Welcome to Development in Practice

 

‘Provides excellent analytical material at the cutting edge, in language that is jargon-free and accessible to a wide audience.’
Shahra Razavi, Research Coordinator on Gender and Social Development, UNRISD, Geneva

This page highlights a small selection of the publications received by the Reviews Editor. Entries are largely based on information provided by the publisher and are organised alphabetically by author according to the year in which the book was received - usually in the same year as publication.

The listing of Books Received in 2008 was last updated on 18 June 2008.

The Book Buys page lists the websites of publishers whose titles are featured below, as well as many other publishers of resources on development and humanitarianism in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Full-length critical reviews from the journal are available on the Book Reviews page.

BOOKS RECEIVED IN 2008

Adebajo, Adekeye and Helen Scanlon (eds.)
A Dialogue of the Deaf: Essays On Africa and The United Nations
Auckland Park South Africa: Fanele, 2006, ISBN: 978-1-770099-263-1, 298pp.
The contributors to this book probe such questions as, what is said about Africa and Africans behind closed doors at the UN; how does the rest of the workd benefit from Africa’s indebtedness?; was the deposition of Aristide directly linked to his request for repatriation of the $612 million paid to the French in reparation for the Haitian slave uprising?; why does an entire continent not have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council?, What really happened in Rwanda?; Will there ever be effective UN reform?. There are no simple solutions to such difficult questions but the collected essays by African academics and international public servants provide a probing beginning

Alikhan, Fatima, Peter Kyei, Emma Mawdsley, Gina Porter, Saraswati Raju, Janet Townsend, and Rameswari Varma
NGOs and the State in the Twenty-First Century: Ghana and India
Oxford: INTRAC, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-897748-90-9, 193pp.
This book reviews the changing patterns of aid. As more donor government aid has been directed to Southern governments, southern NGOs in their turn have become more dependent on contracts with their governments to continue their work. Through interviews with politicians, civil servants and NGO staff in Ghana and India the authors present their findings through case studies and a comparative analysis. The book is aimed at donors, politicians, civil servants, NGOs, academics, and general readers concerned with effective development.

Aradau, Claudia</> Rethinking Trafficking in Women:Politics out of Security
Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, ISBN:978-0-230-57331-4, 225pp.
This book explores the complex relationship between security, subjectivity, and politics. in relation to trafficked women. The author argues that security practices reproduce a politics of unfreedom and inequality. Politics out of security, on the contrary, is formulated around universality, equality. and freedom. In the situation of trafficking, the equality and universality of work disrupt the specification of difference and of particularised subjectivity upon which security practices rely. Aradau emphasises that the reduction of politics to security limits struggles for equality and freedom and entrenches divisions and boundaries in the world.

Bebbington, Anthony J, Samuel Hickey, Diana C Mitlin (eds.)
Can NGOs Make a Difference?:The Challenge of Development Alternatives
London/New York: Zed Books, 2007, ISBN: 9781842778937, 358pp.
The book brings together leading individuals from academics, NGOs, and social movements with a range of case-study materials to assist thinking about development alternatives and practical suggestions for NGOs. It suggests there is a need for better analysis of the contemporary problems of uneven development and a clear understanding of the types of alliances NGOs need to build with other actors in civil society if they are to mount a credible challenge to the disempowering processes of economic, social and political development.

Bemelmans-Videc, Jeremy Londsdale and Burt Perrin, (eds.)
Making Accountability Work:Dilemmas for Evaluation and for Audit Comparative Policy Evaluation, Vol.14
New Brunswick, NJ/London: Transaction Publishers, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-7658-0399-3,272pp.
This book looks at the role of evaluation and audit as key elements in the processes of democratic accountability. The authors explore the apparent paradox of there being ever more accountability-related activities while much public debate laments what is seen as a lack of actual accountability. The volume includes detailed case studies and synthesises current research evidence drawn from very different governmental systems, ending with practical advice for those involved in the accountability processes. The book is aimed at people who think about trends in the use of evaluation and audit in seeking to hold governments accountable for their actions and performance.

Carmody, Padraig
Neoliberalism, Civil Society and Security in Africa
Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-230-52159-9, 347pp.
This book explores why free-market policies continue to be implemented given their past failures. Focusing on Ethiopia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe the author traces the impacts of these policies on human and state security. The 1980s and 1990s saw Africa marginalised by the process of globalisation, but since 9/11 the continent has become central in global oil and security politics and is now an important site of US and Chinese competition.

