International relations since 1989 covers the main trends in world affairs since the end of the Cold War.

China's economy saw continuous real annual GDP growth 5% to 10% since 1991, by far the highest rate in the world. Starting poor, it became rich as a nation with dwindling pockets of poverty in remote rural areas. A very heavy migration of hundreds of millions of people moved from villages to cities to provide the labor force. In early 1992, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping made a series of political pronouncements designed to give new impetus to and reinvigorate the process of economic reform. The National Communist Party Congress backed up Deng's renewed push for market reforms, stating that the key task in the 1990s was to create a "socialist market economy". Continuity in the political system but bolder reform in the economic system were announced as the hallmarks of the 10-year development plan. Deng's government spent heavily to improve the infrastructure of highways, subways, railways, airports, bridges, dams, aqueducts and other public works. China became the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter. Major problems worsened such as pollution and income inequality. By 2020, the government of dictator Xi Jinping was shifting from manufacturing to consumer services and high technology. Planners hoped the resulting growth, though less rapid, would be more sustainable.^[2][3]

The Belt and Road Initiative is China's dramatic plan for helping and directing economic development in 70 poor nations of Asia and Africa. It launched in 2013 and focused on massive construction projects involving ocean ports, office buildings, railroads, highways, airports, dams, and tunnels.^{[4] [5]}

The unification of rich West Germany with poor East Germany in the 1990s was an expensive proposition. The German economic miracle petered out in the 1990s, so that by the end of the century and the early 2000s it was ridiculed as "the sick man of Europe." It suffered a short recession in 2003. The economic growth rate was a very low 1.2% annually from 1988 to 2005. Unemployment, especially in the eastern districts, remained stubbornly high despite heavy stimulus spending. It rose from 9.2% in 1998 to 11.1% in 2009. The worldwide Great Recession of 2008-2010 worsened conditions briefly, as there was a sharp decline in GDP. However unemployment did not rise, and recovery was faster than almost anywhere else. Prosperity was pulled along by exports that reached a record of $1.7 trillion US dollars in 2011, or half of the German GDP, or nearly 8% of all of the exports in the world. While the rest of the European Community struggled with financial issues, Germany took a conservative position based on an extraordinarily strong economy after 2010. The labor market proved flexible, and the export industries were attuned to world demand.^[6][7]

According to German scholar Peter Rudolph in 2020:^[8]

• The Sino-American conflict syndrome contains several elements. It is based on a regional status competition, which is increasingly becoming global.
• This competition for influence has become combined with an ideological antagonism that has recently become more focused on the US side.
• Since the United States and China perceive each other as potential mili­tary adversaries and plan their operations accordingly, the security dilemma also shapes their relationship.
• The strategic rivalry is particularly pronounced on China’s maritime pe­riphery, dominated by military threat perceptions and the US expectation that China intends to establish an exclusive sphere of influence in East Asia.
• Global competition for influence is closely interwoven with the techno­logical dimension of American-Chinese rivalry. It is about dominance in the digital age.

• The risk for international politics is that the intensifying strategic rivalry between the two states condenses into a structural world conflict. This could trigger de-globalization and the emergence of two orders, one under the predominant influence of the United States and the other under China’s influence.

For additional overviews see Westad (2019) ^[9] and Mark (2012).^[10]

The 21st century has been marked by growing economic globalization and integration, with consequent increased risk to interlinked economies, as exemplified by the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s.^[11] This period has also seen the expansion of communications with mobile phones and the Internet, which have caused fundamental societal changes in business, politics, and how individuals networked along common interests and sought information.

Worldwide competition for resources has risen due to growing populations and industrialization, especially in India, China, and Brazil. The increased demands are contributing to increased environmental degradation and to global warming.

