The study of international relations has changed rapidly in recent years. Firstly as a consequence of major political and economic change – the end of the cold war and the fall of communism, the resurgence of nationalism, terrorism and forms of fundamentalism, globalization – and secondly, linked with these developments, because of the vitality of the discipline, with ongoing debates on the fundamental paradigms for the understanding of international relations and the emergence of the perspectives of feminism, postmodernism, constructivism and critical theory.

The Routledge Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics provides a unique reference source for students and academics covering all aspects of global international relations and the contemporary discipline across IR's major subject divisions of diplomacy, military affairs, international political economy, and theory. Written by a distinguished group of international scholars, the Encyclopedia is largely comprised of substantial entries of more than 1,000 words, with fifty major entries of 5,000 words on core contemporary topics. Each entry is fully cross-referenced and followed by a listing of complementary entries and a short bibliography for further reading. The whole is comprehensively indexed.

There is no other resource of its kind and the Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics will be an extremely valuable addition to all libraries supporting teaching and research in the social sciences.