Regions and Powers

Asserting that regional patterns of security are increasingly important in international politics, this study presents a detailed account of relations between global powers. It emphasizes their relationship with the regional security complexes which make up the contemporary international system. The book analyzes Africa, the Balkans, Eastern and Western Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, North America and South Asia, tracing the history of each region through the present.

Barry Buzan is Professor of International Relations at the LSE.

'The empirical sweep of the study is monumental. This book is a major re-think of the problem of security in the post-Cold War world and successfully challenges conventional and competing approaches.' Kalevi J. Holsti, University of British Columbia 'The book is heroic in its ambition and Herculean in its execution. A landmark study that displays a rare combination of cutting-edge theoretical sophistication with an insatiable appetite for data.' Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University '... offers a truly global empirical overview of security dynamics in all regions of the world.' Tidsskriftet Politik 'Among its most notable aspects are the clear prose and the sharp focus of the empirical studies ... The empirical study is nothing short of titanic in its ambition and breadth, and the succinct overviews of regional security dynamics will undoubtedly become required reading in graduate security studies curricula.' Slavonic and East European Review 'This is undoubtedly an important volume that makes a significant contribution to security studies' Political Studies Review '... A sophisticated analytical toolbox equipped with a plethora of useful concepts and categories, heuristic models and methods, checklists of comparative criteria, etc. ... this is a valuable study and it should be read by both security/IR scholars and policy practicioners. As a macro-study with a global sweep, the book opens the door up to research programming to students of security, above all in terms of the more detailed micro-studies of and within various RSCs.' Journal of International Relations and Development