International tensions were heightened in connection with the efforts of some nuclear-armed states to induce North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, and to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.^[12]

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic became the first pandemic in the 21st century to substantially disrupt global trading and cause recessions in the global economy.^[13]

The 1990s saw a dramatic advance in technology, with the World Wide Web.^[14] A combination of factors, including the continued mass mobilization of capital markets through neo-liberalism, the thawing and sudden end of the Cold War after four decades of fear, the beginning of the widespread proliferation of new media such as the Internet and email, and increasing skepticism towards government. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a realignment and reconsolidation of economic and political power across the world and within countries. The dot-com bubble of 1997–2000 brought wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash between 2000 and 2001.^[15][16]Robert Robert, and Jacob Weisberg. In an uncertain world: tough choices from Wall Street to Washington (2015).</ref>

New ethnic conflicts emerged in Africa, the Balkans, producing the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides. Signs of any resolution of tensions between Israel and the Arab world remained elusive despite the progress of the Oslo Accords. On a peaceful note The Troubles in Northern Ireland came to a standstill in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement after 30 years of violence.

The early part of the decade saw the long-time predicted breakthrough of economic giant China, which had double-digit growth during nearly the whole decade. To a lesser extent, India also benefited from an economic boom, which saw the two most populous countries becoming an increasingly dominant economic force. The rapid catching-up of emerging economies with developed countries sparked some protectionist tensions during the period and was partly responsible for an increase in energy and food prices at the end of the decade. The economic developments in the latter third of the decade were dominated by a worldwide economic downturn, which started with the crisis in housing and credit in the United States in late 2007 and led to the bankruptcy of major banks and other financial institutions. The outbreak of this global financial crisis sparked a global recession, beginning in the United States and affecting most of the industrialized world.

The growth of the Internet contributed to globalization during the decade, which allowed faster communication among people around the world. social networking sites arose as a new way for people to stay in touch no matter where they were, as long as they had an internet connection. The first social networking sites were Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, established in 2002 to 2006. Myspace was the most popular social networking website until June 2009, when Facebook overtook it. E-mail continued to be popular throughout the decade and began to replace paper-based "snail mail" as the primary way of sending letters and other messages to people in distant locations.

The War on Terror and War in Afghanistan began after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The International Criminal Court was formed in 2002. In 2003, a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq, and the Iraq War led to the end of Saddam Hussein's rule as Iraqi President and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq. Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist militant groups performed terrorist acts throughout the decade. The Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since World War II, ended in July 2003. Further wars that ended included the Algerian Civil War, the Angolan Civil War, the Sierra Leone Civil War, the Second Liberian Civil War, the Nepalese Civil War, and the Sri Lankan Civil War. Wars that began included the conflict in the Niger Delta, the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, and the Mexican Drug War.

Climate change and global warming became common concerns in the 2000s. Prediction tools made significant progress during the decade, UN-sponsored organizations such as the IPCC gained influence, and studies such as the Stern report influenced public support for paying the political and economic costs of countering climate change. The global temperature kept climbing during the decade. In December 2009, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the 2000s may have been the warmest decade since records began in 1850, with four of the five warmest years since 1850 having occurred in this decade. The WMO's findings were later echoed by the NASA and the NOAA.

The decade began amid a global financial crisis and subsequent international recession dating from 2007. The resulting European sovereign-debt crisis became more pronounced early in the decade and continued to affect the possibility of a global economic recovery. Economic issues, such as austerity, inflation, and an increase in commodity prices, led to unrest in many countries, including the 15-M and Occupy movements. Unrest in some countries—particularly Arab Spring in the Arab world—evolved into revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain as well as civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Shifting social norms saw a growth of LGBT rights and female representation.^[17]

The United States continued to retain its global superpower. The emerging competitor was China, with its vast economic initiatives and military reforms. China sought to expand its influence in the South China Sea and in Africa, solidifying its position as an emerging global superpower. The worldwide competition between China and the U.S. coalesced into a "containment" effort and a trade war.

Elsewhere in Asia, the two Koreas improved their relations after a prolonged crisis. The War on Terror continued as Osama bin Laden was assassinated by U.S. forces. The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist organisation in 2014 erased the borders between Syria and Iraq, resulting in a multinational intervention that also saw the demise of its leader. In Africa, South Sudan broke away from Sudan, and mass protests and various coups d'état saw longtime strongmen deposed. In the US, Donald Trump became president. He called for "America First," reduced ties to NATO and other allies, and started a trade war with China. He was defeated for reelection in 2020, and Washington resumed its traditional ties.

