Militarism and International Relations

This book examines contemporary militarism in international politics, employing a variety of different theoretical viewpoints and international case studies. Militarism – understood as the social and international relations of the preparation for, and conduct of, organized political violence – is an abiding and defining characteristic of world politics. Yet despite the ongoing social, political and economic reach of military institutions, practices and values, the concept and subject of militarism has not received significant attention within recent debates in International Relations. This book intends to fill the gap in the current body of literature. It has two key overarching aims: to make the case for a renewed research agenda for IR centred on the concept of militarism; and to provide a series of empirically focused and theoretically informed case studies of contemporary militarism in practice. Containing a wide-ranging selection of chapters, the volume presents a diverse and eclectic body of research on militarism, designed to act as a stimulus to further research and debate. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, war and conflict studies, international political economy and IR/security studies in general.