'The grand simplifier of 'the West' perniciously pervades scholarship as often as the daily news. The editors of this book have performed a great service to all of us in theorizing this concept, examining its use and inquiring into its transformative potential. The complexity that the concept of the West blankets reminds the reader of Jacob Burckhardt's dictum: 'beware of the terrible simplifiers.' Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr Professor of International Studies, Cornell University