The European Union experienced a migrant crisis in the middle of the decade and the historic United Kingdom EU membership referendum followed by withdrawal negotiations during its later years. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia asserted itself in international affairs annexing Crimea in 2014 and engaging in conflict in Ukraine and Georgia. Putin also suppressed dissent inside Russia.

Information technology progressed, with smartphones becoming widespread. The Internet of things saw substantial growth during the 2010s due to advancements in wireless networking devices, mobile telephony, and cloud computing. Advancements in data processing and the rollout of 4G broadband allowed data and information to disperse among domains at paces never before seen while online resources such as social media facilitated phenomena such as the Me Too movement and the rise of slacktivism, woke culture and online call-out culture. Online nonprofit organisation WikiLeaks gained international attention for publishing classified information on topics including Guantánamo Bay, Syria, the Afghan and Iraq wars, and United States diplomacy. Edward Snowden blew the whistle on global surveillance, raising awareness on the role governments and private entities have in mass surveillance and information privacy.

Before COVID hit in 2020, economic conditions were faltering. The UN reported:

World gross product growth slipped to 2.3 per cent in 2019—the lowest rate since the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. This slowdown is occurring alongside growing discontent with the social and environmental quality of economic growth, amid pervasive inequalities and the deepening climate crisis.^[18]

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic quickly spread to over 200 countries and territories in the world. The pandemic caused severe global economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. It led to the postponement or cancellation of sporting, religious, political and cultural events, widespread supply shortages exacerbated by panic buying, and decreased emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Numerous countries implemented mandatory lockdowns on public movement, and there have been more than 140 million cases, resulting in more than 3 million deaths. Ten countries that have reported the most confirmed cases are Brazil, Columbia, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.^[19]

Since World War II, barriers to international trade have been considerably lowered through international agreements – GATT. The Washington Consensus of 1989 set out best practices according to major world agencies. Particular initiatives carried out as a result of GATT and the World Trade Organization (WTO), for which GATT is the foundation, have included:

• Promotion of free trade:
  • Elimination of tariffs; creation of free trade zones with small or no tariffs
  • Reduced transportation costs, especially resulting from development of containerization for ocean shipping.
  • Reduction or elimination of capital controls
  • Reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local businesses
  • Creation of subsidies for global corporations
  • Harmonization of intellectual property laws across the majority of states, with more restrictions
  • Supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents granted by China would be recognized in the United States)

Cultural globalization, driven by communication technology and the worldwide marketing of Western cultural industries, was understood at first as a process of homogenization, as the global domination of American culture at the expense of traditional diversity. However, a contrasting trend soon became evident in the emergence of movements protesting against globalization and giving new momentum to the defense of local uniqueness, individuality, and identity.^[20]

The Uruguay Round (1986 to 1994)^[21] led to a treaty to create the WTO to mediate trade disputes and set up a uniform platform of trading. Other bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, including sections of Europe's Maastricht Treaty and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have also been signed in pursuit of the goal of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade.

World exports rose to 16.2% in 2001 from 8.5% in 1970, of total gross world product.^[22]

In the 1990s, the growth of low cost communication networks allowed work done using a computer to be moved to low wage locations for many job types. This included accounting, software development, and engineering design.

In late 2000s, most of the industrialized world entered into a deep recession.^[23] After 2001 there was a global rise in prices in commodities and housing, marking an end to the commodities recession of 1980–2000. The US mortgage-backed securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world and a broad based credit boom fed a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities. The financial situation was also affected by a sharp increase in oil and food prices. The collapse of the American housing bubble caused the values of securities tied to mortgages to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions.^[24][25] The late-2000s recession, a severe economic recession which began in the United States in 2007,^[26] was sparked by the outbreak of a modern financial crisis.^[27] The modern financial crisis was linked to earlier lending practices by financial institutions and the trend of securitization of American real estate mortgages.^[28] The emergence of Sub-prime loan losses exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices.^[29]

The downturn quickly spread to most of the industrialized world, and caused a pronounced deceleration of economic activity. The global recession occurred in an economic environment characterized by various imbalances. It caused a sharp drop in international trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. The recession renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas on how to combat recessionary conditions. However, various industrial countries continued to undertake austerity policies to cut deficits, reduced spending, as opposed to following Keynesian theories which called for increased spending to bolster demand.

