This timely, comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume advances an original argument about the complex roots and multiple politics of globality. It shows that technological innovations and decisive developments since 1945 – from the nuclear revolution to anthropogenic climate change and debates about the Anthropocene – have prompted reflections on the global condition of humanity and helped reshape political communities by making the world (appear) small, manageable and interconnected. The contributors stress how human beings have transformed both their habitat and their view of human-earth relations since 1945. Such changes have been accompanied by important shifts in political visions, prompted new forms of human association, encouraged legal and institutional reform and spurred ideas about ecological humility. At the same time, the spatially all-encompassing nature of globality have also informed projects of human mastery and a range of practices historically associated with militarization and a strongly statist conception of national security. This volume reflects on these paradoxical relationships, their history and contemporary relevance. Contributing to the overlapping concerns of four burgeoning fields of study across the humanities and the social sciences - globality and globalization studies; geopolitics and political geography; Anthropocene studies; global governance and political theory – the book will be of great use to scholars and graduates working in these areas.

This timely, comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume advances an original argument about the complex roots and multiple politics of globality. It shows that technological innovations and decisive developments since 1945 – from the nuclear revolution to anthropogenic climate change and debates about the Anthropocene – have prompted reflections on the global condition of humanity and helped reshape political communities by making the world (appear) small, manageable and interconnected. The contributors stress how human beings have transformed both their habitat and their view of human-earth relations since 1945. Such changes have been accompanied by important shifts in political visions, prompted new forms of human association, encouraged legal and institutional reform and spurred ideas about ecological humility. At the same time, the spatially all-encompassing nature of globality have also informed projects of human mastery and a range of practices historically associated with militarization and a strongly statist conception of national security. This volume reflects on these paradoxical relationships, their history and contemporary relevance. Contributing to the overlapping concerns of four burgeoning fields of study across the humanities and the social sciences - globality and globalization studies; geopolitics and political geography; Anthropocene studies; global governance and political theory – the book will be of great use to scholars and graduates working in these areas.

Global Interdependence provides a new account of world history from the end of World War II to the present, an era when transnational communities began to challenge the long domination of the nation-state. In this single-volume survey, leading scholars elucidate the political, economic, cultural, and environmental forces that have shaped the planet in the past sixty years. Offering fresh insight into international politics since 1945, Wilfried Loth examines how miscalculations by both the United States and the Soviet Union brought about a Cold War conflict that was not necessarily inevitable. Thomas Zeiler explains how American free-market principles spurred the creation of an entirely new economic order--a global system in which goods and money flowed across national borders at an unprecedented rate, fueling growth for some nations while also creating inequalities in large parts of the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. From an environmental viewpoint, J. R. McNeill and Peter Engelke contend that humanity has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene era, in which massive industrialization and population growth have become the most powerful influences upon global ecology. Petra Goedde analyzes how globalization has impacted indigenous cultures and questions the extent to which a generic culture has erased distinctiveness and authenticity. She shows how, paradoxically, the more cultures blended, the more diversified they became as well. Combining these different perspectives, volume editor Akira Iriye presents a model of transnational historiography in which individuals and groups enter history not primarily as citizens of a country but as migrants, tourists, artists, and missionaries--actors who create networks that transcend traditional geopolitical boundaries.

"International politics began with the emergence of the first organized states thousands of years ago. Global politics is more recent--it appeared about five centuries ago when the European powers began to mesh the world's far corners together through conquest and trade. Today we live on a planet characterized by globalization or the ever more complex economic, cultural, technological, and environmental interdependence among all people everywhere. Until recently globalization's development was slow. Although countries increasingly traded, allied, and negotiated with each other, the divisions among them far outweighed the ties, and nations often settled their conflicts with war or the threat of war. However, since 1945, despite or more likely because of the "Cold War," globalization has developed rapidly and profoundly. Today all humans are formally tied to all others through their country's membership in the United Nations and numerous other international organizations, along with the immediate benefits of global trade, telecommunications, travel, and the internet. Yet globalization has a dark side--it destroys as well as creates jobs, wealth, and lives, while every human lives under the shadow of potential nuclear and ecological extinction. How did humanity reach a stage of history so filled with such an array of prospects and perils? Globalization: A Short History of the Modern World explores that all powerful force for good and evil from the Renaissance through today and beyond"--

From the conflicts over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization to concern over illegal immigration and debates over the official status of the English language, politicians and citizens have been reconsidering fundamental questions about American society’s role in a changing global arena. Applying concepts derived from the study of international and comparative politics, Edward S. Cohen offers a systematic analysis of the impact of globalization on United States domestic politics. Focusing on the obvious issue of trade and the less obvious areas of immigration and language policy, Cohen demonstrates that globalization is both the cause and result of a new relationship between the government, corporations, and citizens within the United States. Globalization has led to the formation of new political divisions and coalitions and has caused deepening conflicts over the purposes and goals of American politics. The outcome of these conflicts, Cohen argues, will determine the future of American political life. Showing that globalization has transformed the priorities and responsibilities of sovereign states rather than hastening their demise, the book will interest politicians, policymakers, and students looking for a discussion of globalization that is grounded in the recent political history of the United States.

We live today in an interconnected world in which ordinary people can became instant online celebrities to fans thousands of miles away, in which religious leaders can influence millions globally, in which humans are altering the climate and environment, and in which complex social forces intersect across continents. This is globalization. In the fifth edition of his bestselling Very Short Introduction Manfred B. Steger considers the major dimensions of globalization: economic, political, cultural, ideological, and ecological. He looks at its causes and effects, and engages with the hotly contested question of whether globalization is, ultimately, a good or a bad thing. From climate change to the Ebola virus, Donald Trump to Twitter, trade wars to China's growing global profile, Steger explores today's unprecedented levels of planetary integration as well as the recent challenges posed by resurgent national populism. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.