This book chronicles foreign political and military interventions in Africa from 1956 to 2010, helping readers understand the historical roots of Africa's problems.

Internationally operating nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, are increasingly involved in international politics and policy making. In many respects their involvement resembles activities and policies that, until recently, were typical of traditional national authorities. This book is about the reasons for which NGOs can and the reasons for which NGOs cannot be considered as rightful participants in international governance. It tries to deliver rationally defensible starting points for the discussion and the assessment of claims for the legitimacy of their organizations and activities. The book focuses on the question: What conditions must ideally be met for an organization to be called truthfully legitimate, be it or be it not as a matter of fact perceived as legitimate by the public? This does not mean that empirically descriptive questions are left aside. Practical feasibility is important even to a thoroughly normative conception of legitimacy. For that reason and for heuristic purposes, large parts of this book are dedicated to the ways in which NGOs and stakeholders perceive NGO legitimacy.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Two foreign policy experts chart a new American grand strategy to meet the greatest geopolitical challenges of the coming decade This ambitious and incisive book presents a new vision for American foreign policy and international order at a time of historic upheaval. The United States’ global leadership crisis is not a passing shock created by the Trump presidency or COVID-19, but the product of forces that will endure for decades. Amidst political polarization, technological transformation, and major global power shifts, Lissner and Rapp-Hooper convincingly argue, only a grand strategy of openness can protect American security and prosperity despite diminished national strength. Disciplined and forward-looking, an openness strategy would counter authoritarian competitors by preventing the emergence of closed spheres of influence, maintaining access to the global commons, supporting democracies without promoting regime change, and preserving economic interdependence. The authors provide a roadmap for the next president, who must rebuild strength at home while preparing for novel forms of international competition. Lucid, trenchant, and practical, An Open World is an essential guide to the future of geopolitics.

A broad-gauged analysis of the issues raised by experts' involvement in international and European decision-making processes.

Locating Africa on the global stage, this book examines and compares external involvement in the continent, exploring the foreign policies of major states and international organizations towards Africa. The contributors work within a political economy framework in order to study how these powers have attempted to stimulate democracy, peace and prosperity in the context of neo-liberal hegemony and ask whom these attempts have benefited and failed.

This book continues the "creative involvement" proposition put forward in Creative Involvement: A New Direction in China's Diplomacy with new cases and stories to enrich its content. It discusses China's global role, and explores its root cause of formation, development stages, and future direction. The main conclusion is that this role is preliminary and incomplete and needs continuous learning and improvement; China standing on the global high ground needs not only hard power but also wisdom and creativity. On research methods and writing approach, firstly, this book follows the philosophy of "practice first", namely, starting from historical experiences, focusing on practical issues, and exploring objectives and clues through case studies. Secondly, the three parts in the book have different sub-themes, but they are subject to the same thinking, that is, how does China advance toward a central role from the marginal edge of contemporary international system, how to develop doctrines or practices for China’s involvement in world affairs, and how to borrow the experiences of others to help China move forward on the global high ground. Combing innovative theoretical idea with practical investigation, this book will not only contribute to contemporary China Diplomatic studies but also appeal to scholars and students of International Relation studies. People who are interested in the rise of China and global governance will also benefit from this book.