Risk and Hierarchy in International Society : Liberal Interventionism in the Post-Cold War Era

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. The English School of International Relations has traditionally maintained that international society is anarchical and cannot accommodate hierarchical relationships between states. This book provides an innovative theoretical and conceptual approach that challenges this view, demonstrating that international society can accommodate hierarchies between sovereign states. Synthesising the concept of international society with elements of Beck's 'risk society', Clapton explores a particular set of hierarchies in the post-Cold War era that are characterised by interventions conducted by Western states in non-Western territories to promote liberal democratic government. Exploring interventions along the European Union's periphery, in the South Pacific and in Iraq, Clapton argues that these interventions are essentially exercises in risk management, designed to promote liberalism and democracy as a means of managing globalized risks to the security of Western states, such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-9 The Hierarchical Society....Pages 11-25 Risk and International Society....Pages 27-41 The Management of Risk....Pages 43-57 Managing Risks in Europe’s Periphery: The European Neighbourhood Policy....Pages 59-77 Australia and the Management of Risk in the South Pacific....Pages 79-101 Preventing Risks and Changing Regimes: The 2003 Invasion of Iraq....Pages 103-128 Conclusion....Pages 129-138 Back Matter....Pages 139-200 The English School of International Relations has traditionally maintained that international society cannot accommodate hierarchical relationships between states. This book employs a unique theoretical and conceptual approach challenging this view and arguing that hierarchies are formed on Western states' need to manage globalised risks.