Contents: Preface. 1. Age of fear. 2. Who is a terrorist? Culture, fear and the roots of terror: 3. Clash of civilisations? no, of national interests and principles. 4. Hatred, harmony and the causes of terror. 5. The fear of Islam. 6. Terror in Southeast Asia: local or global? 7. Pakistan: riding the terrorist tiger. 8. South Asia: the many faces of terror. 9. Palestinians a 'terrorists'. America's fears and the fear of America: 10. Unipolar world, unilateral hegemon. 11. Dubya's dangerous, divisive doctrine. 12. Why a Second Gulf War is not in Asia's interest. 13. The war in Iraq: morality or the national interest? 14. Fear, power and empire. 15. Coalition of the willing or coalition of the coaxed and coerced? 16. Debating and Gulf War. 17. How will Mr. Bush run the world? 18. Coping with American power. Politics and principles in the age of fear: 19. Terrorism and democracy. 20. The retreat of history? 21. Fear and freedom in the Arab world. 22. Asia between America and Europe. 23. Asia's response to the Bush doctrine. 24. India from Nehru to Curzon. Epilogue: 25. When the war was (not) over. 26. The age of fear: a year after Iraq. 27. Postscript: ending the age of fear. References. Index.

"The new 'post-September 11 era' is an age of fear: international relations is now not just about power politics but also about fear politics. We live in a world where power is no longer an adequate guarantee against fear. In fact, power begets fear: the more powerful a nation is, the more fearful it becomes. This apparently contradictory combination, awesome power and unprecedented fear, is profoundly reshaping international security order. This book examines how this transformation came about, It looks at three kinds of fear; which define international politics today: fear of 'postmodern' terrorism, fear of American unilateralism, and fear of the state apparatus empowered by the war on terror. In so doing, the book offers a critical perspective on the war on terror, and the key issues and questions involved: such as the definition and sources of terrorism, trends in terrorism in South and Southeast Asia, the legitimacy of the war over Iraq and its implications for international security, the Bush doctrine of pre-emption and Asia's response to its, and the impact of the war on terror on democracy and human rights." (jacket)