The concept of the "generation" is a popular staple in the media, from the "Greatest Generation" of US World War II veterans to the contemporary "Millennial" generation. Yet there has been remarkably little recent scholarly treatment of the concept, particularly from a comparative global perspective. This volume examines the role of generations as social units in the politics of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States, with topics ranging from the modern origins of the concept of generations in the thinking of Karl Mannheim to the role of generations in foreign policy, gender electoral dynamics, world values, diasporic mobilization, inter-generational conflict, and the origins of military doctrine.