Another American Century? (Updated Edition)

The United States and the World since 9/11

Nicholas Guyatt

Another America Century? is a sweeping and penetrating study of the United States since the end of the Cold War. Nicholas Guyatt reveals the economic, diplomatic and military dimensions of American foreign policy and investigates what Americans say and believe about their relationship with the rest of the world. A major new chapter discusses September 11th, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the motives and ideas behind America’s “war on terror.” A powerful analysis [that]… (more information)

Creating Criminals

Prisons and People in a Market Society

Vivien Stern

Everywhere, the market society is producing more crime. More acts are being defined as crimes. More people are classified as criminals and more are being locked up in prison. With globalization, the crime and punishment problem is no longer insulated from pressures beyond national borders. The rich may retreat behind their expensive security into gated communities, but the poor are more and more at the mercy of criminals and corrupt policing. Vivien Stern argues that the trends towards more criminalization… (more information)

Food for All

The Need for a New Agriculture

John Madeley

What kind of agriculture do we need to feed the world? World leaders have come up with yet another target–to half, not end, hunger by the year 2015. How is this to be achieved when other such targets were ignored? And what about animal diseases like BSE, foot and mouth disease and salmonella; declining food variety and quality; and disappearing topsoil, hedgerows and biodiversity in rural areas? Better acces to land and more equitable income distribution are part of the solution. The other… (more information)

Free Trade

Myth, Reality and Alternatives

Graham Dunkley

There are many ideas for alternative ways of organizing world trade and increasing the development chances for poor countries. Free Trade explains the case for free trade; the critiques; and how free trade policies work in practice. It introduces powerful and increasingly high profile new ideas for greater self-reliance and alternative development. Readers can see how it is possible to create economic policies that really address poverty and inequality, and that also take into account the environment… (more information)

Global Intelligence

The World’s Secret Services Today

Jonathan Bloch, Paul Todd

The Cold War has long gone. Now the “War on Terror” is upon us. What are the secret services—the CIA, the KGB, MI5, Mossad, Boss, Savak, Dina—doing these days? Global Intelligence explains how the war on terrorism has altered the context for the murky world of secret services and intelligence agencies. The CIA and other U.S. agencies, the FSB (successor to the KGB) in Russia, Western Europe’s secret services, Mossad in Israel, and the diverse security services in developing… (more information)

Globalization

Tame It or Scrap It?

Greg Buckman

Greg Buckman discusses the two main approaches within the anti-globalization movement. The ‘Fair Trade and Back to Breton Woods’ school argues for immediate reforms of the world’s trading system, capital markets and global institutions, notably the World Bank, IMF and WTO. The ‘Localization’ school, takes a more root and branch position and argues for the abolition of these institutions and the outright reversal of globalization. Buckman explains the details of each… (more information)

Hungry for Trade

Does Trade Help or Hinder Food Security?

John Madeley

The WTO agreement on Agriculture will be reviewed beginning in the year 2000. This begs some basic questions: Will free trade in food help or hinder the ability of hundreds of millions of poor people who are currently malnourished? Or will it chiefly benefit transnational corporations? Will free trade help huge numbers of small farmers find new markets in the North? Or will it in fact eliminate them even from the marketplace in their own countries as cheap, subsidized food from the North floods… (more information)

Islam and Jihad

Prejudice Versus Reality

A G Noorani

This short and accessible rebuts the misconceptions about Islam articulated by many European intellectuals down the centuries. For non-Muslims these still obstruct a clear understanding of both the nature of Islam and the history of Christian/Muslim interactions. Th eauthor demonstrates the very recent politically motivated abd theologically dubious nature of the assertions of so-called Islamic fundamentalist movements. He contrasts them with sociall y progressive Muslim thinkers who have sought… (more information)

Oil

Politics, Poverty and the Planet

Toby Shelley

Access to oil and natural gas, and their prices, have been axes of geo-political and economic strategy for a century. This book gives readers all they need to understand the shifting structure of the global oil and gas economy-where the reserves lie, who produces what, trade patterns, consumption trends, prices. It highlights the domestic inequality, civil conflict and widespread poverty that dependence on oil exports inflicts on developing countries and the strategies of wealthy countries (especially… (more information)

Protect or Plunder?

Understanding Intellectual Property Rights

Vandana Shiva

Intellectual property rights, TRIPS, patents–they sound technical, even boring. Yet what kinds of ideas, technologies, identification of genes, even manipulations of life forms can be owned and exploited for profit by giant corporations is a vital issue for our times. Vandana Shiva shows how the Western-inspired and unprecedented widening of the concept of intellectual property does not stimulate human creativity and the generation of knowledge. Instead, it is being exploited by transnational… (more information)

Rethinking Globalization

Critical Issues and Policy Choices

Martin Khor

Not pessimism, but optimism in action. What can Third World governments do in the face of the globalization juggernaut? Martin Khor sets out practical proposals for action nationally and internationally to shape globalization. His book explains the economic globalization process; shows how globalization is failing to reduce poverty; criticises the West for dominating international policy; exposes the flaws in ‘one size fits all’ policy prescriptions; argues that the South must be given… (more information)

Sex Traffic

Prostitution, Crime and Exploitation

Paola Monzini

The trafficking of women and girls for prostitution is big business. This book focuses on the experiences of migrant women and girls who have very little choice or control over their lives. In the context of neo-liberal globalization, they are the new ‘slaves’ of the contemporary era. The annual worth of this global industry is now estimated to be approximately $7 billion, making it particularly attractive to organized crime networks. Women are forced to compete for work in conditions… (more information)

The Development Myth

The Non-Viable Economies of the 21st Century

Oswaldo de Rivero

Be intellectually honest and politically realistic about what is happening to the majority of people in Third World countries. With a very few exceptions, development has not come. Nor is it going to. The necessary investment will not be available. Modern technology cannot provide the jobs. And the environment cannot take the strain. Most countries are not in the process of becoming Newly Industrialized Countries, but Non-viable National Economies.What then is to be done? The wealth of nations agenda… (more information)

The Water Business

Corporations Versus People

Ann-Christin Sjolander Holland

Privatization of water supplies began in England in 1989 under Margaret Thatcher; in the next 10 years, nearly £10 billion went in profits to the new water companies. Today, two giant corporations, Veolia and Suez, control 80% of the international private water market and have some 300 million customers. Protests have broken out in country after country and the water giants are switching to new markets in China, North America and Europe. Meanwhile well over a billion people still lack access… (more information)

Water Under Threat

Larbi Bouguerra

This richly documented book asks the major questions about the enormously important political and geostrategic issue of water. Does water have a price? Is it a right or a need? Is there a water crisis? Will wars be fought over water? Should we be worried about water pollution? Can available technological solutions keep pollution under control? It also provides some elements of an answer. It shows the ways in which water is used and managed, and raises central issues about our lifestyles, our ethics… (more information)