Includes bibliographical references (pages 549-571) and index.
TABLE OF CONTENTS -- The global context of international relations at the beginning of the twentieth century -- The Thirty Years' War -- Germany's bid for European dominance -- The peace of Paris and the New International Order -- The Western world in the twenties: the era of illusions -- The Western world in the thirties: the illusions dispelled -- Germany's second bid for European dominance -- The confirmation of United States supremacy in Latin America -- The confirmation of Japan's supremacy in East Asia -- The Cold War between the superpowers -- The formation of the bipolar world in the Truman-Stalin era -- Coexistance and confrontation -- Detente and multipolarity -- The rise of China and the Cold War in Asia -- The resurgence of East-West tension -- Latin America's quest for development and independence -- Africa: from independence to dependency -- The Far East: the road to the new co-prosperity sphere -- From Cold War to new world disorder -- Moscow, Washington, and the end of the Soviet empire -- The resurrection of the European idea -- Asia at the crossroads -- Africa on its own: ethnicity, autocracy, and underdevelopment -- The Middle East: progress toward regional reconciliation -- Latin America: democracy, free markets, and regional stability -- A new multilateralism?