Carswell, Grace
Cultivating Success in Uganda: Kigezi Farmers and Colonial Policies
This book, published by the British Institute in Eastern Africa in association with James Currey, Fountain Publishers, and Ohio University Press , raises questions about how results and outcomes are evaluated and provides reflections on notions of ‘success’ in colonial and contemporary development policy. The first part of the book examines colonial attempts in Kigezi, in south-western Uganda, to introduce ‘cash crops’, soil conservation practices, a resettlement scheme, and land tenure reforms. The dominant themes concerns the enduring character of smallholder farming conducted in the context of wider economic possibilities. The second part of the book examines broader changes in Kigezi, revisiting colonial research. This case study illustrates that the usual assumptions about population pressure and environmental change need to be questioned. It pushes the debate forward exploring how the political economy of land and labour has been transformed alongside a more positive environmental account.

Cheney, Kirsten, E
Child Citizens and Ugandan National Development
Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2007, ISBN: 0-226-10248-3, 299pp.
In this ethnology of Ugandan children the author explores the daily contradictions children face as they try to find their place in the country’s rapidly changing social conditions.

Chufrin, Gennady and Mark Hong
Russia-ASEAN Relations: New Directions
Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2007, ISBN: 978-981-230-736-1, 142pp.
In an era of great changes and much uncertainty, such as the revival of an active Russia, a USA mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising China and India, as well as Japan moving towards normalisation, ASEAN needs to monitor great power trends and thinking. This book provides insights into various issues high on the regional agenda. The rise of China is closely observed in three chapters. Three authors provide perspectives on Russia-ASEAN relations. Energy issues are scrutinised, while the ongoing efforts to build an East Asian Community are analysed. At a time when Russia has an active profile in Southeast Asia with arms sales to Indonesia and nuclear technology assistance to Myanmar, this book offers insights into its relations with ASEAN, building on an earlier volume published by ISEAS.

Copson, Raymond W
The United States in Africa:Bush Policy and Beyond
London/New York: Zed Books, Capte Town: David Philip, 2007, ISBN: 978 1 84277 915 6, 168pp.
A volume in the African Arguments series of short books on Africa aimed at the growing number of students and general readers who want to know more about the continent. The author questions the rhetoric of the Bush Administration’s claims to be fighting disease, promoting development, fostering democracy, and promoting peace. Though aid has increaded and a major AIDS initiative has been launched, Copson argues that US policy in Africa falls short of meeting reasonable standards of fairness or justice. He consluces by assessing the prospects of a more equitable policy emerging in future (US) administrations.

Dalton, Dave</> Building National Campaigns:Activists, Alliances, and How Change Happens
Oxford:Oxfam, 2007, ISBN:978-0-85598-574-5, 103pp.
For many organisations, campaigning is a new type of activity and few have had the opportunity to help each other build capacity to campaign. This book draws on Oxfam International’s experience in supporting national labour-rights campaigning initiatives at local and national level. Five campaigns in Colombia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka. and the USA are described and analysed.

De Haan, Arjan
Reclaiming Social Policy: Globalization, Social Exclusion and New Poverty Reduction Strategies
Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 9780230007819, 223pp.
This book argues that international development should be more forceful in supporting the capacity for public policy formulation and implementation. The author brings together development theory and practice, and provides a major contribution to recent studies on social policy in a development context. Departing from a rights-approach, the book calls for grounding public policies in a conception of the state’s responsibility to allow people to develop their capabilities. It provides a practical guide to assessing social policy frameworks, regarding access, quality, relevance, and participation.

Ellen, Roy (ed.)
Modern Crises And Traditional Strategies: Local Ecological Knowledge In Island Southeast Asia
New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-1-84545-312-1, 272pp.
The 1990s have seen a growing interest in the role of local ecological knowledge in the context of sustainable development, and particularly in providing a set of responses to which populations may resort in times of political, economic and environmental instability. The period 1996-2003 in island southeast Asia represents a critical test for understanding how this might work. The key issues to be explored in the book are the creation, erosion and transmission of ecological knowledge, and hybridisation between traditional and scientifically-based knowledge, amongst populations facing environmental stress (eg 1997 El Nino), political conflict and economic hazards. The book also evaluates positive examples of how traditional knowledge has enabled local populations to cope with these kinds of insecurity.

Fox, Jonathan, Libby Haight, Helena Hofbauer and Tania Sanchez Andrade (eds.)
Mexico’s Right -to-Know Reforms: Civil Society Perspectives
Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2007, ISBN: 1-933549-23-8,347pp.
The public’s right to access to information about their governments is increasingly recognised as fundamental to democracy. In 2002 very diverse civil society and political forces in Mexico came together to launch a transparency reform that gave Mexican citizens institutional tools to put the ’right to know’ into practice. The book amalgamates a wide range of civil society and academic perspectives on lessons learned from actual exercise of newly-won information rights.

Galperin, Hernan and Judith Mariscal (eds.)
Digital Poverty:Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives
Rugby,UK/Ottowa CA:Practical Action/IDRC, 2007, ISBN:978-1-85339-663-2, 161pp.
This is the first publication of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI), a regional network of leading researchers concerned with disseminating knowledge that supports the participation of marginalized communities using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The book examines the problem of inadequate access to ICT and the need to develop appropriate pro-poor ICT policies within the Latin American and Caribbean context. The authors show how market reforms have failed to ensure that the benefits of the Information Society have spread across the many social and economic divides in the region.

