Uses of 'the West' critically evaluates what 'the West' does, and how the idea is being used in everyday political practice.

1. Introduction: uses of 'the West' Benjamin Herborth and Gunther Hellmann; Part I. Theorizing 'the West': 2. Foreign policy identity crises and the uses of 'the West' Stefano Guzzini; 3. 'The West' versus other Western 'we's': a discourse analysis in reverse Ole Wæver; 4. Between polarization and appeasement: democracy and its 'other' Harald Müller; 5. After 'the clash': uses of 'the West' after the Cold War Patrick Thaddeus Jackson; Part II. 'The West' in Use: 6. Aesthetics, power and insecurity: self-interrogative imaging in 'the West' Brent Steele; 7. Everyday exceptions: the paradox of a perpetual state of emergency Benjamin Herborth; 8. Reconstituting the North Atlantic Alliance: a reconstruction of NATO's strategic discourse since 1949 Gabi Schlag; 9. Transatlantic policies towards China and Russia: self-conceptions and contradictions of a universalizing West Christian Weber; 10. Russia becoming Russia: a semi-periphery in splendid isolation Ted Hopf; Part III. Transformations of the Western Institutional Order: 11. Defending 'the West'? The transformation of national security in the European Union Gunther Hellmann; 12. How the 'end of the Cold War' ended Matthew Evangelista; 13. Conclusion: the ways of 'the West' and the road ahead Lene Hansen.