This book argues that community can exist at the international level, and that security politics is profoundly shaped by it, with states dwelling within an international community having the capacity to develop a pacific disposition. By investigating the relationship between international community and the possibility for peaceful change, this book revisits the concept first pioneered by Karl Deutsch: 'security communities'. Leading scholars examine security communities in various historical and regional contexts: in places where they exist, where they are emerging, and where they are hardly detectable. Building on constructivist theory, the volume is an important contribution to international relations theory and security studies, attempting to understand the conjunction of transnational forces, state power and international organizations that can produce a security community.

Does the proliferation of security communities around the world presage a new era of competition between regions or an era of intensified global integration? This important new study assesses the relationship between security communities and their neighbours and asks whether processes of regional integration will contribute to a global 'clash of civilizations'. Drawing on four detailed case studies (Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf and North America), Alex J. Bellamy argues that the more mature a security community becomes, the less likely it is to become a 'regional fortress'.

ASEAN has declared its intention to create a security community in Southeast Asia that is people-orientated. This book evaluates ASEAN’s progress, and in doing so examines three matters of concern. The book firstly looks at the importance of constitutive norms to the workings of security communities, by identifying ASEAN’s constitutive norms and the extent to which they act as a help of hindrance in establishing a security community. It then moves on to how ASEAN has interpreted people-orientated as empowering civil society organisations to be community stakeholders. The book discusses the uncertainty between how ASEAN envisages their role, and the role they themselves expect to have. Civil society actors are seeking to influence what sort of community evolves and their ability to interact with the state elite is evaluated to determine what interpretation of people-oriented is likely to emerge. Thirdly, in order to make progress ASEAN has sought to achieve cooperation among its member states in functional areas. The book examines this interest in functional cooperation through case studies on human rights, HIV/AIDS and disaster management. By discussing the notion of ASEAN being people-orientated, and how it engages with ‘the people’, the book provides important insights into what type of community ASEAN in building, as well as furthering our understanding on security communities more broadly.

This book utilizes a systems thinking perspective to propose a holistic framework of analysis and practice for the regional security community (“RSC”) arrangement in Africa. In responding to the challenge of improving effectiveness of response to peace and security threats, African states tend to rely on ad hoc mechanisms. However, this approach has been mired with a myriad of structural limitations. The holistic framework reconfigures the traditional “RSC” into a simplified tool kit of “resources”, making this text book ideal for students and advanced researchers in international relations, and all those concerned with regional security and strategic studies.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This student-friendly textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to globalization studies and the European Union within a multipolar world. It provides its readers with critical analysis of the key concepts of multilateral global and regional governance and Europe’s role in the world; and this in an accessible and intelligible fashion. This volume collects contributions by eminent scholars from world class universities from five different continents. As such, this unique exercise in transnational multi-disciplinary cooperation, provides extensive coverage of the main issues pertaining to multilateral cooperation - notably its history, troubles, legitimacy challenges and efficiency questions - from a variety of national perspectives. The book covers the major issues confronting students of European and global studies, amongst which: pressing security challenges, new forms of institutionalized cooperation, shifting international trade flows, the notion of responsibility to protect, social imbalances and environmental emergencies, the need for less contingent forms of legitimacy for global regulation, as well as global public opinion and transnational civil society networks. Each chapter includes a summary of its salient points; methodological indications; illuminating illustrations; and a suggested list for further reading. This textbook strives to help students develop a better and more secure grasp of the innovative balance between interdisciplinary openness and disciplinary rigor when engaging with global governance studies, comparative regionalism, normative studies, international political economy or international law.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.