From late 2009 European sovereign-debt crisis, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning rising government debt levels across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of government debt of certain European states. Concerns intensified early 2010 and thereafter making it difficult or impossible for sovereigns to re-finance their debts. On 9 May 2010, Europe's Finance Ministers approved a rescue package worth €750 billion aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to combat the European sovereign debt crisis. In October 2011 eurozone leaders agreed on another package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies. The three most affected countries, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, collectively account for six percent of eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP). In 2012, Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on a second €130-billion Greek bailout. In 2013, the European Union agreed to a €10 billion economic bailout for Cyprus.

Following the end of the Cold War, the European Economic Community pushed for closer integration, co-operation in foreign and home affairs, and started to increase its membership into the neutral and former communist countries. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union, succeeding the EEC and furthering political co-operation. The neutral countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the EU, and those that didn't join were tied into the EU's economic market via the European Economic Area. These countries also entered the Schengen Agreement which lifted border controls between member states.The Maastricht Treaty created a single currency for most EU members. The euro was created in 1999 and replaced all previous currencies in participating states in 2002. The most notable exception to the currency union, or eurozone, was the United Kingdom, which also did not sign the Schengen Agreement.^[30]

EU did not participate in the Yugoslav Wars, and was divided on supporting the United States in the 2003–2011 Iraq War. NATO has been part of the war in Afghanistan, but at a much lower level of involvement than the United States.

In 2004, the EU gained 10 new members. (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which had been part of the Soviet Union; Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, five former-communist countries; Malta, and the divided island of Cyprus.) These were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. Russia's regime had interpreted these expansions as violations against NATO's promise to not expand "one inch to the east" in 1990.^[31] Russia engaged in a number of bilateral disputes about gas supplies with Belarus and Ukraine which endangered gas supplies to Europe. Russia also engaged in a minor war with Georgia in 2008.^[32]

Supported by the United States and some European countries, Kosovo's government unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008.

Public opinion in the EU turned against enlargement, partially due to what was seen as over-eager expansion including Turkey gaining candidate status. The European Constitution was rejected in France and the Netherlands, and then (as the Treaty of Lisbon) in Ireland, although a second vote passed in Ireland in 2009.

The financial crisis of 2007–08 affected Europe, and government responded with austerity measures. Limited financial capability of the smaller EU nations (most notably Greece) to handle their debts led to social unrest, government liquidation, and financial insolvency. In May 2010, the German parliament agreed to loan 22.4 billion euros to Greece over three years, with the stipulation that Greece follow strict austerity measures. See European sovereign-debt crisis.

Beginning in 2014, Ukraine has been in a state of revolution and unrest with two breakaway regions (Donetsk and Lugansk) attempting to join Russia as full federal subjects. (See War in Donbass.) On 16 March, a referendum was held in Crimea leading to the de facto secession of Crimea and its largely internationally unrecognized annexation to the Russian Federation as the Republic of Crimea.^[33]

In June 2016, in a referendum in the United Kingdom on the country's membership in the European Union, 52% of voters voted to leave the EU, leading to the complex Brexit separation process and negotiations, which led to political and economic changes for both the UK and the remaining European Union countries. The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.^[34]

The European Union went through several crises. The European debt crisis caused severe economic problems to several eurozone member states, most severely Greece.^[35] The 2015 migration crisis led to several million people entering the EU illegally in a short period of time. Many died at sea.^[36] Growing cynicism and distrust of the established parties led to a sharp rise in the 2014 European Parliament Elections in the vote shares of several eurosceptic parties, including the League in Italy, Alternative for Germany, and the Finns Party in Finland.^[37]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Islamic militancy in pursuit of religious and political goals increased,^{[citation needed]} many militants drawing inspiration from Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.^[38] In the 1990s, well-known violent acts that targeted civilians were the World Trade Center bombing by Islamic terrorists on February 26, 1993, the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995, and the bombing of Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building in April 1995. Religion was a main factor in most cases. Single issue terrorism was use by organized pressure groups of violent action, as in Anti-abortion terrorism and Environmental terrorism.

