As editor Griffiths (Associate Professor, School of Political and International Studies, Flinders University, Australia), notes in his introduction, international relations as a discipline of study has been “a site of change, controversy and theoretical plurality” (p. xii) in recent years. When I studied the subject 30 years ago it was, although not fully appreciated at the time, a relatively stable discipline academically. The international political world was essentially bipolar (the so‐called “non‐aligned states” lacked real clout) and apart from the collapse of colonial empires and the growing power of what we then termed “trans‐national corporations” the international system had operated within the relatively well‐defined “MAD” (mutually‐assured destruction) constraints since the Iron Curtain descended across Europe and the Soviets tested the H‐bomb. The cloud of nuclear obliteration may have loomed over us all and the Cold War might have been punctuated by “hot” conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam, but the international world had a basic order and predictability that permeated its study and research.
Griffiths, also the author of two other recent texts on international relations for Routledge (Griffiths, 1999, Griffiths and O'Callaghan, 2002), offers this new encyclopedia as “a concise but comprehensive introduction to the study of international relations in the twenty‐first century. Its entries range across the field, from diplomatic state‐craft and foreign policy analysis, comparative politics, historical sociology, international political economy, international history, strategic studies and military affairs, ethics and international political theory” (Introduction, p. xiii). Together with a team of 11 consultant editors Griffiths has assembled 250 entries from 125 contributors, most of whom are North American, British and Australian academics. The signed entries, which are arranged in one simple alphabetical sequence in two‐columned pages, are of two types. Major entries account for about one‐fifth of the total and take the form of significant articles or mini‐essays of more than 5,000 words on key theoretical approaches, concepts, issues and international organizations. Designed to provide an overview of current scholarship, these are frequently penned by internationally respected experts. The 200 shorter articles of about 1,000 words that make up the remainder of the sequence are also frequently from international experts, but are intended more as succinct summaries than state‐of‐the‐art expositions.
One of the features of this encyclopedia is the care the editor and his consultant team have clearly taken in putting it together. The volume is thoroughly cross‐referenced, both through the use of boldface type for entry terms embedded in the text and see also links at the end of entries. A carefully compiled and comprehensive analytical index of 30 pages is located in the final pages and will be of great value to those seeking nuggets of information buried deep within the entries. Accurate and well subdivided to avoid the impenetrable sequences so often found in indexes of this type, it is easily of award winning standard. Adding further to the Encyclopedia's reference value are the between two and ten items of Further Reading generally appended to entries. Texts cited are generally well chosen and usually balance core works and examples of more recent research. Other supporting material such as maps or illustrations are entirely absent, but are not really called for in a work of this nature. Preliminary padding is minimal with only the editor's brief introduction and a summary list of entries preceding the main sequence. This is an encyclopedia that focuses on delivering key information and eschews the frills. Disciplined and well‐selected entries are its hallmark feature.
The cornerstone major entries are particularly well chosen and range from topics of recent emergence or concern such as Al‐Qaeda, End of History, Global Warming, Globalization and Revolution in Military Affairs, to the more perennial or historical such as Cold War, Hegemony, Just War, Nation‐State, Power and Self‐Determination. The shorter approximately 1,000 word entries further reflect the concentration on contemporary topics including Euro, Global Cities and Money Laundering. Many entries, both long and short, are outstanding pieces of writing that deftly convey the essentials of a topic. The entry Imagined Community, for example (three columns, four references), is a succinct and highly informative summary of Benedict Anderson's reflections on nationalism. The nearby major entry Islam (14 columns, nine references) is as balanced a summary as can be found anywhere on the major tenets of the faith, its history, treatment of women, etc. Similarly, the entry Clash of Civilizations provides an excellent summary of Huntington's controversial thesis first expressed in a 1993 issue of Foreign Affairs. As these examples should serve to highlight, this is an encyclopedia with an emphasis on the conceptual and contemporary in international relations. There are no biographical entries or coverage of nation‐states, treaties or wars. Major international bodies such as the African Union, Arab League, Group of Eight, League of Nations, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations and the World Bank are covered, but otherwise the encyclopedia's focus is firmly on the forces, trends and concepts that drive, shape and explain modern international politics.
As such this is a work without rival. The only other encyclopedic text in international relations to appear in recent years is The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations (Nolan, 2002). A four volume single authored work of 6,000 entries it has a wider scope and offers, in particular, the extensive coverage of international history not provided by Griffiths. It cannot, however, generally match the in‐depth coverage of contemporary concepts and issues provided by the work under review. The Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics will be an essential purchase for all collections supporting students studying or researching international relations at undergraduate level or above. Here it will be invaluable for definitions and explanations of the key concepts of international politics so frequently skated over by more general political science reference sources. Libraries serving institutions where international relations is not a subject of study may consider acquisition less essential, especially if Nolan, with its wider scope and appeal, is already held.
