The Political Atlas of the Modern World is a unique reference source which addresses these questions by providing a comparative study of the political systems of all 192 countries of the world.Uses quantitative data and multidimensional statistical analysisRanks countries according to five indices of political development: stateness, external and internal threats, potential of international influence, quality of life, institutional basis of democracy

In the past thirty years, China has transformed from an impoverished country where peasants comprised the largest portion of the populace to an economic power with an expanding middle class and more megacities than anywhere else on earth. This remarkable transformation has required, and will continue to demand, massive quantities of resources. Like every other major power in modern history, China is looking outward to find them. In By All Means Necessary, Elizabeth C. Economy and ...

Recent developments like the rising trend in crude oil price, the international economic crisis, the civil revolts in Northern Africa and the Middle East, the nuclear threat in Japan after the tsunami, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the economic growth of emerging countries like China and India have a direct relation to the security of energy supply anywhere in the world. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of energy risks, energy scenarios and energy policies with special...

In Quality Peace, leading peace researcher Peter Wallensteen offers a broad analysis of peacebuilding, isolating what does and not work when settling conflicts. The book uses statistical analysis to compare two war outcomes-negotiated settlement and victory- in the post-Cold War era. Wallensteen finds that if peace is to last, three conditions must be met: a losing party must retain its dignity; security and the rule of law must be ensured for all; and the time horizon for the set...

Through an examination of 129 territorial disputes between 1950 and 1990, Paul Huth presents a new theoretical approach for analyzing the foreign policy behavior of states, one that integrates insights from traditional realist as well as domestic political approaches to the study of foreign policy. Huth's approach is premised on the belief that powerful explanations of security policy must be built on the recognition that foreign policy leaders are domestic politicians who are very attenti...

Modern investment treaties give private arbitrators power to determine whether governments should pay compensation to foreign investors for a wide range of sovereign acts. In recent years, particularly developing countries have incurred significant liabilities from investment treaty arbitration, which begs the question why they signed the treaties in the first place. Through a comprehensive and timely analysis, this book shows that governments in developing countries typically overestimate...

Trades of money for political influence persist at every level of government. Not surprisingly, governments themselves trade money for political support on the international stage. Strange, however, is the tale of this book. For, in this study, legitimacy stands as the central political commodity at stake. The book investigates the ways governments trade money for favors at the United Nations Security Council - the body endowed with the international legal authority to legitimize the use o...

Winner of the THESEUS promising award for Research on European Integration 2011.Sanctions are an important tool within the foreign policy of the European Union, which have until now remained obscure to both scholars and the general public. This book examines sanctions as a political tool of influence and evaluates the efficacy of sanctions imposed by the EU against third countries and their ability to bring about the desired outcome.While the principal sanc...

In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. The socialist food distribution system collapsed primarily because of a misguided push for self-reliance, but was compounded by the regime's failure to formulate a quick response-including the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian relief.As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots proces...

The Caspian Basin region has boomed since the late 1990s due to new oil discoveries, new pipelines that have diversified countries' transport options and world oil prices that have risen from below $10 in 1998 to $70 in 2006.This book analyzes the experience of the Caspian countries during the oil boom. It is founded on empirical studies, using either macroeconomic tools or an analysis of public budgets, or microeconometric analysis of household survey data or fieldwork in oil-prod...

This study represents the most comprehensive review of fiscal federalism in the Russian Federation, presenting a strong case for greater decentralization. Given its vast size, immense diversity - including economic, geographic, cultural, ethnic, and historical differences across regions - Russia is a prime candidate for decentralization. By succinctly surveying the literature on fiscal decentralization and clearly spelling out the main concepts, the volume sets the stage for the subsequent de...

This report is divided into three chapters: a discussion of what constitutes an emerging market and their classification, an analysis of the BRIMCs nations in geographical and economical terms, and a series of possible future economic scenarios. The first chapter, the discussion about what constitutes an emerging market divides the nations into three groups, each representing 70%, 80% and 90% of the world economy, and studies these groups using cluster analysis with the variables of GDP pe...