Author: Cedric de Coning File Type: pdf The grouping consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) was initially meant to be nothing more than clever investment jargon referring to the largest and most attractive emerging economies. However, these countries identified with the BRIC concept, and started to meet annually as a group in 2008. At their fourth summit in 2011, they added South Africa to become the BRICS. By then the BRICS had fully morphed from investment jargon to a name for a new economic and political grouping that had the potential to challenge the unipolar hegemony of the United States and its Western allies. This work analyses the extent to which the concept of coexistence explains the individual foreign policies of the BRICS countries. The editors define coexistence as a strategy that promotes the establishment of a rule-based system for co-managing the global order. It recognizes that different states may legitimately pursue their own political and economic interests, but they have to do so within the bounds of a rule-based international system that ensures the peaceful coexistence of states. The BRICS and Coexistence addresses the political dimension of the emergence and influence of the BRICS in the international system and will be of interest to students and scholars of Politics, Development and International Relations. **Review As the 2014 Fortaleza Summit confirmed, the BRICS growing market power translates into geopolitical clout to restructure the global order into a more equitable, rules-based system that respects diversity. This book will be essential to understanding the BRICS as both a normative and a political project. Ramesh Thakur, Australian National University, Editor-in-Chief, Global Governance I enjoyed reading this well researched book which very succinctly explains the BRICS vision for a new world order as coexistence . The BRICS member states reject hegemony of the world system and will therefore attempt to be an important force for change and reform of the existing global institutions towards more democratic and equitable governance. The recent Agreement at the Sixth BRICS Summit for establishing the New Development Bank ( NDB ) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement ( CRA ) needs to be viewed through the framework of coexistence . I commend the authors and editors for their incisive work. Lt Gen P K Singh, PVSM,AVSM ( Retd ), Director, United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. About the Author Cedric de Coning (South Africa) heads the Peace Operations and Peacebuilding Research Group at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and he is also a Senior Advisor on Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding for the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). Cedric has a Ph.D. from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. Thomas Mandrup is an Assistant Professor at Royal Danish Defence College, Denmark, and an external lecturer at the Centre for African Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Liselotte Odgaard is an Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Defence College. Her most recent international positions was in 2007 when she was a visiting fellow at the Fairbank Center, Harvard University, and 2008-09, when she was a residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.

Author: J. R. Partington File Type: pdf For nearly 600 years, from the battles of the early fourteenth century to the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, firearms derived from gunpowder and other chemicals defined the frightful extent of war. The apparatus and materials used in World War I would have been familiar to our remote ancestors. In this classic work, first published in 1960, James Riddick Partington provides a worldwide survey of the evolution of incendiary devices, Greek fire, and gunpowder.Greek fire, a composition Partington believes was made of a distilled petroleum fraction and other ingredients (but not saltpetre), was most famously used in the sieges of Constantinople and the Crusades. Partington moves from its antecedentsother incendiaries used in ancient warfareto European gunpowder recipe books ( The Latin Book of Fire, Bellifortis, and Feuerwerkbuch) and the history of infernal machines, mines, canon, small arms, and artillery. His book includes chapters on gunpowder and weapons in Muslim lands, India, and Chinaincluding fire books, the use of gunpowder as a propellant, the artillery of the Mughal Emperors, and the use of saltpetre in explosives. He traces the development of gunpowder to eleventh-century China and cites the first known mention and picture of a firearm in 1326. The history of gunpowder and firearms has attracted many authors with varying interests. The general historian must take account of major inventions effecting revolutions in the life of nations. The historian of science is concerned mostly with the invention of gunpowder. The historian of technology examines the development in the manufacture of explosives and weapons, and the way in which gunpowder has found applications in the peaceful arts. The military historian deals mainly with the use of gunpowder as an explosive and a propellant... and the development of firearms and their use in warfare. No recent book in English (or for that matter in any language) has attempted a concise survey of the subject.from the PrefaceAmazon.com ReviewWarriors have used incendiary weapons from the earliest times. In this comprehensive study, English chemist and historian J.R. Partington traces their origins to Assyrian bas-reliefs from the 9th century, B.C., and even finds hints of them in the Old Testament (see Proverbs 2618, for instance). Firearms technology took a great leap forward with the advent of so-called Greek fire, used by the Byzantine fleet to defend Constantinople against Arab attackers in the 7th century, and then later versus the Crusaders. One of historys first secret weapons, Greek fire is poorly understood today. Contemporary accounts describe nozzles spouting a fiery liquid that would burn even on the surface of the sea. Experts have tried to determine the exact nature of the substance--the recipe has been lost--but without reaching any definitive conclusions. Partington offers his own theories about one of the great mysteries of premodern warfare. He also describes the advent of gunpowder, exploring the legend of supposed inventor Black Berthold (a mythic figure, says Parrington) and examining the development of firearms in Europe, the Middle East, and China. First published in 1960, A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder is a classic work on the development of military technology. A number of illustrations embellish the text, written in workmanlike prose that is at once scholarly and accessible to serious readers. --John J. MillerReviewThe story of the evolution of chemical explosives for 600 years... a must volume for any historian, military or civilian, interested in gunpowder.(Larry S. Strett Gun Week )Partingtons classic study reappears in this welcome reprint edition enhanced by an informed and useful introduction by Bert Hall. Halls appreciation of Partingtons work explains why we are in his debt and what we should beware of when consulting him.(Alex Roland Technology and Culture )