Losing Control Global Security in the Twenty-first Century by Paul Rogers (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2002. 2d. ed., 184 pages.)

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 ...