Hezbollah ("Party of God") is an Islamist movement and political party founded in Lebanon in 1985 to achieve an Islamic revolution in Lebanon and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. It carried out missile attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli targets.^[39]

Egyptian Islamic Jihad seeks an Islamic state in Egypt. The group was formed in 1980 as an umbrella organization for militant student groups which were formed after the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence. In 1981, it assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. On November 17, 1997, at the Luxor massacre, it machine-gunned 58 Japanese and European vacationers and four Egyptians.^[40]

The first Palestinian suicide attack took place in 1989. In the 1990s Hamas became well known for suicide bombings.^[41] Palestinian militant organizations have been responsible for rocket attacks on Israel, IED attacks, shootings, and stabbings.^[42]

Aum Shinrikyo, now known as Aleph, was a Japanese religious group using botulin toxin and anthrax spores.^[43] On June 28, 1994, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas from several sites in Matsumoto, Japan, killing eight and injuring 200 in what became known as the Matsumoto incident.^[43] On March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas in a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters and damaging the health of about 5,000 others^[44] in what became known as the subway sarin incident. In May 1995, Asahara and other senior leaders were arrested and the group's membership rapidly decreased.

Chechen separatists, led by Shamil Basayev, carried out several attacks on Russian targets between 1994 and 2006.^[45] In the June 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, Basayev-led separatists took over 1,000 civilians hostage in a hospital in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk. When Russian special forces attempted to free the hostages, 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed.^[46]

By far the biggest episode was the September 11, 2001, attack on New York and Washington by al Qaeda. Elsewhere the Middle East was the main locale for terrorism.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, four airliners were hijacked by 19 members of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. One struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; with a second striking the South Tower, resulting in the collapse of both 110 story skyscrapers, and the destruction of the World Trade Center. The third hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) outside Washington. The 9/11 attack was the single deadliest international terrorist incident and the most devastating foreign attack on American soil since the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. declared war on terrorism, beginning with an attack on al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters in Afghanistan, that lasted into 2021.^[47]

Other major episodes include the 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege, the 2003 Istanbul bombings, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, the 2005 London bombings, the 2005 New Delhi bombings, the 2007 Yazidi communities bombings, the 2008 Mumbai Hotel Siege, the 2009 Makombo massacre, the 2011 Norway attacks, the 2013 Iraq attacks, the 2014 Camp Speicher massacre, the 2014 Gamboru Ngala attack, the 2015 Paris attacks, the 2016 Karrada bombing, the 2016 Mosul massacre, the 2016 Hamam al-Alil massacre, the 2017 Mogadishu bombings and the 2017 Sinai attack.^[48]

In the 21st century, most victims of terrorist attacks have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan,^[49] Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, India, Somalia or Yemen.

Major wars from 1990 to 2002 include the Somali Civil War (ongoing) and the Second Congo War in Africa, the Yugoslav Wars in Europe, the Tajikistani Civil War in Asia, and the Cenepa War in South America. From 2003 onward they include War in Darfur; Iraq War; Kivu conflict in Congo; Libyan Civil War (2011); Syrian Civil War since 2011; Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017); the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2014; International military intervention against ISIL in Iraq since 2014; and Yemeni Civil War (2014–present).^[50][51]

The Northern Alliance and NATO-led ISAF invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and overthrew the Al-Qaeda-supportive Taliban government. Troops remained to install a democratic government, fight a slowly escalating insurgency, and to hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was killed by American troops 10 years later, on May 2, 2011. On December 24, 2014, NATO forces officially ended combat operations in Afghanistan; withdrawal has been announced for September 11, 2021.^[52]

• Contemporary history
• History of globalization
• History of terrorism
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
• List of modern conflicts in North Africa
• List of wars: 1990–2002
• List of wars: 2003–present
• Sino-Russian relations since 1991, China and Russia

