This book discusses contemporary constellations of international politics and global transformation. It offers guidance on how to conceptualize the complexity of current global changes and practical policy advice in order to promote an open global society. In the light of today’s challenges, the author re-interprets the main argument of the philosopher Karl Popper in "The Open Society and Its Enemies". Based on this framework and new empirical evidence, the book discusses the thesis of an ongoing Third World War, triggered by fundamental deficits in nation-building, occurring primarily within states and not between them, and accelerated by asymmetric forms of warfare and Islamist totalitarianism.The book also explores various threats to the global order, such as the paradox of borders as barriers and bridges, the global effects of the youth bubble in many developing countries, and the misuse of religious interpretation for the use of political violence. Lastly, the author identifies advocates and supporters of a liberal, multilateral and open order and argues for a reinvention of the Western world to contribute to a revival of a liberal global order, based on mutual respect and joint leadership.

A landmark defense of democracy that has been hailed as one of the most important books of the twentieth century One of the most important books of the twentieth century, The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. An immediate sensation when it was first published, Karl Popper’s monumental achievement has attained legendary status on both the Left and Right. Tracing the roots of an authoritarian tradition represented by Plato, Marx, and Hegel, Popper argues that the spirit of free, critical inquiry that governs scientific investigation should also apply to politics. In a new foreword, George Soros, who was a student of Popper, describes the “revelation” of first reading the book and how it helped inspire his philanthropic Open Society Foundations.

The ideas contained in Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies—one of the most important tracts in political philosophy in the twentieth century—are relevant to anyone seeking to understand the recent history of the East Asian economies. Even though Popper wrote his tract to provide an explanation for both the rise and objectionable nature of totalitarian regimes in Europe in the twentieth century, many of the arguments that he advanced in this European context also explain the social, political and economic relationships that are seen in modern South Eastern Asian economies. The narrative of this book is driven by a research agenda that is inter-disciplinary in nature, since to make the link between the Popperian framework and East Asian socio-economic relationships the contributing authors needed to draw upon research fields as far apart as political philosophy and East-Asian studies. With one or two exceptions, however, nearly all of the contributing authors have a background in economics, and this background is reflected in the way that they have sought to tackle the research question. This book is, in short, an inter-disciplinary exercise undertaken from an economics perspective, and hence it may best be described as an exercise in political economy rather than pure analytical economics. The novelty of juxtaposing Popperian ideas with a discussion of social, political and economic development in South East Asia makes this narrative of interest to both political philosophers and specialists in South East Asian economies. The key insight drawn from the analysis is that although Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies was a product of a European time and place, it is also relevant to anyone seeking to understand the recent history of the East Asian economies.

The aim of this book is to examine and compare the integration process in both Europe and Asia, and to draw some possible lessons for East Asia from the European experience, which culminated with the establishment of the economic and monetary union. The book embraces the political dimension of integration (peace and security), economic, trade and monetary aspects, and cultural aspects. Written by well-known experts in the field of integration, this book represents one of the first attempts at comparing Europe and Asia in the process of integration, by incorporating the latest developments in the field. The main theme of the book - integration in Asia from a comparative perspective - has been relatively unexplored as most experts in the field of integration are also 'area experts' (i.e. European integration experts or Asian experts). The contributors to the book provide a distinctive perspective based upon their understanding of integration (political, economic, and socio-cultural) across various regions of the world.

Global Society, Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights is the outcome of a decade-long scholarly project. The point of convergence emerging from the analyses contained in this volume is that ""global society"", ""cosmopolitanism"" and ""human rights"" are likely to constitute the basis of present and future ways of life. The ""project for humanity"" of the future, while resting on local social associations, will have ""globality"" as its reference. A world dominated by globalisation processes obliges the so ...

This book examines how the different normative foundations of conflict resolution held by various global actors, their understandings of justice, and the differences between types of conflict influence the varying means by which conflicts can be prevented, managed, and ultimately resolved. By combining insights from political theory, conflict studies, and European Union (EU) foreign policy studies, the book identifies the EU as the key case of a conflict manager that is both a product and a defender of a global liberal order. It focuses on three aspects of conflict resolution that pose their own sets of both normative and empirical dilemmas: resolving border disputes; strengthening the resilience of weak or divided states and societies after regime change, and intervention in humanitarian crises. Furthermore, it offers a comparative analysis between a potentially distinctive European approach and that of other global actors and reflects critically on situations where policy practice may not always reflect a concern for justice, asking what countervailing forces prevail and why. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in European and EU Studies, Area studies, Conflict Resolution, War Studies, EU Foreign Policy Political Theory, International relations as well as policymakers.