Book cover

Table of contents

About this book

This volume of collected papers contains around three dozen articles and analyses written by Hans Köchler since the end of the Cold War era. In the main chapters – “World Order and the Rule of Law” and “Civilization and World Order” – the book deals with basic issues of the global balance of power, the consequences of globalization, questions of international democracy and United Nations reform, the “global war on terror,” international justice versus power politics, and the paradigm of the “clash of civilizations.” The essays are arranged according to a thematic sequence from general aspects of international relations theory to applied questions of international politics. In the preface, the author explains what motivated him to publish this volume of collected papers: “Periods of global change are often seized as ‘moment of ideology’ by those who see themselves as beneficiaries of the new constellation and are tempted to monopolize the discourse on ‘justice,’ ‘democracy,’ ‘human rights’ for the sole purpose of perpetuating a situation they perceive as advantageous in terms of the power equation.” The essays in this book try to unravel that ideology and to create an alternative vision of a just and democratic world order.

Book review: Mainstream, New Delhi