title: Holding the Line
abstract: The year 2014 saw challenges to the state system itself. Russia effectively annexed Crimea, while Russian nationalists in eastern Ukraine took up arms to achieve independence. The Islamic State suddenly vaulted to prominence as it seized huge swaths of territory, a move threatening to collapse Middle Eastern stability. Elsewhere, officials struggled to maintain their ambitious trade negotiations with European and Asian governments. Rather than turn to military force or confrontational rhetoric, 
journal: Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks