This book addresses the issue of grand strategic stability in the 21st century, and examines the role of the key centres of global power - US, EU, Russia, China and India - in managing contemporary strategic threats.

Graeme P. Herd is Co-Director of the International Training Course in Security Policy at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He has published several books, including Stuarts and Romanovs: The Rise and Fall of a Special Relationship (2009), The Ideological War on Terror: World Wide Strategies for Counter Terrorism (2007), Divided West: European Security and the Transatlantic Relationship (2006), Soft Security Threats and European Security (2005), Security Dynamics of the former Soviet Bloc (2003) and Russia and the Regions: Strength through Weakness (2003).

Part 1: Introduction 1. International Security, Great Powers and World Order Graeme P. Herd and Pàl Dunay Part 2: Strategic Threats: Nature and Evolution 2. Terrorism and Political Extremism Ekaterina Stepanova 3. Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Gustav Lindstrom 4. Regional Crisis, Conflict and Fragile States Caty Clément 5. How Energy and Climate Change may pose a Threat to Sustainable Security Tapani Vaahtoranta Part 3: Centres of Global Power: Strategic Priorities and Threat Management 6. The United States: Leadership Beyond Unipolarity? Matthew Rhodes 7. The Russian Federation: Striving for Multi-Polarity but Missing the Consequences Pavel K. Baev 8. China as an Emergent Center of Global Power Bates Gill 9. India's Eclectic Approach to Global Strategic Threats Siddharth Varadarajan 10. The European Union, Facing Non Traditional Threats in a Globalized World Thierry Tardy Part 4: Conclusions: Cooperation and Conflictual Imperatives 11. Great Powers, Strategic Threats and Uncharted Waters Graeme P. Herd