We live in an era of question-marks. We thought that we knew what was happening during the Cold War: but did we? We assume we are asking the right questions today: but are we? Is history at an end, or only at a beginning? Can we possibly know the future, when we are so divided about the meaning of the past? Are we justified in feeling so anxious about the twenty-first century, or is it merely end-of-millennial angst? Having survived the Cold War, why are governments so confused and seemingly unable to do a better job? What are we to think?

The chapters below attempt to give students of world affairs a range of ideas and information to help them think about such questions in relation to some of the major issues in international relations. They span the debate over the origins and nuclear lessons of the Cold War to philosophical speculation about the so-called human condition. I asked a group of influential and distinguished scholars to write short and accessible think-pieces on major themes, with minimal academic paraphenalia, and a high ratio of ideas and argument to descriptive detail. As such, I trust that these essays will be plundered by students and appreciated by general readers in their own attempts to understand the complex pressures which have shaped, and are shaping all our lives.

In the course of preparing this book I have incurred several debts.