This book presents the most comprehensive coverage of world politics. It uses key concepts from major theoretical traditions to analyze both historical and contemporary developments in international relations including such topics as war, terrorism, human rights, the environment, and international development, while emphasizing an institutional approach to resolving international conflict.

Trend and transformation in world politics -- Exploring twenty-first-century world politics -- Theories of world politics -- The actors in world politics -- Foreign policy decision making -- Great-power rivalry and the lure of hegemony: cycles of war and peace in modern world history -- Rich and poor in world politics: the plight of the global South -- Nonstate actors and the challenge of global governance -- The politics of global security -- Armed conflict in the twenty-first-century -- Military power and national security in a turbulent world -- Realist paths to peace: alliances, arms control and the balance of power -- Liberal and constructivist paths to peace: international norms, institutions and integration -- The politics of global welfare -- The globalization of world politics -- Trade and monetary relations in a global political economy -- Human rights and the quest for global justice -- Population dynamics and global environmental politics -- Alternative world futures -- Prospects for a new world order.