Eric Stern

I denna heltäckande grundbok ges en introduktion till studiet av internationella relationer. Boken redogör för de dominerande teoretiska perspektiven inom internationella relationer, för de processer som formar den internationella fördelningen av makt och resurser, samt för de mest framträdande politikområdena i världspolitiken idag. Genom sitt breda anslag behandlar boken frågor som: Varför uppstår krig? Vad har globaliseringen för politiska effekter? Vem har makt i internationell politik? Hur kan utvecklingsländerna hävas ur fattigdom? Vilka motiv driver transnationella terroristnätverk? När har normer och internationella institutioner betydelse? Under vilka omständigheter får nationella identiteter genomslag i världspolitiken? I boken medverkar många av de främsta forskarna inom internationell politik i Sverige. Alla är experter inom sina respektive områden, och är väl integrerade i den internationella forskningsmiljön. På ett pedagogiskt sätt introducerar de centrala perspektiv och begrepp och knyter samtidigt an till aktuella exempel och illustrationer. Flera exempel hämtas från en svensk kontext och boken belyser därmed på ett unikt sätt Sveriges relationer med omvärlden. I denna fjärde upplaga har samtliga kapitel uppdaterats. Boken vänder sig i första hand till introduktionskurser i internationell politik eller internationella relationer vid universitet och högskolor.

Throughout the summer of 2013, The Politic-Yale University's Undergraduate Political Journal-created Diplomatic Discourse, a collection of over 100 interviews with United States Ambassadors, examining careers in the Foreign Service and contemporary issues facing American policy overseas. More than 50 Yale students conducted interviews over the telephone, via Skype and email, and in person at embassies worldwide. From France to Fiji, Mongolia to Mexico, Haiti to the Holy See, these are the stories of the men and women on the frontlines of American foreign policy. Since 1947, The Politic has provided an outlet for the politically inclined on Yale's campus with past Editors including Fareed Zakaria, Gideon Rose and Robert Kagan. The Politic features long-form, investigative articles focusing on topics of domestic and international significance and interviews with the world's foremost public servants, policy makers and intellectuals, including President Obama, President Ford, Secretary Kerry, and many more.

Virtually all of the socio-technical systems that maintain public order, quality of life, and commerce depend on a reliable electric supply, and critical infrastructure failures such as 'blackouts' have profound implications for citizens and for those who govern in their name. Social scientists have noted the impact of such failures on society, and undertake the study of crisis management to improve our knowledge of why critical systems fail and how such systems can be made more reliable. Auckland Unplugged is a major contribution to this field. Using the 1998 blackout of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, as a case study, the authors reveal a number of important insights into the central challenges of crisis governance in post-industrial, democratic societies. These challenges include: _ Finding an appropriate division of responsibility and labor between public- and private-sector actors. _ Crafting and coordinating a crisis response that addresses perceived threats to community values and avoids the twin perils of underreaction (e.g., passivity or paralysis) and overreaction (e.g., 'crying wolf' or political grandstanding). _ Coping with competence/authority discrepancies under stress: Those who have expert knowledge of the technical issues rarely have the authority to make policy; those who have the authority generally lack the technical expertise to comprehend the subtleties and uncertainties of the issues at stake. _ Maintaining credibility and legitimacy when facing acute, ill-structured problmes in politicized, publicized, and highly uncertain environments. Such challenges are by no means specific to Auckland or to the problem of coping with urban 'blackouts.' Auckland Unplugged clearly describes and carefully explores general and recurring problems faced by crisis managers around the world.

Virtually all of the socio-technical systems that maintain public order, quality of life, and commerce depend on a reliable electric supply, and critical infrastructure failures such as "blackouts" have profound implications for citizens and for those who govern in their name. Social scientists have noted the impact of such failures on society, and undertake the study of crisis management to improve our knowledge of why critical systems fail and how such systems can be made more reliable. Auckland Unplugged is a major contribution to this field. Using the 1998 blackout of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, as a case study, the authors reveal a number of important insights into the central challenges of crisis governance in post-industrial, democratic societies. These challenges include: · Finding an appropriate division of responsibility and labor between public- and private-sector actors. · Crafting and coordinating a crisis response that addresses perceived threats to community values and avoids the twin perils of underreaction (e.g., passivity or paralysis) and overreaction (e.g., "crying wolf" or political grandstanding). · Coping with competence/authority discrepancies under stress: Those who have expert knowledge of the technical issues rarely have the authority to make policy; those who have the authority generally lack the technical expertise to comprehend the subtleties and uncertainties of the issues at stake. · Maintaining credibility and legitimacy when facing acute, ill-structured problmes in politicized, publicized, and highly uncertain environments. Such challenges are by no means specific to Auckland or to the problem of coping with urban "blackouts." Auckland Unplugged clearly describes and carefully explores general and recurring problems faced by crisis managers around the world.