Fully revised to incorporate recent developments, this fourth edition of Understanding Global Security analyses the variety of ways in which people's lives are threatened and/or secured in contemporary global politics. The traditional focus of Security Studies texts: war, deterrence and terrorism, are analysed alongside non-military security issues such as famine, crime, disease, disasters, environmental degradation and human rights abuses to provide a comprehensive survey of how and why people are killed in the contemporary world.

This new edition features:

Greater coverage of the evolving theoretical literature on security, including more analysis of critical theory perspectives and emerging schools of thought.

Reflections on recent developments in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

New data and cases on poverty, hunger and depression and greater analysis of the social and political implications of the prolonged period of stagnation the global economy has gone through.

New content reflecting the recent resurgence in populist nationalism evident in the election of Trump in the USA, the UK’s exit from the EU and the authoritarian turn taken in many countries.

Analysis of the 2015 Paris climate change treaty and the international responses to recent pandemics such as Ebola and Zika

A new section has been included on suicide, plugging a gap evident in the earlier editions.

User-friendly and easy to follow, this highly acclaimed and popular academic textbook is designed to make a complex subject accessible to all and will continue to be essential reading for everyone interested in security.