National Security

Book excerpt: This text analyzes the history, evolution, and processes of national security policies. It examines national security from two fundamental fault lines--the end of the Cold War and the evolution of contemporary terrorism, dating from the 9/11 terrorist attacks and tracing their path up to the Islamic State (ISIS) and beyond. The book considers how the resulting era of globalization and geopolitics guides policy. Placing these trends in conceptual and historical context and following them through military, semi-military, and non-military concerns, National Security treats its subject as a nuanced and subtle phenomenon that encompasses everything from the global to the individual with the nation at its core. New to the Sixth Edition Fully updated with expanded coverage of ISIS, the "new cool war" with Russia, cybersecurity challenges, natural resource wars and development, negotiations with Iran, border threats, and much more. Includes a completely new chapter on "lethal landscapes" such as developing world international conflicts in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East; the "siren song" of the Islamic State; and the dilemmas of guns, butter, and boots on the ground. Shifts the focus from globalization to a more widely-ranging look at security, from the individual level to the regional to the global.