Description

People Count! rests on a single but important premise: As the world shrinks and becomes ever more complex, so have people—as “networked individuals”—become ever more central to the course of events. The age of the nation-state has yielded to the age of the individual, and no one is better qualified than distinguished scholar James N. Rosenau to track this shift in prose that sings. Here he investigates the myriad ways in which “people count” in global politics. Tracing developments in globalization, demography, and the skills revolution, Rosenau profiles 17 different groups and shows how and why they matter on the world scene. Along the way, he tells the fascinating back stories behind the roles that people play: Who the terrorists are, why soldiers fight, how citizens and immigrants compare, what connects the networkers, where travelers feel at home, and when the here and now takes a back seat to another world. This book seeks to depict a new era by analyzing the basic roles people occupy in their family, community, and society, including the wider world.

The groups that Rosenau examines include:

• Teachers and Scholars
• Citizens
• Immigrants
• Hybrids and Cosmopolitans
• Travelers
• Activists
• Terrorists
• Soldiers
• Workers
• Business Executives
• Public Officials
• Consumers
• Networkers
• Journalists and Bloggers
• Worshippers
• Students
• “Marginals”—The Poor, the Elderly, and Others on the Periphery
• Generations
• Classes
• Artists

Author Info

James N. Rosenau is University Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is author of numerous books on global affairs including the brilliant precursor to People Count!, Distant Proximities: Dynamics beyond Globalization (Princeton University Press 2003).

Reviews

“For five decades Jim Rosenau has made scholars and students look at international relations in new and creative ways. In the compelling and accessible People Count!, he continues to do so, reorienting our thinking about IR to the micro-level–where individuals ‘shape and are shaped by the macro organizations to which they belong.’”
--Harvey Starr, University of South Carolina

“People Count is a welcome addition to the small but rapidly growing scholarly and instructional literature that aims to put people back into world politics.”
--Mary Ann Tetreault, Trinity University

“Read People Count! to find out how individuals and groups steer the big processes in international relations. A master scholar, Rosenau has written one of his best books. Truly a landmark work!”
—James H. Mittelman, American University