Political and Economic Foundations in Global Studies provides an innovative introductory examination of the global forces shaping the world today, seen through political and economic lenses. Along with its companion, Social and Cultural Foundations in Global Studies, the book exposes students to the historical contours of, and the key concepts and processes that underlie, the interconnections among individuals, societies, organizations, and governments. As in the rest of Routledge’s Global Studies series, the Foundations books employ a two-part strategy: conceptual underpinnings explored in the first part are enlivened by case studies in the second. Special features magnify the utility of the text: • Text boxes are employed to expand and emphasize specific material: they are used to open up the coverage to related topics or to call attention to especially critical material, such as historical milestones or key vocabulary. • Resource boxes offer links that point readers to sources—mostly online—on the topics discussed and establish a rich archive of additional material for readers to draw on. • At the same time, back-of-chapter References and Further Research lists help students to trace the material used by authors or to follow more general leads relating to the topics covered in the chapters. • Images highlight specific details of the case studies, helping to bring the subjects alive.

What is Global Studies, and how does it relate to globalization? Responding to this frequently asked question, Manfred B. Steger and Amentahru Wahlrab provide the first comprehensive overview of this emerging field. Authoritative and accessible, this primer speaks to students and instructors interested not only in key theories but also in applied teaching and learning programs designed to educate "global citizens" to meet the concrete challenges of the twenty-first century. Linking the influential arguments of major thinkers in Global Studies to their own framework, the authors discuss the "Four Pillars of Global Studies": globalization, transdisciplinarity, space and time, and critical thinking. The book, with instructive appendix materials, will appeal to readers seeking a deeper understanding of Global Studies—one of the most popular fields of study in major universities around the world.

In the past three decades a number of important changes have made international business more complex and exciting. The rapid and continuous changes in information and communications technology (ITC), reduced trade barriers among countries, and regionalization have increased the links and dependency among firms from various countries. This has created opportunities for increasing expansion to new markets and increasing global integration while simultaneously posing many challenges. This book views international business as a complex and integrated system and takes a systems approach to study and analyze the changes thus enabling readers to assess global business opportunities and risk in a comprehensive and integral manner. The topics presented in this book allow practitioners, scholars, and students of international business to have a broad understanding of the most relevant issues in a changing international environment.

"With all entries followed by cross-references and further reading lists, this current resource is ideal for high school and college students looking for connecting ideas and additional sources on them. The work brings together the many facets of global studies into a solid reference tool and will help those developing and articulating an ideological perspective." — Library Journal The Encyclopedia of Global Studies is the reference work for the emerging field of global studies. It covers both transnational topics and intellectual approaches to the study of global themes, including the globalization of economies and technologies; the diaspora of cultures and dispersion of peoples; the transnational aspects of social and political change; the global impact of environmental, technological, and health changes; and the organizations and issues related to global civil society. Key Themes: • Global civil society • Global communications, transportation, technology • Global conflict and security • Global culture, media • Global demographic change • Global economic issues • Global environmental and energy issues • Global governance and world order • Global health and nutrition • Global historical antecedents • Global justice and legal issues • Global religions, beliefs, ideologies • Global studies • Identities in global society Readership: Students and academics in the fields of politics and international relations, international business, geography and environmental studies, sociology and cultural studies, and health.

Since the 1950s, globalization has been an increasingly irresistible trend and one that has exerted a tremendous impact on the political, economic, military, environmental, and social fortunes of mankind – and yet, existing theories in humanities and social sciences have been fundamentally built upon the traditional “nation-state” model. These two volumes, a pioneering work on global studies to be published out of China, aims at creating a new theoretical framework against the backdrop of globalization. Volume 1 introduces the core concepts and discusses the critical issues of globalization while the editors redefine notions of politics, economics, law, and globality while deploying globalization as a theoretical framework. Volume 2 examines the multi-level and multi-dimensional nature of globalization, analysing processes and systems of global society in the light of globalization, and exploring the construction of a stable and rational global order. These two volumes of global studies are an essential reference for scholars and students in politics, economics, international relations and law.

Sobel (Washington U. in St Louis) combines international politics and international political economy in his textbook. He emphasizes explanatory frameworks for social behavior that are based on the rational choice approach to political economy. After presenting the building blocks of this approach, he presents chapters on the structure of the international system; power and hierarchy; economic liberalism and market exchange in the global arena; political markets and exchange; the history of globalization over the past 100 years; political and economic market failure and social traps; the dilemma of collective goods, solutions, and hegemonic stability; interest groups and international economic foundations of political cleavage; and the impact of institutional structures. Annotation :2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Matthew Watson reviews the main theoretical approaches to international political economy and highlights the problems that arise from treating 'states' and 'markets' as separate and contesting units of analysis.