Preface to the First Edition

International Relations (IR) is a changing and dynamic discipline. Today, the discipline is different in many ways from the discipline of IR immediately after the Second World War. The impact of globalization or terrorism on IR was almost negligible during that period. Moreover, the post–Cold War World order has thrown many challenges to the students of IR. Is the post–Cold War international order a unipolar or a multipolar one? Is globalization eroding the notion of state sovereignty? What would be the impact of energy crisis on world politics? Is the world moving towards economic integration? Is China going to pose an effective challenge to the might of the United States? What is the future of the SAARC or the NAM? What are the major theories in contemporary IR? These and many other pertinent issues require proper analyses in order to understand the nature of the discipline today. This book is a humble attempt at studying such issues. It is primarily meant for students of International Relations in colleges and universities. It would also help civil service aspirants and others interested in the discipline.

In the course of writing this book, I got immense help from several persons and institutions. All members of Pearson Education need special mention in this regard. I wish to particularly thank Praveen Dev, Debjani M. Dutta, Barun Kumar Sarkar and Arani Banerjee of Pearson Education for supporting this project from time to time. I also thank my colleagues and students in the Department of Political Science who raised many interesting questions and debated with me on many issues for providing intellectual stimuli that helped me in the course of writing. The excellent library facilities of Presidency College always boosted my desire to work for the book. My wife Sarbani and daughter Prerna, besides providing mental support, also helped me in computer work, which proved very helpful at times for a tiring person. My sincere thanks to them. Needless to say that the author is responsible for any error or omission in the book. If this book provides any help to students and teachers, I will consider my efforts successful.

Aneek Chatterjee