Losing Control

Abstract

This book belongs to the field of international relations. Its specialization is in the subfield of international security, with a critique of the realist paradigm – or power and control orientation in international politics. Its main argument is that the dominant realist approach in international security is unsustainable due to the equalizing effects of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The dangerous “revolts at the margins” threaten the status quo. The book is a plea to state officials in the Middle East, the United States, Europe, Russia, transnational corporations, and international organizations to adopt attitudes conducive to justice. Since Rogers is questioning the extant realist orientation, one would expect him to outline the basic alternative principles for conducting international politics that could ensure justice, peace, and stability. Perhaps his heavy engagement with how the West tries to maintain control of the international order – as seen from the book’s title and discussions – weakened this perspective. The basic tension of what ought to be the correct rational structure of international interdependence, that which could enable this system “break out of the narrow view” or one-sided “perceptions” (p. 38), is not clarified. In short, what Rogers sees as replacing the old paradox (the cold war) for the present one (“violent peace”) is actually a continuation of ...