Product Description

David Chandler explores the concept of 'global ideology' and how it impacts on conflict, security and development policy-making, explaining why 'the global' is such a damaging construction and exposing the political vacuum at the heart of common perceptions of global politics. He argues that the pre-eminence of the global, whether in terms of global governance, global security or global resistance, is predicated on a lack rather than a presence. It is the lack of clear sites and articulations of power, the lack of clear security threats and the lack of clear political programs or movements of resistance that drives the concept of international relations in global terms. This wide-ranging analysis is a perfect antidote for students frustrated with the abundant but vague literature on globalisation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #261093 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
This engagingly written book provides a lucid critique of the theories of global politics popular among scholars and policymakers alike. In the process of describing the fragility of such a politics, David Chandler illuminates the global arena as idea and reality in a nuanced and masterful way. Indispensable for anyone interested in politics and globalization. --Faisal Devji, St. Antony's College, Oxford, author of The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics (2009).

'Globalization' is a watchword in economics and politics. But not so fast, counters David Chandler. The assumed hegemony of the 'global' is hollow, falsely encouraging a paralysis of national initiative and responsibility, which are needed especially for healthy international relations. Contrarian and controversial, Chandler's analysis questions conventional wisdom and offers alternatives that we ignore at our peril. --John K. Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Founding Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Claremont McKenna College.

This timely and provocative book looks set to be the next Empire in terms of its ambition and scope. Chandler argues persuasively that contemporary accounts of politics as a global phenomenon miss the reality of 'global politics' as an absence rather than a presence, an absence which allows both Western elites and their radical critics idealistically to project their values into this politically 'empty space'. --Gideon Baker, Griffith University, co-editor (with Jens Bartelson) of The Future of Political Community (2009).

About the Author
David Chandler is Professor of International Relations, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. He is the author of Bosnia (Pluto, 2000); Constructing Global Civil Society (2004); From Kosovo to Kabul and Beyond (Pluto, 2006) and Empire in Denial (Pluto, 2006).