Middle East & North Africa

The most significant challenge to the post–Cold War international order is the growing power of ambitious states opposed to the West. Iran, Russia and China each view the global structure through the prism of historical experience. Rejecting the universality of Western liberal values, these states and their governments each consider the relative decline of Western economic hegemony as an opportunity. Yet cooperation between them remains fragmentary.

A Liberal Actor in a Realist World assesses the changing nature of the global political economy of energy and the European Union's response, and the external dimension of the regulatory state. The book concludes that the EU's soft power has a hard edge, which is derived primarily from its regulatory power.

Abbas Maleki illustrates how China's growing relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia affect Sino-American relations.

This provocative and compelling book explores the impact of globalization and terrorism on this trend, arguing convincingly that the era of national self-determination has finally come to an end.

"International history has witnessed trends toward and away from the amalgamation of disparate political units—in Europe and elsewhere...."

"Globalization has the effect of incapacitating states as autonomous units."

The United States continues to proclaim its support for democracy and its opposition to tyranny, but American presidents often have supported dictators who have allied themselves with the United States. This book illustrates the chronic dilemmas inherent in U.S. dealings with dictators under conditions of uncertainty and moral ambiguity.

"The most important book by any ex-Clinton official."



-Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times (April 16, 1999)

"...these cases were designed for and used in executive program classes for senior managers in the U.S. intelligence community...."

"In mid-1989, President George H.W. Bush attended a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the final draft of National Security Directive 26 (NSD-26), which defined U.S. policy toward the Persian Gulf...."