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This is the first book to investigate how migrants and migrant rights activists work together to generate new forms of citizenship identities through the use of language. It begins with an overview of the important connection between language and the materiality of migration and discusses how the research on language in the context of migrant activism can advance one's understanding of belonging, of what it means to be a legitimate member of a community. The book then looks at the acts of citizenship in more detail, showing that not only the visible but also the audible presence of noncitizens is constitutive of struggles for citizenship. In conclusion, it reflects on the insights obtained from the study on multilingual migrant activism. The book is an original take on citizenship and community from the perspective of translation, and an alluring amalgamation of theory and detailed empirical analysis based on ethnographic case studies of Japan.

Between Realism and Revolt explores urban governance in the “age of austerity”, focusing on the period between the global financial crisis of 2008-9 and the beginning of the global Coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019. It considers urban governance after the 2008 crisis, from the perspective of governability. How did cities navigate the crisis and the aftermath of austerity, with what political ordering and disordering dynamics at the forefront? To answer these questions it engages with two influential theoretical currents, Urban Regime Theory and Gramscian state theory, with a view to understanding how governance enabled austerity, deflected or intensified localised expressions of crisis, and generated more-or-less successful political alternatives. It develops a comparative analysis of case studies undertaken in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Greater Dandenong (Melbourne), Leicester, Montreal and Nantes, and concludes by highlighting five characteristics that cut across the cities, unevenly and in different configurations: economic rationalism, weak hegemony, retreat to dominance, weak counter-hegemony and radically contagious politicisations.

Building on the recent initiative to truly globalize the field of international relations, this book provides an innovative interrogation of regionalism. The book applies a globalizing framework to the study of regional worlds in order to move beyond the traditional conception of regionalism, which views regions as competing blocs dominated by great powers. Bringing together a wide range of case studies, the book shows that regions are instead dynamic configurations of social and political identities in which a variety of actors, including the less powerful, interact and partake in regionalization processes and have done so through the centuries.

In a world that has returned to great power rivalry, understanding the grand strategy of these powers is crucial. This book introduces ten key terms for analysing grand strategy: simple, competitive, rational, allied, comprehensive, creative, agile, courageous, dirty, and proactive. Analysing both historical examples and current strategies, the book shows how the world’s great powers – the United States, China, Russia and the European Union (EU) – shape their strategic decisions today. Outlining the steps needed for a less confrontational grand strategy and a more peaceful and stable world order, this lively and accessible introduction, peppered with insights from world leaders, generals, and strategists, shows how the choices made in each of these ten areas will determine the course of international politics in the first half of the 21st century.

Narendra Modi’s energetic personal diplomacy and promise to make India a ‘leading power’, made soon after his landslide election victory in May 2014, surprised many analysts. Most had predicted that his government would concentrate on domestic issues, on the growth and development demanded by Indian voters, and that he lacked necessary experience in international relations. Instead, Modi’s time in office saw a concerted attempt to reinvent Indian foreign policy by replacing inherited understandings of its place in the world with one drawn largely from Hindu nationalist ideology. This book explores the drivers of this reinvention, arguing it arose from a combination of elite conviction and electoral calculation, and the impact it had on India’s international relations under Modi. It examines how Hindu nationalists understand the world and India’s place and role within it, as well as what we know about Modi’s thought and political style. It addresses, in turn, his government’s attempt to present India as a ‘world guru’ with teachings draw from its rich civilizational inheritance, its attempt to further regional prosperity and connectivity in South Asia, and its efforts to address national security vulnerabilities and manage relations with the major powers.

Amid a global health emergency, the process for declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is at a crossroads. As a formal declaration by the World Health Organization, a PHEIC is governed by clear legislation as to what is, and what is not, deemed a global health security threat. However, it has become politicized and the legal criteria now appear to be secondary to the political motivation or outcome of the announcement. Addressing multiple empirical case studies, including COVID-19, this multidisciplinary book explores the relationship between international law and international relations to interrogate how a PHEIC is declared and the impact of its inconsistent use on the PHEIC tool, WHO and global health security more broadly.

Are the sovereign states of Southeast Asia responsible actors that care and provide for their own as well as their neighbours? Do they act hospitably towards each other? This book examines an embryonic ‘ethos’ of intraregional responsibility among Southeast Asian countries. Unevenly distributed and more apparent in some states than others, the ethic has been expressed as acts of hospitality shown to victims of earthquakes, typhoons and other natural disasters, and increasingly in conflict situations. This sovereign responsibility to provide, or the ‘R2Provide’ as this book calls it, has manifested as forms of assistance – mediated through ASEAN but also bilaterally – given to neighbours coping with economic difficulties, problems of militancy and terrorism and the like. But unlike the global norm of the responsibility to protect (R2P), the R2Provide is noninterventionist in practice. More indirectly, it has also materialised as a mutual reliance by regional states on pacific and increasingly rules-based approaches to manage and, where feasible, resolve their disputes with one another. The contention is not that Southeast Asians have never, whether by commission or omission, behaved irresponsibly or unethically – the region’s belated and deficient response to the Rohingya refugee crisis is but one of many tragic examples – but that they are misrepresented as void of responsible conduct. By way of Emmanuel Levinas’ concept of ‘responsibility for the other’, the book provides an ethical-theoretical explanation for the R2Provide and sovereign responsibility in Southeast Asia.

Social investment policies have enjoyed prominence during recent welfare reforms across the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) world, and yet there is insufficient long-term strategy for their success. Reviewing labour market, family and education policies, this book analyses the emergence of social investment policies in both Europe and East Asia. Adopting a life course perspective and examining both public and private investments, the book addresses key contemporary policy issues including care, learning, work, social mobility and inequalities. Providing original observations, the book explores the roads and barriers towards effective social investment policies, derives practical social policy implications and highlights important lessons for future policymaking.

Major powers have immense resources at their disposal, while minor powers are assumed to avoid wars and power politics due to structural and material constraints. This provokes the question why do some minor powers nonetheless decide to militarily engage their vastly stronger opponents, particularly major powers? Inspired by several theoretical insights, this book proposes a more complex framework of minor powers in interstate asymmetric conflict. It analyses five conditions highlighted by previous studies: domestic crisis, foreign support, window of opportunity, anomalous beliefs, and regime stability. The theoretical framework works well with a mixed-methods approach, a medium-N research design (Qualitative Comparative Analysis), and three case studies: Iraq (1990), Moldova (1992), and Serbia (1999). The book finds that by looking through the lenses of multiple theories, one can observe a more nuanced relationship how different conditions interact in impacting minor powers’ decisions. Ultimately, minor powers militarily engage major powers when facing a more important domestic crisis and when they also believe that they have a window of opportunity or support from another major power in order to constrain major powers’ capability and resolve. Looking at the current conflict in Syria, there are important policy implications given the observation that minor powers do and will continue to challenge major powers in the future.