• Adebajo, Adekeye, ed. Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War (Oxford UP, 2014).
• Allitt, Patrick N. America after the Cold War: The First 30 Years (2020).
• Andersson, Jenny. The future of the world: Futurology, futurists, and the struggle for the post cold war imagination (Oxford UP, 2018).
• Ahram, Ariel I. War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (John Wiley & Sons, 2020).
• Asare, Prince, and Richard Barfi. "The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Global Economy: Emphasis on Poverty Alleviation and Economic Growth." Economics 8.1 (2021): 32-43 online.
• Brands, Hal. Making the unipolar moment: U.S. foreign policy and the rise of the post-Cold War order (2016)
• Brügger, Niels, ed, Web25: Histories from the first 25 years of the world wide web (Peter Lang, 2017).

• Cameron, Fraser. US foreign policy after the cold war: global hegemon or reluctant sheriff? (Psychology Press, 2005).
• Cassani, Andrea, and Luca Tomini. Autocratization in post-cold war political regimes (Springer, 2018).
• Clapton, William ed. Risk and Hierarchy in International Society: Liberal Interventionism in the Post-Cold War Era (Palgrave Macmillan UK. 2014)
• Dai, Jinhua, and Lisa Rofel, eds. After the Post–Cold War: The Future of Chinese History (Duke UP, 2018).
• Duong, Thanh. Hegemonic globalisation: U.S. centrality and global strategy in the emerging world order (Routledge, 2017).
• The Economist. The World in 2020 (2019)
• The Economist. The Pocket World in 2021 (2020) excerpt

• Gertler, Mark, and Simon Gilchrist. "What happened: Financial factors in the great recession." Journal of Economic Perspectives 32.3 (2018): 3-30. online
• Harrison, Ewam. The Post-Cold War International System: Strategies, Institutions and Reflexivity (2004)
• Howe, Joshua P. Behind the curve: science and the politics of global warming (U of Washington Press, 2014).
• Jackson, Robert J. and Philip Towle. Temptations of Power: The United States in Global Politics after 9/11 (2007)
• Lamy, Steven L., et al. Introduction to global politics (4th ed. Oxford UP, 2017)

• Maull, Hanns W., ed. The rise and decline of the post-Cold War international order (Oxford UP, 2018).
• O'Neill, William. A Bubble in Time: America During the Interwar Years, 1989-2001 (2009) Excerpt, popular history

• Osterhammel, Jurgen, and Niels P. Petersson. Globalization: a short history. (2005).
• Ravenhill, John, ed. Global political economy (5th ed. Oxford UP, 2017) excerpt
• Reid-Henry, Simon. Empire of Democracy: The Remaking of the West Since the Cold War (2019) excerpt

• Rosenberg, Jerry M. (2012). The Concise Encyclopedia of The Great Recession 2007–2012 (2nd ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810883406.
• Rubin, Robert, and Jacob Weisberg. In an uncertain world: tough choices from Wall Street to Washington (2015).
• Rudolph, Peter. "The Sino-American World Conflict" (German Institute for International and Security Affairs. SWP Research Paper #3, February 2020). doi: 10.18449/2020RP03 online
• Sarotte, Mary Elise, ed. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe (Princeton UP, 2014).

• Schenk, Catherine R. International economic relations since 1945 (2nd ed. 2021).
• Smith, Rhona K.M. et al. International Human Rights (4th ed. 2018)
• Smith, Rhona KM. Texts and materials on international human rights (4th ed. Routledge, 2020).

• Stiglitz, Joseph E. The roaring nineties: A new history of the world's most prosperous decade (Norton, 2004), economic history
• Strong, Jason. The 2010s: Looking Back At A Dramatic Decade (2019) online
• Taylor-Gooby, Peter, Benjamin Leruth, and Heejung Chung, eds. After austerity: Welfare state transformation in Europe after the great recession (Oxford UP, 2017).
• Tooze, Adam (2018). Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. New York: Viking. ISBN 9780670024933.
• Tooze, Adam. Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy (2021).

• United Nations. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 (2020) online annual reports
• United Nations. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 - Retooling Global Development (2010) online

• Annual Register (London), covers international diplomatic, political and economic affairs for all nations; online through libraries