Giuliani, Alessandra</> Developing Markets for Agrobiodiversity: Securing Livelihoods in Dryland Areas
London/Sterling,VA: Earthscan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84407-468-6, 126pp.
Maize,potatoes, rice and wheat provide more than 90 percent of the world’s food. Old varieties of these crops are disappearing with the push for more uniformity in food products. This in turn affects less obvious elements, such as insects that play a role in pollinating plants or controlling pests and the soil organisms that help plants extract nutrients from the soil. Also, farmers need a broad base of agrobiodiversity to be able to respond and adapt to environmental changes and to improve their production. This is especially important in the face of climate change and changing economic and political pressures. This book, from Biodiversity International describes a study conducted in Syria of how communities are developing markets for local products derived from neglected and underutilised plants. Based on concrete case studies, the data and process documented in this book show the potential of biodiversity to make a significant contribution to livelihood security in communities that inhabit difficult environments with unique resources. The study also highlights the importance of local cultural knowledge and institutions in sustainable development of biodiversity markets.

Guest, Greg and Kathleen M. MacQueen
Handbook for Team-Based Qualitative Research
Lanham/New York/Toronto/Plymouth UK: Altamira Press, 2008, ISBN: 9780759109117, 292pp.
The authors are anthropologists and health practitioners with extensive experience in collaborative research. The transition away from the lone ethnographer approach to collaborative and inter-institutional research creates new challenges for research designs. The authors build on an initial definition of team-based research using examples from American and international studies, to show how a team-based method affects project preparation and design, data analysis, and the integrity of research findings.

Haynes, Jeffrey
Development Studies: Polity Short Introductions Series
Cambridge/Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2008, ISBN: 978-07456-3848-5, 237 pp.
After the Second World War, scholars and practitioners sought to study the causes of poverty and so-called ‘underdevelopment’ in a more systematic and sustained way. The substance of contemporary development studies focuses mainly on poverty reduction and improving ‘human development’. The author adopts a chronological and conceptual approach to introduce students to the central themes and theoretical perspectives in the study of development. In particular, he examines the emergence and consolidation of development theory and explores the internal and external factors that influence development in poorer regions of the world. He also examines issues affecting the success of development such as globalisation, conflict, the environment, gender, and human rights.

Henriques, Adrian
Corporate Truth: The Limits of Transparency
London: Earthscan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84407-390-0, 184pp.
With the competing interests of shareholders, corporate boards, government regulators and other stakeholders delivering transparency is no easy job. From commercial confidentiality and the ethics of marketing to lobbying and corporate corruption, the author addresses the position, significance and limits of transparency in modern corporate life, working through the dilemmas presented by the increasing calls for transparency. From the secrets of the boardroom to the struggles of NGOs, transparency is a persistent challenge. How much is enough, How much is needed? How do companies actually report on their impacts? Of interest to accounting standard setters, corporate lawyers and NGO activists alike.

Hoeppe, Götz
Conversations On The Beech: Fishermen’s Knowledge, Metaphor and Environmental Change in South India
Volume 2 in the series Studies in Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology, this book explores the environmental knowledge of the fisherfolk of South India (Kerala). The actions of trawlers and industrial fishing ships have caused the resources on which they depend to dwindle rapidly. Local perceptions of the environment are deeply enmeshed with notions of morality, the self and people’s understanding of their place in society. Overfishing is one of several environmental issues that bring into focus parallel knowledges, giving rise to contradictory views of what the problems are, whether changes are good or bad, and how they are to be remedied. As the fisherfolk confront the state, a discourse develops on what is innate to the environment, or ‘natural’, and on what its malleability entails.

Isin, Engin F and Greg M Nielsen (eds.)
Acts of Citizenship London and New York: Zed Books, 2008, ISBN: 9781842779521, 308pp.
This book introduces the concept of ‘act of citizenship’ and in doing so, re-orients the study of what it means to be a citizen. The authors show that ‘an act of citizenship’ is the event through which subjects constitute themselves as citizens. The study draws on new developments in politics, sociology, geography and anthropology as well as psychoanalysis, philosophy and history. It provides new insights for those concerned with the relationship between individuals, groups, and politics.

James, Rick and John Hailey
Capacity Building For NGOs: Making it Work
Praxis Series No.2
Oxford: INTRAC, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-905240-16-6, 103pp.
This book explores the theory and practice of capacity building. It is aimed at anyone interested in capacity building with NGOs and other civil society organisations. It demystifies some of the conceptual confusion, provides an overview of trends, and highlights elements of good practice. It also seeks to address why capacity-building interventions commonly fail to meet expectations, suggesting some ways forward.

