Introduction

This book interrogates the relationship between order/disorder in global affairs. We use a slash (/) to separate these two concepts exactly for the reasons writing stylists loathe it. As Garner complains, the slash is “unfit” for formal writing “because it is inherently ambiguous: its function may be conjunctive <secretary/treasurer> or disjunctive <a buy/sell decision>” (Garner, 2002, p. 50). We agree – but that is our point. Order and disorder, as our contributing authors make clear, may be conjunctive, disjunctive or possibly something in between. The slash, here, is not an “abomination” of style (Garner, 2002, p. 50); it is a precise illustration of the complexity of their conceptual interaction.