The International Affairs summer reading list 2023
It’s that time of the year! Book Reviews Editor Mariana Vieira shares her top ten books, recently reviewed in International Affairs, that will take you on a journey around the globe and into the past. Explore the selection below, covering topics from conflict-resolution to environmental and private diplomacy as well as the political role of resources, such as oil and grain. Whether your summer vacation looks like a city break, a paradisiac island or a mountain road trip, these titles will be worth the space in your suitcase or backpack.
1) Syria betrayed
Written by Alex J. Bellamy. Published in New York by Columbia University Press.
In his nineteenth book, Alex Bellamy devastatingly exposes the failure of the international community to protect Syrian civilians against mass atrocities in the unresolved civil war. Syria betrayed demonstrates how the shadow of past western interventions in the region looms large and has marginalized and depoliticized the Syrian regime’s deliberate use of violence. Examining the positions of different countries, Russia in particular, the United Nations and other international organizations, Bellamy shows how misguided assumptions and national priorities have led to multiple failed peace processes. In the words of our reviewer, the book ‘is undeniably an indictment of those in positions of power’.
Read the full review here.
2) The ideal river
Written by Joanne Yao. Published in Manchester by Manchester University Press.
Next up, we have the British International Studies Association’s 2023 First Book Prize winner, The ideal river. Armed with extensive archival research, Joanne Yao dives into the eighteenth and nineteenth century negotiations to govern three transboundary rivers. However, this is not just a historical account. Yao highlights the centrality of the relationship between society and nature, as well as the policy implications of downplaying the latter, especially as the impact of climate change fuels numerous future disputes over freshwater resources. An essential read for anyone interested in environmental politics, hydro-diplomacy and the emergence of the current international system.
Read the full review here.
3) Unravelling the crime-development nexus
Written by Jarrett Blaustein, Tom Chodor and Nathan W. Pino. Published in Lanham and London by Rowman & Littlefield.
Unraveling the crime-development nexus can accurately be judged by its title and beautiful cover. It provides a breath of fresh air, questioning the institutionalization of the global crime agenda at the United Nations and argues that the decades-long link between crime and development must be contextualized in the history of international capitalist development. The authors puts forward a powerful interdisciplinary critique of the depoliticized and technocratic framework that international society relies on today. The book leaves readers persuaded that a shift away from ‘crime’ towards ‘harm’, and from ‘development’ to ‘sustainability’, is vital.
Read the full review here.
4) Unofficial peace diplomacy
Written by Lior Lehrs. Published in Manchester by Manchester University Press.
This past March, the International Studies Association conference held a book roundtable featuring Susan H. Allen’s Interactive peacemaking and Lior Lerhs’s Unofficial peace diplomacy. Having reviewed the former earlier this year, it only made sense for International Affairs to also review the latter. Lerhs’s book turned out to be an inspirational, relevant and informative choice, exploring the transformative role of private individuals in peace negotiations. With a strong theoretical framework and detailed historical analysis, this refreshing account of how private actors such as journalists, activists and business leaders can contribute to conflict-resolution processes deserves serious attention.
Read the full review here.
5) Brazilian authoritarianism
Written by Lilia Moritz Schwarcz. Published in Oxford and Princeton by Princeton University Press.
At the beginning of July, the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court voted to ban former president Jair Bolsonaro from running for office in the next eight years for challenging democratic processes in the summer of 2022. Bolsonaro’s tactics were not enough to deliver a re-election, but was that the end of right-wing populism in Brazil? In the newly translated Brazilian authoritarianism, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz looks at the country’s long history of racism corruption, inequality, violence and gender issues, to contextualize its national fragile political environment. The result is a sharp critique of how Brazil often portrays itself as a open-minded and cohesive democracy, which the author complements with progressive recommendations for the future.
Read the full review here.
6) Oceans of grain
Written by Scott Reynolds Nelson. Published in New York by Basic Books.
Oceans of grain offers a transnational history of the role of this resource in bringing about the rise and fall of empires in Europe as well as its contribution to the outbreak of the First World War. Scott Reynolds Nelson’s expansive account combines academic rigour with an accessible and compelling narrative that highlights the strategic importance of controlling ports along the Black Sea, such as Odessa and Mariupol, which have been in the news headlines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Exploring the rise of the United States, and its ability to export cheap foreign grain to the European continent, the book cautiously reminds readers of how resource geopolitics have shaped global markets and paved the way for our techno-industrial world.
Read the full review here.
7) Banking on Beijing
Written by Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, Austin Strange and Michael J. Tierney. Published in Cambridge by Cambridge University Press.
This multi-authored book offers a powerful reminder of China’s ability to leverage its economic might in its diplomatic pursuits. Banking on Beijing paints a multidimensional picture of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), moving beyond Beijing’s commercial interests and examining China’s willingness to fund high-risk projects from a foreign policy perspective. The result is a nuanced and holistic account of the BRI’s reach, as well as its lending practices and implications for countries borrowing from and competing with China.
Read the full review here.
8) Violent resistance
Written by Corinna Jentzsch. Published in Cambridge by Cambridge University Press.
Violent resistance addresses an important gap in the existing state-centric literature on the formation of militias during civil wars. Corinna Jentzch dives into the efforts, conditions and motivations that prompt civilians and communities to form militias amid violent conflict and underscores the importance of military stalemates and absence of conflict among elites as driving factors. Jentzsch’s theoretically innovative argument is persuasively illustrated with the case-study of the emergence of the Naparama militia in the civil war that engulfed Mozambique from the 1970s to the 1990s. The book has implications for understanding violent conflict around the world, and it will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers alike.
Read the full review here.
9) Oil, the state, and war
Written by Emma Ashford. Published in Washington DC by Georgetown University Press.
In telling the story of the oil producers, Oil, the state, and war sets out to recentre the agency of petrostates and detail exactly how domestic oil production can impact foreign policy decision-making. Emma Ashford makes two contributions to the literature on domestic oil production and global politics. First, Ashford develops a clear framework that divides petrostates according to the share of their economy that relies on profits from oil sales. Second, the author provides a nuanced account of how different oil-rich states have demonstrated varying levels of belligerence over the last four decades. Although the book is aimed at US foreign-policy makers, international audiences will also benefit from its analysis.
Read the full review here.
10) Feminist conversations on peace
Edited by Sarah Smith and Keina Yoshida. Published in Bristol by Bristol University Press.
In Feminist conversations on peace, Sarah Smith and Keina Yoshida bring together over thirty contributors to interrogate feminist perspectives on conflict and compellingly challenge the foundations of research methodologies in International Relations. The volume includes a range of perspectives on numerous issues, including neo-liberal conceptions of peace, peacebuilding practices and feminist thinking in the academic ivory tower. Given the diversity of voices featured, the book will appeal to researchers with a theoretical interest and practitioners alike.
Read the full review here.
Mariana Vieira is the Book Reviews Editor of International Affairs.
Read the review section in our July 2023 issue in full here.
Find more suggestions from the IA Bookshelf series here.
If you are interested in reviewing a book for the journal, there are two ways to get in touch. Either register your interest in our book review application form here or follow us on social media where we post regular call outs for specific books and experts.
All views expressed are individual not institutional.
