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

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 Frontmatter......Page 1 Contents......Page 5 Figures......Page 7 Tables......Page 8 Notes on Contributors......Page 9 1. Introduction: Uses of the West......Page 11 Part I | Theorizing the West......Page 21 2. Foreign Policy Identity Crises and Uses of 'the West'......Page 23 3. 'The West' versus Other Western 'We's': A Discourse Analysis in Reverse......Page 47 4. Between Polarisation and Appeasement: Democracy and Its 'Other'......Page 70 5. After 'the Clash': Uses of 'the West' after the Cold War......Page 93 Part II | The West in Use......Page 119 6. Aesthetics, Power, and Insecurity: Self-Interogative Imaging and the West......Page 121 7. Everyday Exceptions: The Paradox of a Perpetual State of Emergency......Page 146 8. Re-constituting NATO: Foundational Narratives of Transatlantic Security Cooperation in the 1950s and 1990s......Page 166 9. Transatlantic Policies towards China and Russi: Self-Conceptions and Contradictions of a Universalizing West......Page 189 10. Russia Becoming Russi: A Semi-periphery in Splendid Isolation......Page 213 Part III | Transformations of the Western Institutional Order......Page 239 11. Defending 'the West'? - The Transformation of National Security in the European Union......Page 241 12. How the 'End of the Cold War' Ended......Page 264 13. Conclusion: The Ways of the West and the Road Abroad......Page 290 Index......Page 311 The term '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. Uses of 'the West' critically evaluates what 'the West' does, and how the idea is being used in everyday political practice. Edited By Gunther Hellmann And Benjamin Herborth. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.