Introduction; Part I. Theoretical Framework: 1. A practice in search of a theory; 2. Special responsibilities in world politics; Part II. Three Global Problems: 3. Nuclear proliferation; 4. Climate change; 5. Global finance; Part III. Ethical Dimensions: 6. The ethics of special responsibilities; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
This is the first study of how major global problems have been managed through the international distribution of special responsibilities.
Mlada Bukovansky is Associate Professor of Government at Smith College. She is the author of Legitimacy and Power Politics: The American and French Revolutions in International Political Culture (2002). Ian Clark is E. H. Carr Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. He is the author of many books, most recently a three-volume study of international legitimacy - Legitimacy in International Society (2005), International Legitimacy and World Society (2007) and Hegemony in International Society (2011). Robyn Eckersley is Professor of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences and Program Director of the Master of International Relations Program at the University of Melbourne. She is author of The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty (2004) and editor (with J. Barry) of The State and the Global Ecological Crisis (2005) and (with A. Dobson) Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge (2006). Richard MacKay Price is a Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia. He is author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo (1997), co-editor with Mark W. Zacher of The United Nations and Global Security (2004) and editor of Moral Limit and Possibility in World Politics (2008). Christian Reus Smit holds the Chair in International Relations at the European University Institute in Florence. He is the author of American Power and World Order (2004), co-author of Theories of International Relations (2001, 2005, 2008), editor of The Politics of International Law (2004) and co-editor with Duncan Snidal of The Oxford Handbook of International Relations (2008). Nicholas J. Wheeler holds a Chair in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. He is the author of Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (2000), co-author (with Ken Booth) of The Security Dilemma: Fear, Cooperation and Trust in World Politics (2007) and co-editor (with Tim Dunne) of Human Rights in Global Politics (2000).
'This outstanding book is the first serious attempt to think
through the idea of 'special responsibilities' and the meaning of
legitimacy in the context of world politics today. Conceptually
innovative and empirically wide ranging, the study with its
star-studded cast of leading scholars is bound to become the
defining text on the subject for many years to come.' Michael Cox,
London School of Economics
'This important study provides a systematic and highly
sophisticated analysis of special responsibilities - conceptually,
historically, and applied to climate change, nuclear proliferation
and global finance. It argues convincingly for the existence of a
distinctive politics of responsibility constituted both by material
power and social norms. A major contribution to international
relations theory and to the analysis of global order.' Andrew
Hurrell, University of Oxford
''With great power there must also come great responsibility.' That
basic idea - popularized by Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spiderman) - has
been as ubiquitous in international relations practice as it is
poorly understood in scholarship. Until now. Bukovansky and her
co-authors illuminate the concept in both normative and positive
theoretical terms and illustrate their arguments with superb case
studies. An intelligent, important study.' William C. Wohlforth,
Dartmouth College
'This fine book, in effect, creates a new area of study. It is the
first explicit engagement with the idea that there are special
responsibilities in world politics.' Jonathan Joseph, International
Affairs
'This fascinating, groundbreaking study provides an in-depth
analysis of special responsibilities and legitimacy in world
politics. The authors successfully analyze the practice of evoking
special responsibility, explicating with theory and evidence how
special responsibilities have been allocated and contested in
important global problems in world politics. Summing up:
recommended. All readership levels.' K. M. Zaarour, Choice
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