Warlords in International Relations

Description

This pathbreaking collection investigates the phenomenon of 'warlordism' in contemporary international politics. The introductory chapter argues that warlordist conflicts need to be taken far more seriously by analysts interested in post-Cold War politics where state structures, especially in the developing world, have become prone to fission and disintegration. It details the emergence of warlordism in the twentieth century and pinpoints the particular importance of interwar China for the growth in understanding of warlordism as a distinctive type of military conflict. The volume shows that there are important links between warlordism and the inter-national arms and narcotics markets. It also investigates the growth of private security firms and the privatization of warfare. There are revealing chapters, too, on the conflicts in Rwanda, Somalia, Kashmir and Albania. This book is essential reading for scholars of the state and military conflict in the developing world as well as students of international relations interested in the differing ways that contemporary patterns of 'globalization' induce political fragmentation.