Mahony, Liam
Proactive Presence: Field Strategies for Civilian Protection
Geneva: Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, ISBN:- , 160pp.
This manual is intended to help the international community make better and greater use of a tool for protecting civilians: the conscious and proactive use of unarmed international field missions deployed to conflict zones. It is based on detailed field research analysing the strengths and weaknesses of past field missions. The objective is to encourage and guide international organisations that might deploy personnel mandated to protect civilians. The Manual offers detailed strategic and tactical recommendations. It is based on many interviews and an analysis of nine separate missions covering a range of institutional mandates.

Maynard, Kent (ed)
Medical Identities: Healing, Well-Being and Personhood
New York/Oxford:Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84545-100-4, 162pp.
Volume 2 in the series ‘ Social Identities’, these essays look at how a variety of health providers are perceived – from traditional healers to physicians, from diviners to nursing home providers. The authors ask how healers, or those concerned with wider matters of well-being, view themselves and to what degree social attitudes differ in regard to who these people are, as well as their power, prestige and activities. The essays demonstrate how class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity or state policy may all play formative roles in shaping the definition of health and well-being, how the services are delivered, and the character and prestige of those who provide for our health and welfare in society.

Mbongo Endeley, Joyce B, and Fondo Sikod
The Social Impact Of The Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline: How Industrial Develoment Affects Gender Relations, Land Tenure, and Local Culture
Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, ISBN:978-0-7734-5485-9, 217pp.
This volume is based on a multi-disciplinary study carried out by the authors of the impacts of the pipeline, which involved some 700 people in 27 of the rural communities through which the pipeline passes in Cameroon. From its inception the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline has been a controversial endeavour. The authors provide insights into the perspectives of local people affected as well as for implementers of future projects, large or small, private, public or NGO-driven.

McGillivray, Mark
Human Well-Being: Concept and Measurement
Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan in association with the United Nations University, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-230-00498-6, 308pp.
Human well-being is a core global issue. Achieving and sustaining higher levels of well-being is a challenge for individual citizens, governments and international organisation world-wide. Measures of human well-being levels are an integral part of this process, being used increasingly to monitor and evaluate conditions within and among countries. Not only has the number of indicators of human well-being increased considerably in recent years, but demand that they capture more fully progress in the various dimensions of human well-being. This book provides insights into how human well-being might be better measured, by understanding conceptual and empirical research into the assessment of achieved human well-being. It does this by taking stock of and reviewing various concepts and measures and providing recommendations for future practice and research.

Ocampo, Jose Antonio, Jomo K. S. and Rob Vos (eds.)
Growth Divergences: Explaining Differences in Economic Performance
London and New York: Zed Books in Association with Orient Longman and Third World Network, and United Nations, 2007, ISBN:978 1 8422 881 4 , 369pp.
The last 30 years have been characterised by a paradox of greater international economic integration as well as divergent economic growth performance. The growing North-South gap of the last two centuries has been moderated by the better economic performance of China, India, and others in East Asia, implying the expansion of the ‘middle income’ category. This volume seeks to explain these major differences in economic performance in recent decades.

Powell, Benjamin (ed.)
Making Poor Nations Rich: Entrepreneurship and the Process of Economic Development
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press in association with The Independent Institute, 2008, ISBN: 987-0-8047-5732-4, 452pp.
Why do some nations get richer while others remain poor? What prevents development in some resource-rich countries while others thrive on very little? Why do some robust economies collapse? Often proposals to reduce poverty involve expanded restrictions on individuals’ freedom to innovate, trade, and build enterprises that improve their lives. This collection of essays questions this orthodoxy.

Robinson, Warren C, John A Ross (eds.)
The Global Family Planning Revolution: Three Decades of Population Policies and Programs
Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007, ISBN:978-0-8213-6951-7, 470pp.
The upsurge in population growth rates in developing countries at the end of World War II gained force during the next decade. From the 1950s to 1970s, scholars and advocacy groups publicised the trend and drew pessimistic conclusions about the economic and ecological implications. Private educational and philanthropic organisations, governments, and international organisations joined in the effort to reduce fertility. Three decades on this movement has seen changes beyond the expectations of those involved, with global stabilisation expected in the 21st century. The editors document the last decades and draw lessons for current and future initiatives of the international community, providing guidance for emerging health-related policy objectives and responses to global challenges.

Rogers, Peter P, Kazi F Jalal and John A Boyd
An Introduction to Sustainable Development
London/Sterling VA: Earthscan, 2008,ISBN: 978-1-84407-520-1, 416pp.
This comprehensive textbook on sustainable development has been developed with students and professionals from around the world and is aimed at those who need a thorough grounding in the subject. Coverage includes: background to sustainable development and global environmental issues; measurement and sustainability indicators; environmental assessment, management and policy; approaches and linkages to poverty reduction; impacts and infrastructure development; economics, consumption, production and market failures; governance; participation; disaster management; international financial institutions; international environmental agreements; and the role of civil society.

