Intelligence And Statecraft: The Use And Limits Of Intelligence In International Society

Intelligence has never been a more important factor in international affairs than it is today. Since the end of the Second World War, vast intelligence bureaucracies have emerged to play an increasingly important role in the making of national policy within all major states. One of the biggest problems within the contemporary thinking about intelligence and international relations is a lack of historical context. Observers routinely comment on the challenges facing intelligence communities without reflecting on the historical forces that have shaped these communities over the past two centuries. As presented in this volume, new perspectives on the evolution of intelligence services and intelligence practice over the past 200 years can only enrich ongoing debates over how best to reform national intelligence structures.

Peter Jackson is Senior Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He has published widely in the fields of intelligence and security studies, French strategy and diplomacy and the origins of the Second World War. His most recent publication is Understanding Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century.

Jennifer Siegel is Assistant Professor of History at Ohio State University. She specializes in modern European diplomatic and military history, with a focus on the British and Russian Empires. She is author ofEndgame: Britain, Russia and the Final Struggle for Central Asia, winner of the 2003 AAASS Barbara Jelavich Prize.