Chris Brown Understanding International Relations London, Palgrave, 2001
[A rare example of a very clear exposition of the links between international relations theory and practice.]

Chris Brown, Sovereignty, Rights and Justice: International Political Theory Today, Cambridge, Polity, 2002
[a rather more difficult but very worthwhile review of the major changes taking place in these vital areas of international relations]

David P. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2000
[An excellent overview of the international organisations that deal with human rights and the problems they deal with]

Hugh Miall, Oliver Ramsbottam and Tom Woodhouse, Contemporary Conflict Resolution, Cambridge, Polity, 2001
[An admirably clear and concise overview of regional and inter-state conflicts and ways of attempting to resolve them]

William Shawcross, Deliver Us From Evil: Warlords and Peacekeepers in a World Of Endless Conflict, London, Bloomsbury, 2000
[A bleak but very coherent view of conflicts in the post-Cold war world and the attempts of the United Nations to deal with them]

Paul Taylor and A.J.R. Groom, The United Nations at the Millennium, London, Continuum, 2000
[A comprehensive overview of the United Nations today by two masters of the subject]

Nicholas Wheeler, Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society, Oxford U.P., 2000
[An excellent overview of the problems involved in the spreading norm of 'humanitarian intervention']

David J. Whittaker, Conflict and Reconciliation in the Contemporary World, London, Routledge, 1999
[A very useful discussion on the nature of contemporary conflict and measures that have been tried to resolve them]

David J. Whittaker, The United Nations in the Contemporary World, London, Routledge, 1997
[A good overview of the United Nations difficult role in the Post Cold War period]

Andrew Williams Failed Imagination? New World Orders of the Twentieth Century, Manchester, Manchester University Press 1998
[A historical and theoretical overview of the rise of American power since 1918 and the 'New World Order' agenda that the United States has managed to get most the world to adopt]