Samarasinghe, Vidyamali
Female Sex Trafficking in Asia: The Resilience of Patriarchy in a Changing World
New York/London: Routledge, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-415-29668-7, 234pp.
Trafficking of women and girls for purposes of sexual exploitation across the globe is widely acknowledged as a leading criminal activity. Women of poor countries of are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking. This book identifies the patterns, causes and consequences of female sex trafficking in Nepal, Cambodia and the Philippines. Using empirical evidence this book illustrates the commonalities and the differences among the different countries and recommends that serious attention should be paid to location- specific dimensions of sex trafficking in designing anti- sex trafficking strategies.

Schultz, Bud and Ruth Schultz
We Will Be Heard: Voices in the Struggle for Constitutional Rights Past and Present
London/New York: Merrell, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-8589-4441-8, 232pp.
Freedom of expression and freedom of association are two fundamental democratic rights that have often been denied to those whose beliefs challenge the status quo. For more than 25 years the authors have interviewed and photographed advocates of democracy in the USA. The volume brings together over 90 first-hand accounts of ordinary people targeted for speaking out against government policies and actions. They are witness to the fact that the violation of basic rights reaches far beyond the well-known figures of dissent, into the lives of large numbers of people across the USA who in some way challenged the Establishment.

Shanmugaratnam, N (ed.)
Between War And Peace In Sudan And Sri Lanka
Oxford/Hollywood, CA: James Currey and African Academic Press, 2008, ISBN: 978-184701-102-2, 194pp.
Sudan and Sri Lanka have both experienced protracted internal wars, the consequences of which have been devastating for human and livelihood security and overall development. Each intra-state conflict has its distinct historical, political, economic, and cultural characteristics, yet there are parallels between the two countries in which post-colonial state formation has become mired in prolonged anti-state armed conflict. The book looks at conflict resolution, peace preparation, people’s perceptions of the impact of conflict on their lives, war-induced grievances, relief, vulnerability, poverty, livelihood revival, and social mobility and development.

Colin Shindler
A History Of Modern Israel
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN:9780521850285, 371pp.
This book traces Israel’s history over sixty years. He provides insights into Israel’s multicultural society, forged from over 100 different Jewish communities and united by a common history. Despite these commonalities, Israel in this century is riven by ideological disputes and different interpretations of ‘Jewishness’ and Judaism. He provides biographical portraits of Ben Gurion (Israel’s first prime minister), Yitsak Rabin and Ariel Sharon.

Simpson, Ruth and Patricia Lewis
Voice, Visibility and the Gendering of Organizations
Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-403-99057-0,105pp.
Such questions as: How do dominant groups maintain their power through the silencing of other voices? How does being (in) visible confer power on individuals and groups in organizations? Are examined as well as how gender is linked to organizations and accounts for differences in the experiences of men and women in the world of work. The concepts of voice and visibility are two interrelated concepts around which the book is structured. The book is aimed at upper level undergraduate and Master’s level modules on Gender and Organizations and Gender and Management, as well as being of interest to academics and researchers.

Talmon-Chvaicer, Maya
The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-292-71724-4, 237pp.
Capoeira, a Brazilian battle dance and national sport, has become popular all over the world. First brought to Brazil by African slaves and first documented in the eighteenth century, capoeira has undergone many transformations as it has diffused throughout Brazilian society and beyond. The book offers an in-depth study of the development and meaning of capoeira, starting with the African cultures in which it originated, up to the present day. The author analyses the outlooks on life, symbols, and rituals of the three major cultures that inspired capoeira - the Congolese (today known as Congo-Angola) , the Yoruban, and the Catholic Portuguese cultures. The book presents a dual perspective depicting capoeira as it was experienced, observed and understood by both Europeans and Africans, as well as by their descendants. This dual perspective uncovers many hidden aspects of capoeira that have been repressed by the dominant Brazilian culture.

Terry, Geraldine
Women’s Rights
London, Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2007, ISBN: 978 0 7453 2348 0, 201pp.
Part of the Oxfam Small Guides to Big Issues Series, this book aims to expose the systematic discrimination of women and girls globally – be it in education, access to public services, in reaping the benefits from trade, and elsewhere. The book also explores violence against women and looks at how HIV and AIDS in Africa is linked to the denial of women’s rights. There are also positive examples of women acting to transform inequalities and oppression by asserting their rights. The author argues that promoting women’s rights is not only a moral issue but also an effective way to pursue poverty reduction goals worldwide.

