Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction... to the undead -- The zombie literature -- Defining a zombie -- Distracting debates about flesh-eating ghouls -- The Realpolitik of the living dead -- Regulating the undead in a liberal world order -- Neoconservatism and the Axis of Evil dead -- The social construction of zombies -- Domestic politics : are all zombie politics local? -- Bureaucratic policies : the "pulling and hauling" of zombies -- We're only human : psychological responses to the undead -- Conclusion... or so you think.

What would happen to international politics if the dead rose from the grave and started to eat the living? Exploring the plots of popular zombie films, songs, and books, this title predicts realistic scenarios for the political stage in the face of a zombie threat and considers how valid - or how rotten - such scenarios might be.