Uses of 'the West'
Security and the Politics of Order

Uses of 'the West' critically evaluates what 'the West' does, and how the idea is being used in everyday political practice.

Gunther Hellmann (Edited by), Benjamin Herborth (Edited by)

9781107168497, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2016

320 pages, 2 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

'Paradoxically, the 'West' is one of the most constant and undertheorized categories within International Relations, even among critical scholars. By 'unpacking' the concept the contributors to this brilliant volume offer key insights into its diverse roles in world-making.' Arlene B. Tickner, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

The notion of 'the West' is commonly used in politics, the media, and in the academic world. To date, our idea of 'the West' has been largely assumed and effective, but has not been examined in detail from a theoretical perspective. Uses of 'the West' combines a range of original and topical approaches to evaluate what 'the West' really does, and how the idea is being used in everyday political practice. This book examines a range of uses of 'the West', and traces how 'the West' works in a broad array of conceptual and empirical contexts, ranging from the return of geopolitics - via a critical review of the debates surrounding Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilization thesis - to the question of the future of 'the West'. Analysis extends further to the repercussions of the war on terror on Western democracy and the processes of delineating the Western from the non-Western, as well as observations of the institutional transformations of Western order.

1. Introduction: uses of 'the West' Benjamin Herborth and Gunther Hellmann
Part I. Theorizing 'the West': 2. Foreign policy identity crises and the uses of 'the West' Stefano Guzzini
3. 'The West' versus other Western 'we's': a discourse analysis in reverse Ole Wæver
4. Between polarization and appeasement: democracy and its 'other' Harald Müller
5. After 'the clash': uses of 'the West' after the Cold War Patrick Thaddeus Jackson
Part II. 'The West' in Use: 6. Aesthetics, power and insecurity: self-interrogative imaging in 'the West' Brent Steele
7. Everyday exceptions: the paradox of a perpetual state of emergency Benjamin Herborth
8. Reconstituting the North Atlantic Alliance: a reconstruction of NATO's strategic discourse since 1949 Gabi Schlag
9. Transatlantic policies towards China and Russia: self-conceptions and contradictions of a universalizing West Christian Weber
10. Russia becoming Russia: a semi-periphery in splendid isolation Ted Hopf
Part III. Transformations of the Western Institutional Order: 11. Defending 'the West'? The transformation of national security in the European Union Gunther Hellmann
12. How the 'end of the Cold War' ended Matthew Evangelista
13. Conclusion: the ways of 'the West' and the road ahead Lene Hansen.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Sociology [JHB], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Philosophy [HP]