Titley, Gavan and Alana Lentin (eds.)
The Politics Of Diversity In Europe
Strasbourg:Council of Europe Publishing, 2008, ISBN: 978-92-871-6171-0, 198pp.
‘Diversity’ has become a key term in contemporary social politics, and is often used as both a description of complex social realities and a normative prescription for how those realities should be valued. The collection of essays have been developed from a research seminar ‘Diversity, Human Rights and Participation’ organised by the Partnership on Youth between the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The studies embedded in 10 different national contexts track dimensions of ‘diversity’ in education, social services, jurisprudence, parliamentary proceedings and employment initiatives, assessing their significance for the social actors who must negotiate these frameworks in their daily existence.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and United Nations Development Programme
The Challenges of Restoring Governance in Crisis and Post-Conflict Countries: 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government, Building Trust in Government 26-29 June 2007
Vienna, Austria, New York: United Nations, ISBN: 978-92-1-123162-5,152pp.
This book assesses the challenges of restoring governance and building trust in government in post-conflict countries, where international organisations must often take the lead in mobilising resources and providing technical assistance. The book was written as a background document for the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government.

United Nations – Economic and Social Affairs
Towards Participatory and Transparent Governance: Reinventing Government
New York: United Nations, 2007,ISBN:978-92-1-123165-6,105pp.
The publication is based on a selection of workshop findings from the 6th Global Forum on Reinventing Government. It explores the prospects and challenges on the path ‘Towards Participatory and Transparent Governance’. It focuses on public service ethics and trust in government; governance-oriented innovations to enhance state capacity; access to services for all through participation and accountability; e-government as a tool for participation and transparency; auditing for social change; representative democracy, participatory methods and capacity; development for responsible politics; corporate governance, market economy and accountability; decentralisation and local autonomy for participatory democracy.

World Bank
A Guide To The World Bank (second Edition)
Washington DC: IBRD/World Bank, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-8213-6694-3, 247pp.
This completely revised and updated second edition provides an accessible and straightforward overview of the World Bank Group’s history, organization, mission, and purpose. It provides guidance to readers on sources containing more detailed information, including annual reports, Web sites, publications, and e-mail addresses for various departments. It also provides information on how to work for or do business with the World Bank.

Xiaoquan Zhang, Heather, Bin Wu and Richard Sanders (eds.)
Marginalisation in China: Perspectives on Transition and Globalisation
Aldershot/Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-7546-4427-9, 266pp.
Economic transition in China has witnessed (re)centralisation of resources from the margin to the core in economic, social and political senses. Bringing together a wide range of domestic and international experts and disciplinary perspectives, the book combines empirical research and conceptual analysis. It contributes to the debate over marginalisation and its interactions with globalisation and transition in China. It has significance for various domestic and international policy arenas in respect of tackling marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion effectively, while striving for the achievement of the UN Millenium Development Goals in China and beyond.

BOOKS RECEIVED IN 2007

Adesina, J. O., Yao Graham and Adebayo Olukoshi
Africa and Development: Challenges in the New Millenium
Dakar/London and New York/Pretoria: CODESRIA/Zed Books/UNISA Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84277-595-0, 288pp.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was launched in late 2001 by Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. Its founding assumptions were that African governments had to be more self-critical of their own performance, and to take more responsibility for their own policies. On this basis, a new, more fruitful relationship with the West was to be built. This book is the first significant attempt by Africa’s own scholarly community to unpack NEPAD and evaluate its practical potential. It raises key questions about market economy, poverty, gender and regional development, and examines NEPAD’s implications for agriculture, industrialisation, trade, the digital divide, and the financial of future development.

Barron, Tanya and Penny Amerena
Disability and Inclusive Development
London, Leonard Cheshire International, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-9551613-7-7,186pp.
This book is aimed generally at all involved in international development as well as those specifically involved in disability. The book provides an introduction to inclusive development and an overview of different models of working with disabled people rounding up with ideas for practical application.

Bebbington, Anthony and Willy McCourt (eds.)
Development Success: Statecraft in the South
Basingstoke/New York:2007, ISBN: 978-0-230-00821-2, 275pp.
Contrary to many books on development outcomes this book examines some successes. It tries to understand how development policies have managed to survive regime changes and advanced human and social development. The various case studies of social, economic and political governance policies from Latin America, Africa, and Asia are used to examine the circumstances in which governments and societies produce policies that overcome initial opposition and meet their aims.

Boserup, Ester
Woman’s Role in Economic Development
London, Sterling VA, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84407-392-4, 271pp.
This classic text was first published in 1970. It was the first investigation undertaken into what happens to women in the process of economic and social growth throughout the developing world. It Thus serves as an international benchmark and it continues to be a fundamental text for all with an interest in women’s social and economic situation and wider problems. This volume comes with a substantial new introduction by Nazneen Kanji, Su Fei and Camilla Toulmin which reflects on Boserup’s legacy and the continuing relevance of her work.

