From the Publisher:
This book sets out to examine and assess the variety of theories of information in society currently available. Frank Webster sceptically examines what thinkers mean by an information society, and looks closely at different approaches to informational developments. He provides critical commentaries on the major postwar theories: Daniel Bell's ideas on a post-industrial information society, Anthony Giddens' thoughts on the growth of surveillance and the expansion of the nation state, Herbert Schiller's insistence that information both expresses and consolidates the interests of corporate capitalism: Jurgen Habermas' account of the diminishment of the public sphere; Jean Baudrillard's thoughts on postmodernism and information, and Manuel Castells' depiction of the 'informational city'. Each theorisation is subjected to close scrutiny and is tested against empirical evidence to assess its worth. The author concludes that, while there has undoubtedly been an information explosion, it is premature to conceive of an information society. We should rather emphasise the 'informatisation' of established relations.

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Theories of the Information Society

(1994). The imperialism of decolonization. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 462-511.

The imperialism of decolonization

Introduction 1. Toward a Philosophy and Metapsychology of Peace Charles Webel 2. Peace by Peaceful Conflict Transformation: The Transcend Approach Johan Galtung Part 1: Understanding and Transforming Conflict 3. Negotiation Fen Hampson, Chester Crocker and Pamela Aall 4. Mediation Sara Horowitz 5. Former Yugoslavia and Iraq: A Comparative Analysis of International Conflict Mismanagement Jan Oberg 6. Peace Studies and Peace Politics: Multicultural Common Security in North-South Conflict Situations Kinhide Mushakoji 7. Disarmament Marc Pilisuk 8. Nuclear Disarmament David Krieger Part 2: Creating Peace 9. Peace and Conflict Counseling and Training: The Transcend Approach Gudrun Kramer, Wilfried Graf and Augustin Nicolescou 10. Nonviolence - More Than the Absence of Violence Joergen Johansen 11. Human Rights/Peace Processes Jim Ife 12. Reconciliation Joanna Santa Barbara 13. Peace as a Self-Regulating Process Dietrich Fischer Part 3: Supporting Peace 14. Gender and Peace: Towards a Gender-Inclusive Holistic Perspective Tony Jenkins and Betty Reardon 15. Peace Business Jack Santa Barbara 16. Peace Journalism Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick 17. Peace Psychology: Theory and Practice Antonella Sapio and Adriano Zamperini 18. Rethinking Peace Education Alicia Cabezudo and Magnus Haavelsrud Part 4: Peace Across the Disciplines 19. Peace Studies as a Transdisciplinary Project Chadwick Alger 20. The Spirit of War and the Spirit of Peace: Understanding the Role of Religion Graeme MacQueen 21. International Law: Amid Power, Order and Justice Richard Falk 22. The Language Game of Peace Anat Biletzki 23. Peace and the Arts Patrick McCarthy 24. Peace through Health? Neil Arya Conclusion Johan Galtung and Charles Webel

Handbook of peace and conflict studies

A large literature in political science takes for granted that democratic leaders would pay substantial domestic political costs for failing to carry out the public threats they make in international crises, and consequently that making threats substantially enhances their leverage in crisis bargaining. And yet proponents of this audience costs theory have presented very little evidence that this causal mechanism actually operates in real—as opposed to simulated—crises. We look for such evidence in post-1945 crises and find hardly any. Audience cost mechanisms are rare because (1) leaders see unambiguously committing threats as imprudent, (2) domestic audiences care more about policy substance than about consistency between the leader's words and deeds, (3) domestic audiences care about their country's reputation for resolve and national honor independent of whether the leader has issued an explicit threat, and (4) authoritarian targets of democratic threats do not perceive audience costs dynamics in the same way that audience costs theorists do. We found domestic audience costs as secondary mechanisms in a few cases where the public already had hawkish preferences before any threats were made.

The Cost of Empty Threats: A Penny, Not a Pound

Why are some regions prone to war while others remain at peace? What conditions cause regions to move from peace to war and vice versa? This book offers a novel theoretical explanation for the differences and transitions between war and peace. The author distinguishes between 'hot' and 'cold' outcomes, depending on intensity of the war or the peace, and then uses three key concepts (state, nation, and the international system) to argue that it is the specific balance between states and nations in different regions that determines the hot or warm outcomes: the lower the balance, the higher the war proneness of the region, while the higher the balance, the warmer the peace. The theory of regional war and peace developed in this book is examined through case-studies of the post-1945 Middle East, the Balkans and South America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and post-1945 Western Europe.

States, Nations, and the Great Powers: The Sources of Regional War and Peace

Acknowledgements Rapprochement Isolationism and Appeasement The Second World War: the Anglo-American Alliance The Cold War: Educating the Americans The Cold War: Global Strategy One Among a Number of Allies Mutual Interdependence The European Dimension The Atlantic Preference Conclusions Notes Select Bibliography Index

Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century

Asad of Syria: the struggle for the Middle East

The Origins of the Cold War in the Near East: Great Power Conflict and Diplomacy in Iran, Turkey, and Greece

Based on the recently released documents in the Public Record Office, London, this article is concerned with examining the reasons behind the shift in the British approach towards decolonization in Africa signalled by Macmillan's ‘wind of change’ speech to the South African parliament on 3 February 1960. The documents suggest that the British decision to abdicate in Africa was partly due to international considerations, and to Cold War politics and the need to prevent Soviet penetration in Africa. The change from ‘multi-racialism’ to ‘non-racialism’ can be attributed to the influence of the commonwealth relations office under Lord Home, and an initiative from the leader of the Africa Capricorn society, David Stirling. The emphasis on the need for Britain to pursue the same policy in all of Africa can also be traced to the commonwealth relations office. Macmillan, himself was influenced by the ‘moral’ aspect, by the policies pursued by the Belgians in the Congo, but above all by the failure of French policy in Algeria.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0018246X00019506

Ritchie Ovendale

Papers

Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century

Asad of Syria: the struggle for the Middle East

The Origins of the Cold War in the Near East: Great Power Conflict and Diplomacy in Iran, Turkey, and Greece

Macmillan and the wind of change in Africa, 1957–1960*

The English-speaking alliance : Britain, the United States, the Dominions, and the cold war, 1945-1951