Books

Fighting Poverty and Violence analyzes what is needed to abolish the worst forms of human deprivation. Based on many international studies about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it concludes that only two percent of world income is needed to provide all human beings with safe drinking water, sanitation, food, basic education, and simple health care. The poorest people also incur the largest numbers of victims due to wars, disasters, and  pandemics. This book contains practical suggestions for more effective civic and political action to reach the universal goal of well-being in peace. Watch the livestream of the Book Launch here!

Can’t wait to read it? Buy it here.

How modern disinformation campaigns – whose methods and composition changed through the information revolution between 1990 und 2009 – can be countered more effectively

The information revolution changed the way state-organized disinformation campaigns are conducted. Spreading various forms of propaganda, confusing half-thruths and pure falsehoods have accelerated, and social media made it possible to reach an increasing number of people targeted, in an ever-shorter news cycle. In the past disinformation actors mostly tried to persuade an audience of a single made-up story. Nowadays in the so-called post-truth era, disinformation actors rather attempt to dissuade an audience of the evidence-based story by disseminating an unending number of alternative narratives. At the core of this research lays the question how to deal with disinformation in digitized society.

Curious? Buy it here.

Although it is assumed that the improved atmosphere in Greek-Turkish relations since 1999 is composed of the initiatives undertaken by both sides the paper self-consciously restricts its case-study to the contribution to this evolution on behalf of the Greek side. Europeanization of Greek Foreign Policy and Greece’s Engagement Strategy towards Turkey during the last decade constitute topics in the name of which a lot of literature has been developed. The aim of this thesis is to establish a link between them. How is Europeanization able to influence and shape the formulation of an EU member state strategy? How can it contribute to the adoption of a strategy especially in cases where the targeted state does not belong to the EU family and is perceived to hold revisionist aspirations? Why does the currently employed strategy seem according to the today’s Greek Foreign Policy Makers the proper solution to deal with their security concerns? Assuming that the adoption of this policy is of strategic importance the author is interested to highlight the indicator behind this decision and to illustrate the way this strategy was interpreted and pursued.

The book can be purchased here.

Saarbrucken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 148 pages, price: 93,99 €

This book on the foreign relations of the Netherlands shows how broad and intensive the diplomacy of a modern Small Power can be. Much of the literature on world politics has been written from the perspective of the Great Powers. Small Powers are dealt with as props on the world stage. However, the large majority of states has a different vantage point: that of middle-sized or small participants. They have to pursue their goals with only a fraction of the Super Powers’ resources against often overwhelming international forces.

Dutch foreign policy is interesting not only because of its historical evolution but also because it exemplifies modern interdependence among states. As an open trading nation, located at the cross-roads of Western Europe, as a participant in the process of European integration and an active member of many international organizations, as a nation whose public, interested in global affairs, is often eager to set an example of idealistic behavior for other states, the Netherlands portrays the many complexities of contemporary international relations.

Peace, Profits and Principles is not an official publication, but a private study. It combines the classical approach to International Relations with some of the more quantitative and economic elements of the contemporary approaches. The organization of the material and the extensive bibliographies on Small Power behavior and on Dutch foreign policy make this book suitable as a comprehensive source on the international relations of the Netherlands and as a case study for use in comparative foreign policy analysis and the general study of Small Powers.

Hard copies can be ordered for € 15,- at info@sen-foundation.org.