Bourne, Mike
Arming Conflict: The Proliferation of Small Arms
Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 9780230019331, 277pp.
In this volume in the Global Issues Series Mike Bourne puts the spotlight on small arms and light weapons, which are the primary weapons of most armed conflicts. It is calculated that they are responsible for approximately half a million deaths per year. International responses have been shaped by the view that they are abundantly available and easily accessible to all on a global illicit market.This book argues that the arming of conflict is complexly structured and highly dynamic. It uncovers and describes the construction and interaction of structures and dynamics at global and regional levels, which shape the arming patterns of both state and non-state actors.

Broadman, Harry G.,
Africa’s Silk Road: China and India’s New Economic Frontier
Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-6835-0, 391pp.
China and India’s interest in trade and investment with Africa – home to 300 million of world’s poorest people - presents an important opportunity for growth and integration of the sub-Saharan continent into the global economy. This new South-South commerce with Africa is about far more than natural resources, opening the way for Africa to become a processor of commodities and a competitive supplier of goods and services to these countries – a major departure from long established relationships with the North. An increasing number of Chinese and Indian businesses active in Africa operate on a global scale, work with world-class technologies, produce high-quality products and services, and foster the integration of African businesses into advanced markets. The author points to significant imbalances in these emerging commercial relationships, which may be addressed through a series of reforms in all concerned countries.

Brown, Oli, Mark Halle, Sonia Peña Moreno and Sebastian Winkler
Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development
London/Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2007, ISBN-13 9788-1-84407-419-8, 204pp.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, all resonate loudly on the international stage. They  expose and illustrate the intractable links between global security, war and conflict, and the control over natural resources – be they oil, water, timber or ‘conflict diamonds’ – and the deployment of aid money and the manipulation of international trade policies.  This volume is written by leading authorities from across the globe and introduces the linkages between trade, aid and security, and exposes how inappropriate or misused trade and aid policy can and do undermine security and contribute to violence and the disintegration of nation states. On a practical level they demonstrate how six key areas of trade and aid policy can be used to help forge stability and security, reduce the likelihood of armed conflict and assist economic and political recovery in our war torn world.

Chomitz, Kenneth M.
A World Bank Policy Research Report: At Loggerheads? Agricultural Expansion, Poverty Reduction  and Environment in the Tropical Forests
Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006, ISBN-10: 0-8213-6735-8/ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-6735-3, 230pp.
This book seeks to describe ways to reconcile pressures for agricultural expansion in the tropics with the urgent needs for both forest conservation and poverty alleviation. It diagnoses the causes and impacts of forest loss and the reasons for the association of forests with poverty.  It looks at how policies act simultaneously on deforestation and poverty, creating tradeoffs or complementarities, depending on the situation. The report brings to the fore problems that impede adoption of favourable policies, describing institutional and technological innovations that might help to overcome these impediments.

Conflict and Security in the Developing World
Abingdon: Routledge, 2006, ISBN: 0-415-39893-2, 204pp.
This volume brings together Adelphi Papers numbers 166 and 167, originally presented at the annual conference of the International Institute for Strategic Studies at Stresa in 1980; and Adelphi Paper number 251, by Yezid Sayigh, first published in 1990. The first two include contributions on the international implications of Third World conflict and military requirements to protect oil supplies. Sayigh’s paper considers security in developing countries.

De Sousa Santos, Boaventura (ed.)
Another Knowledge  Is Possible: Beyond Northern Epistemologies
London/New York: Verso, 2007, ISBN-13: 978-1-84467-117-5/ISBN-10: 1-84467-117-8, 447pp.
This volume (third in the series Reinventing Social Emancipation: Towards New Manifestos) explores the struggles against moral and cultural imperialism and neo-liberal globalisation that have taken place over the past few decades, and the alternatives that have emerged in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, India, Mozambique, and South Africa. In particular it looks at the issue of biodiversity, the confrontation between scientific and non-scientific knowledges, and the increasing difficulty experienced by great numbers of people in accessing information and scientific-technological knowledge.

Diaz-Bonilla, E., S.E. Frandsen and S. Robinson (eds.)
WTO Negotiations and Agricultural Trade Liberalization: The Effect of Developed Countries’ Policies on Developing Countries
Wallingford: CABI International, 2006, ISBN: 1-84593-050-9, 341pp.
The editors analyse potential WTO negotiations and coalitions between countries in relation to agricultural policies; the non-trade concerns of developing countries; and the possible erosion of trade preferences under liberalised world agricultural markets. It is argued that decoupled domestic-support programmes are less important for developing countries than market access, and that all countries could gain from supporting a programme of global reform. The link between further liberalisation of world agriculture and food security is analysed, and the authors conclude that the negative outcomes are outweighed by the positive.

Dow, K. and T. Downing
The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World’s Greatest Challenge
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1844073769, 112pp.
Heatwaves, droughts, and flooding are causing deaths among vulnerable populations, destroying livelihoods and driving people from their homes. This atlas examines the drivers of climate change and possible impacts on vulnerable livelihoods, water resources, ecosystems and biodiversity, health, coastal megacities, and cultural treasures. It reviews historical contributions to greenhouse-gas levels, progress in meeting international commitments, and local efforts to meet the challenge of climate change. It covers a range of topics including warning signs, future scenarios, vulnerable populations, health impacts, renewable energy, emissions reduction, and personal and public action.

Florini, Ann (ed.)
The Right To Know: Transparency For An Open World
New York and Chichester UK, Columbia University Press, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-231-14158-1, 368pp.
The Right to Know considers: What information should governments and other powerful organizations disclose? Over the last few years, transparency has swept the world. From Asia to Africa to Europe to Latin America, countries are struggling to overcome entrenched secrecy and establish effective disclosure policies. More than seventy now have or are developing major disclosure policies or laws. But most of the world's nearly 200 nations do not have coherent disclosure laws; implementation of existing rules often proves difficult; and there is no consensus about what disclosure standards should apply to the increasingly powerful private sector. The Right to Know distills the lessons of many nations' experience and analyses the impact of transparency on governance, business regulation, environmental protection, and national security. It is likely to interest policy makers, executives, and activists, as well as students seeking a better understanding of how to make information policy serve the public interest.

Franks, Jason
Rethinking the Roots of Terrorism
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN: 1-4039-8718-1, 248pp.
The author maintains that orthodox discourse on terrorism fails to address the roots of the problem. Using a multi-level and multi-dimensional framework, Franks offers a ‘broader, more comprehensive and holistic’ explanation of terrorism and its causes, using the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as a case study.

Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko (ed.)
The Gene Revolution: GM Crops and Unequal Development
London/Sterling, VA,:Earthscan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84407-407-9, 248pp.
This book tries to bridge the gap between the supporters and opponents of genetically modified (GM) crops. It examines the issues facing developing and transitional countries in the light of what is happening on the ground. The first part of the book looks at the rise of GM crops, commercialisation and the spread of the technology, as well as the different positions taken in the USA and the European Union on the GM question. The second part consists of country perspectives from Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa. These provide insights into the profound challenges these countries face. The final part compares developing and transitional country experiences, charting a future course for government policy on GM that supports growth, sustainability and equity for the many billions of people affected worldwide.

Galbraith, James K.
Unbearable Cost: Bush, Greenspan and the Economics of Empire
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN: 0-230-01901-3, 227pp.
In this collection of columns from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet, the son of the noted economist J.K. Galbraith examines the progress of George W. Bush’s presidency. He records the controversial 2000 presidential election, the rise of the ‘corporate republic’, the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the decline of internal democracy, and the strain imposed on the USA by the conflict in Iraq.

Guijt, Irene (ed.)
Negotiated Learning:Collaborative Monitoring and Forest Resource Management
Washington, DC: Resouces For The Future, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-933115-38-2, 167pp.
Drawing on first hand experiences of researchers and development workers in Africa, Asia and South America, the book aims to examine how monitoring can be an effective tool in participatory resources management. As with other aspects of collaborative management, collaborative monitoring emphasises building local capacity so that local communities can gradually assume full responsibility for the management of their resources.

Hailey, John
NGO Leadership and Development: A Review of the Literature (Praxis Paper 10)
Oxford: INTRAC, 2006, ISBN: 1905240031, 39pp.
This paper examines the role of leaders and leadership in NGOs. It draws on the analysis of recent research into the characteristics of NGO leaders, and explores the challenges of designing leadership-development programmes appropriate to the needs of NGOs. The paper identifies the elements of successful leadership development, and assesses the skills or competencies required.

Hartman, Chester, and Gregoray D. Squires (eds.)
There Is No Such Thing As A Natural Disaster: Race, Class, and Hurricane Katrina
New York/London: Routledge, 2006, ISBN 0-415-95487-8, 311pp.
This volume provides a critique of the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. The disaster will go down on record as one of the worst in US history, not least because of the way the government responded. Furthermore, the book explores the roots of the uneven impact of the event in issues of race and class deeply embedded in the pre-Katrina New Orleans society. Hartman and Squires assemble two dozen critical scholars and activists who present a multifaceted portrait of the social implications of the disaster. The book covers the response to the disaster and the roles that race and class played, its impact on housing and re-development, the historical context of urban disasters in the USA, and the future of economic development in the region. It offers strategic guidance for government agencies, financial institutions, and neighbourhood organisations in efforts to rebuild shattered communities.

Hearn, Jonathan
Rethinking Nationalism: A Critical Introduction
Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN:978-1-4039-1898-7, 272pp.
Nationalism is often treated as a retrogressive ideology. However, through this interdisciplinary introduction to the study of nationalism the author shows that it is also central to the normal functioning of established liberal democratic states. Hearn discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant approaches to the study of nationalism ( ