of deterrence and competition differ compared to those of the Cold War, and which makes the return of bloc politics possible.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Bristol University Press website.
Children's rights in crisis
Multidisciplinary, transnational, and comparative perspectives
Edited by Salvador Santino F Regilme
Salvador Santino F Regilme Jr. is tenured Associate Professor of International Relations at the History and International Studies Section, Institute for History at Leiden University.
Blurb
This book rigorously investigates the contemporary state of children's rights and the multifaceted challenges facing children, uncovering the complexities at their core. In 1989, the United Nations introduced the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified by 196 nations, promising a world where children's rights would reign supreme. In practice, however, realising these rights proves intricate and often precarious. Policies may shine on paper, but their implementation grapples with the challenges posed by global governance structures, national strategies, and local factors. Over three decades since the CRC's inception, this book scrutinises the true efficacy of international commitments, shedding light on underexplored issues and revealing shortcomings in both discourse and actions. With diverse, interdisciplinary perspectives, it recognises the profound influence of global and transnational forces in generating outcomes that impact children's rights and welfare.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Manchester University Press website.
The President’s Kill List
Assassination and US Foreign Policy since 1945
Luca Trenta
Luca Trenta is Associate Professor in International Relations at Swansea University.
Blurb
From Fidel Castro to Qassem Soleimani, the US government has been involved in an array of assassinations and assassination attempts against foreign leaders and officials. The President’s Kill List reveals how the US government has relied on a variety of methods, from the use of poison to the delivery of sniper rifles, and from employing hitmen to simply laying the groundwork for local actors to do the deed themselves. It shows not only how policymakers decided on assassination but also the level of Presidential control over these decisions. Tracing the history of the US government’s approach to assassination, the book analyses the evolution of assassination policies and, for the first time, reveals how successive administrations - through private justifications and public legitimations – ensured assassination remained an available tool.
Find out more and purchase the book via the Edinburgh University Press website.
If you're a BISA member and you'd like your book included in next quarter's round up, email Communications Manager, Chrissie Duxson: Chrissie.Duxson@bisa.ac.uk. Please include the title, blurb and a link to where the book can be purchased. If you are able, you can also include details of any discount available, but of course this is not required. The book should have been published a maximum of six months prior to your email.
Top photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash