If the current challenge to the U.S. and Europe of Iran's pursuit of nuclear power sounds all too familiar, get used to it, says a UC Davis political scientist in a new book that details the profoundly altered character of global politics.

In Renegade Regimes: Confronting Deviant Behavior in World Politics, Miroslav Nincic profiles the major shift in international relations in the past several years.

"Our foreseeable future will be pitting a preponderant portion of the global community against occasional, though significant, threats from 'outlaws,'" Nincic says. "We will be governed by the threats posed by this limited number of seemingly weak states."

He analyzes regime behavior in Iran, Syria, Libya and North Korea, determining that while "the common denominator of the agents of such threats is that they are weak by most conventional standards," they also violate major rules of international conduct. The most important are:

• pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, "a quest that, while always broadly criticized, has become particularly incompatible with international norms since the end of the Cold War";
• support of or active engagement in terrorism;
• vast assault on human rights with externally harmful consequences; and
• outright territorial aggression.

Nincic says a regime's efforts to legitimize itself with its own people undergirds the reason that these regimes defy commonly accepted conduct espoused by the global community, "or at least by those who have asserted a credible right to speak for it."

The renegade regimes capitalize on their people's beliefs that a grievous wrong has been committed against their nationalist, religious or ideological values.

"Intense outrage surrounds the injured values, its defenders are virtuous, its enemies evil, and emotions are not structured by dry and dubious facts," Nincic says.

In his examination of how the international powers have dealt with these troublemakers, Nincic concludes, "The threats they pose notwithstanding, coercive methods of dealing with renegade regimes rarely are productive." His book examines more effective alternatives.