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. 1. Introduction: Uses of the West / Benjamin Herborth and Gunther Hellmann -- pt. I : Theorizing the West. 2. Foreign Policy Identity Crises and Uses of 'the West' / Stefano Guzzini -- 3. 'The West' versus Other Western 'We's': A Discourse Analysis in Reverse / Ole Waever -- 4. Between Polarisation and Appeasement: Democracy and Its 'Other' / Harald Müller -- 5. After 'the Clash': Uses of 'the West' after the Cold War / Patrick Thaddeus Jackson -- pt. II : The West in Use -- 6. Aesthetics, Power, and Insecurity: Self-Interrogative Imaging in the West / Brent J. Steele -- 7. Everyday Exceptions: The Paradox of a Perpetual State of Emergency / Benjamin Herborth -- 8. Re-constituting NATO: Foundational Narratives of Transatlantic Security Cooperation in the 1950s and 1990s / 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 -- pt. 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. 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.