Complexity Science and World Affairs

Complexity Science and World Affairs
Author: Walter C. Clemens Jr.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2013-11-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1438449038

Why did some countries transition peacefully from communist rule to political freedom and market economies, while others did not? Why did the United States enjoy a brief moment as the sole remaining superpower, and then lose power and influence across the board? What are the prospects for China, the main challenger to American hegemony? In Complexity Science and World Affairs, Walter C. Clemens Jr. demonstrates how the basic concepts of complexity science can broaden and deepen the insights gained by other approaches to the study of world affairs. He argues that societal fitness—the ability of a social system to cope with complex challenges and opportunities—hinges heavily on the values and way of life of each society, and serves to explain why some societies gain and others lose. Applying theory to several rich case studies, including political developments across post–Soviet Eurasia and the United States, Clemens shows that complexity science offers a powerful set of tools for advancing the study of international relations, comparative government, and, more broadly, the social sciences.

Science, (Anti-)Communism and Diplomacy

Science, (Anti-)Communism and Diplomacy
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9004340173

This book explores how Pugwash scientists established a role in conflict moderation, what held this project together and how state actors in East and West perceived their efforts, complicating existing narratives about “Pugwash” and challenging notions about the naivety of scientists.

Proceedings of the Forty-eighth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Jurica, Mexico, 29 September-4 October 1998

Proceedings of the Forty-eighth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Jurica, Mexico, 29 September-4 October 1998
Author: Joseph Rotblat
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2001
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789812810212

In this book, scientists who are pre-eminent in their fields focus on the crucial role of science in the transition away from a culture of war towards the construction of peace based on a capacity to anticipate and prevent destructive conflicts. The subject matter, wide-ranging and of great concern to people everywhere, includes the progress and prospects for a nuclear-weapon-free world; non-nuclear threats to peace and security; the building of legitimate world institutions; conflict resolution and the construction of peace; the local and global environmental dimensions of peace; the health hazards of nuclear chemical and biological weapons; and the interactions between health problems and poverty. Contents: Chiapas: Politics or War (R Benitez-Manaut); Nuclear Disarmament: Is This as Good as It Gets? (M M Bosch); The Future of Nuclear Weaponry and our Civilization (F Calogero); Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and Non-Proliferation (O M Sukovic); Technology and the Prevention of Genocide (D Andersen & A Moden); Asian Financial Crisis and China (Z-Q Xie); Ethnic Identity and Border Disputes in the Balkans (N Behar); Water Security in Southern Africa (N Dippenaar); Poverty, Disease and War (J Avery); Poverty, Public Health and Peace: A Southern African Perspective (R A Mogotlane); and other papers. Readership: Graduate students in social sciences.

The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations

The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations
Author: Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2010-07-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1136912029

This volume ws the winner of The International Studies Association Theory Section Book Award 2013, presented by the International Studies Association and The Yale H. Ferguson Award 2012, presented by International Studies Association-Northeast. There are many different scientifically valid ways to produce knowledge. The field of International Relations should pay closer attention to these methodological differences, and to their implications for concrete research on world politics. The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations provides an introduction to the philosophy of science issues and their implications for the study of global politics. The author draws attention to the problems caused by the misleading notion of a single unified scientific method, and proposes a framework that clarifies the variety of ways that IR scholars establish the authority and validity of their empirical claims. Jackson connects philosophical considerations with concrete issues of research design within neopositivist, critical realist, analyticist, and reflexive approaches to the study of world politics. Envisioning a pluralist science for a global IR field, this volume organizes the significant differences between methodological stances so as to promote internal consistency, public discussion, and worldly insight as the hallmarks of any scientific study of world politics. This important volume will be essential reading for all students and scholars of International Relations, Political Science and Philosophy of Science.

