Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.Comparative practices are integral to global security politics. The balance of power politics, status competitions and global security governance would not be possible without them. Yet, they are rarely treated as the main object of study.Exploring the varied uses of comparisons, this book addresses three key questions:• How is comparative knowledge produced?• How does it become politically relevant?

This text takes issue with arguments that security studies is a discipline of limited use in making sense of the post-Cold War world. It argues that many of the most interesting theoretical issues in international relations can most usefully be studied through a prism labelled "security studies". The book combines chapters which provide a variety of critical perspectives on the discipline and address a diverse range of theoretical concerns, with chapters that examine such substantive issue...

From time to time in the field of healthcare, an exciting new development emerges to challenge and potentially transform thinking and behaviour. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and its framework is undoubtedly one of these transformative resources and is increasingly widely used in the field of childhood disability.This accessible handbook introduces the ICF to professionals working with children with disabilities and their families. It ...

A comprehensive and empirically rich set of case studies that examine the impact of socio-cultural influences on multilateral arms control and security-building processes around the world.

Governments around the world face ongoing pressures from citizens to provide more and better services, and to do this while restraining taxation levels. This provides the context for government efforts to ensure their policies and programs are as effective, and as efficient, as possible. An emphasis on government performance has led a number of governments to create formal systems for monitoring and evaluating their performance--on a regular, planned, and systematic basis--with the objecti...

Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state’s Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use o...