Routledge Series on Challenges, Crises and Civilizations in World Politics
About the Book Series
This new series focuses on major issues and developments that have surfaced in recent years, and which flag out the fragmentation of the post-1945 and post-Cold War global order. They highlight the emergence of radical uncertainty everywhere, distrust in the liberal international institutional system, growing dissent regarding the established social contract in all political systems as well as the increase of civilizational narratives.
We are particularly interested in book proposals that explore these changes in world politics and expand our current understanding of global order. We are open to a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches including critical and postmodern studies and further relate to following themes:
- The Interregnum and lack of leadership – The fragmentation of power relations in world politics as well as the growing distrust in existing (liberal) international institutions shapes the interregnum of international order and the growing acceptance of new imperial discourses and practices. Can a common foundation of values and norms emerge out of this? Or are we facing a world with fewer shared norms and values structuring different regions or blocs?
- Rising tension between autonomy and dependency – The post-Cold War notion of interdependence as a stabilizing factor of international relations is challenged by the growing demand for national autonomy from states and citizens alike. While developing strategies aimed at increased autonomy, governments are also reorganizing their dependencies. Hence a new relationship between autonomy and dependency that impacts the space of international politics. A new spatial configuration is emerging around spheres of influence of different shapes and scales, notably through the control of major powers over digital, financial or transportation infrastructures, or supply and value chains. What are the conceptual challenges deriving from this new relation between power and space? And from a policy perspective, what are the consequences for regional and global governance?
- Transnational populism and the expansion of radicalism – the reaffirmation of local or particular identities in response to perceived challenges of globalization has moved from the fringe to the center of political landscapes globally. This transformation entails a general loss of confidence in the basic mechanisms that bring together communities at various levels, starting with the social contract of national societies. Borders as spaces of encounter, negotiation, and norms and rules-making, are being fundamentally contested and redefined. How deeply have these trends damage the prospect of a still needed global governance, sustained by a framework of shared assumptions and common interests?
- Fragmentation of the international society space – the questioning of the idea of a unitary global political space goes in par with a call for re-regionalization along civilizational lines. The emergence of civilizational narratives has so far been linked to new expressions of power by illiberal or authoritarian regimes. Should they be analyzed as mere contestations of the international liberal order narrative or do they actually (re)open a discussion about international society that goes beyond that narrative? And if so, could they point to ways of escaping the West/non-West dichotomy, allowing for a novel understanding of global politics?
If you have an idea for a new book in this series, please send a written proposal to the Series Editors:
Karoline Postel-Vinay [email protected]
Nadine Godehardt [email protected]
For guidance on how to structure your proposal, please visit: www.routledge.com/info/authors
Conspiracy Theories in International Relations: Power and Identities
1st Edition
By Katarzyna Gruszko, Tomasz Gajewski
January 22, 2026
The book maps the impact of conspiracy theories at the international political level. It shows how a conspiracy theory travels from the sender through communication channels to the receiver, influencing the processes of construction and deconstruction of the interpretation of the surrounding ...
Emerging Varieties of Resilience: Experiences from Germany, Poland and Ukraine
1st Edition
Edited
By Maciej Stępka, Agata Mazurkiewicz, Marco Krüger
July 11, 2025
This book focuses on developments of resilience in Europe, discussing its different interpretations and enactments, as well as approaches to national security and crisis and disaster management. Examining war-time resilience, increased refugee flows into the EU, societal resilience, and its general...
Ultimate Economic Conflict between China and Democratic Countries: An Institutional Analysis
1st Edition
By C.Y.C. Chu, P.C. Lee, C.C. Lin, C.F. Lo
January 29, 2024
This book investigates various dimensions of the economic conflicts between the US – and other democratic market-economy countries – and state-capitalist communist China in the past decade, examining how differences in institutions and ideology bring these about. Through the lens of ...
Revolution, Representation, and Authoritarianism: Beyond Arab Exceptionalism in Egypt
1st Edition
By Sarah Wessel
May 31, 2023
This book examines Egypt’s turbulent and contradictory political period (2011-2015) as key to understanding contemporary politics in the country and the developments in the Arab region after the mass protests in 2010/11, more broadly. In doing so, it breaks new ground in the study of political ...
China, the West, and Democratization: The Struggle for the Local and the Global in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan
1st Edition
By Luba von Hauff
August 29, 2022
Drawing upon insights from international socialization theory and social psychology, this book examines China’s efforts to multipolarize – and hence potentially de-liberalize – the international system from the local perspective of a non-democratic (yet democratizing) nation and then...
China’s Influence and the Center-periphery Tug of War in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific
1st Edition
Edited
By Brian C. H. Fong, Jieh-min Wu, Andrew J. Nathan
August 01, 2022
Bringing together a team of cutting-edge researchers based in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific countries, this book focuses on the tug of war between China’s influence and forces of resistance in Hong Kong, Taiwan and selected countries in its surrounding jurisdictions. China’s influence has met...
Policy Transfer and Norm Circulation: Towards an Interdisciplinary and Comparative Approach
1st Edition
Edited
By Laure Delcour, Elsa Tulmets
September 30, 2021
Policy Transfer and Norm Circulation brings together various fields in the humanities and social sciences to propose a renewed analysis of policy transfer and norm circulation, by offering cross-regional case studies and providing both a comprehensive and innovative understanding of policy ...
The Politics of Resilience and Transatlantic Order: Enduring Crisis?
1st Edition
Edited
By Gordon Friedrichs, Sebastian Harnisch, Cameron G. Thies
December 18, 2020
This edited volume bridges the "analytical divide" between studies of transatlantic relations, democratic peace theory, and foreign policy analysis, and improves our theoretical understanding of the logic of crises prevention and resolution.The recent rise of populism and polarization in both the ...
India’s Foreign Policy Discourse and its Conceptions of World Order: The Quest for Power and Identity
1st Edition
By Thorsten Wojczewski
August 14, 2020
Given India’s growing power and aspirations in world politics, there has been increasing interest among practitioners and scholars of international relations (IR) in how India views the world. This book offers the first systematic investigation of the world order models in India’s foreign policy ...
Noncitizenism: Recognising Noncitizen Capabilities in a World of Citizens
1st Edition
By Tendayi Bloom
December 12, 2019
Noncitizens have always been present in liberal political philosophy. Often hard to situate within traditional frameworks that prioritise citizenship, noncitizens can appear voiceless and rightsless, which has implications for efforts towards global justice and justice in migration. This book ...
Hegemony and Resistance around the Iranian Nuclear Programme: Analysing Chinese, Russian and Turkish Foreign Policies
1st Edition
By Moritz Pieper
January 17, 2019
The Iranian nuclear crisis is a proxy arena for competing visions about the functioning of international relations. This book is the first to provide comprehensive and comparative analyses to conceptualise the interaction between ‘hegemonic structures’ and those actors resisting them using the ...
Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges
1st Edition
Edited
By Allison McCulloch, John McGarry
January 17, 2019
Power-sharing is an important political strategy for managing protracted conflicts and it can also facilitate the democratic accommodation of difference. Despite these benefits, it has been much criticised, with claims that it is unable to produce peace and stability, is ineffective and inefficient...