Rethinking Religion and World Affairs

Rethinking Religion and World Affairs
Author: Timothy Samuel Shah
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2012-02-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199827982

In recent years, the role of religion in the study and conduct of international affairs has become increasingly important. The essays in this volume seek to question and remedy the problematic neglect of religion in extant scholarship, grappling with puzzles, issues, and questions concerning religion and world affairs in six major areas. Contributors critically revisit the "secularization thesis," which proclaimed the steady erosion of religion's public presence as an effect of modernization; explore the relationship between religion, democracy, and the juridico-political discourse of human rights; assess the role of religion in fomenting, ameliorating, and redressing violent conflict; and consider the value of religious beliefs, actors, and institutions to the delivery of humanitarian aid and the fostering of socio-economic development. Finally, the volume addresses the representation of religion in the expanding global media landscape, the unique place of religion in American foreign policy, and the dilemmas it presents. Drawing on the work of leading scholars as well as policy makers and analysts, Rethinking Religion and World Affairs is the first comprehensive and authoritative guide to the interconnections of religion and global politics.

Scientists and Public Affairs

Scientists and Public Affairs
Author: Albert H. Teich
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1974
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The relationship between scientists and government, both in the United States and in Europe, has become increasingly symbiotic in the years since World War II. Government grants, socialized medicine, and technologically sophisticated defense systems are only a few of the ways in which politics and science find themselves intertwined. This volume is a collection of original papers dealing with some of the several important aspects of scientists in the public sector. The first chapter, "Private Government and Professional Science" by Daniel Rich, with a foreword by Harvey M. Sapolsky, deals with the organization and functions of professional scientific associations. Rich sees these societies as private governments, providing institutional services and regulating the behavior of their members. Using this frame of reference, he explores the relationships of these societies to one another and to public government. Eugene Skolnikoff introduces Chapter 2, "American Scientists and the ABM: A Case Study in Controversy" by Anne Hessing Cahn, in which she examines the role of the scientists in a recent political controversy through interviews with 122 scientists active in the ABM issue. Chapter 3, "The Associational Interest Groups of American Science" by David Nichols, with a foreword by Robert C. Wood, discusses the range of political interest groups from "establishment" to "radical" existing within the American scientific community. The political attitudes of 320 scientists and engineers from Europe's three largest international laboratories (CERN, ESTEC, and EURATOM/ISPRA) are studied in Chapter 4, "Politics and International Laboratories: A Study of Scientists' Attitudes" by Albert H. Teich, with a foreword by I. I. Rabi. Finally, Chapter 5, "The Politics of Cybernetics in the Soviet Union" by R. David Gillespie, with a foreword by Daniel Lerner, examines the controversy over adoption of this technology in the post-Stalin era. A postface by Eugene B. Skolnikoff, "Science and Public Policy: A View from MIT," traces the history of MIT's program in science and public policy, from which all of the studies in this book emerged. Those interested in either political science or scientific politics will find this a valuable resource.

Proceedings of the Forty-ninth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Rustenburg, South Africa, 7-13 September 1999

Proceedings of the Forty-ninth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Rustenburg, South Africa, 7-13 September 1999
Author: Joseph Rotblat
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 487
Release: 2001
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9810247737

In September 1999, scientists and scholars from around the world, concerned with reducing the danger of armed conflict and seeking cooperative solutions to global problems, met under the auspices of the Pugwash conferences, the Nobel-Prize-winning organization. The proceedings deal with a broad range of issues, including: a nuclear-weapon-free world; emerging security threats; development; environment; and international governance.

Survival Nexus

Survival Nexus
Author: Charles Weiss
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre: Globalization
ISBN: 9780190946272

"The impact of science and technology on world affairs is shaped by politics, economics, business, ethics, law, psychology, and culture. This nexus is a neglected aspect of international affairs. It cuts across and unites diverse issues critical to human survival: climate change, global health, nuclear weapons, Internet governance, cybersecurity, jobs, competitiveness, poverty, hunger, and the management of new technologies like autonomous weapons, hypersonic missiles, geoengineering, and gene drivers. Advances in science and technology promise both great benefits and critical threats. Appropriate policies can stimulate and guide scientific and technological advance to create new ways to achieve a healthy environment, sustainable energy systems, equitable growth, full employment, and reduced poverty. But we are allowing technology to push ourselves into uncharted and dangerous territory. Long-standing modes of international cooperation are under increasing pressure, and we are making too little effort to strengthen and update them. Nor are we building the strong global norms that we need to manage new technologies. Underlying all of the global problems discussed in this book are considerations of basic ethics: our willingness to respect scientific facts, to act today to forestall long-run dangers, and to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits, costs, and risks from advances in science and technology"--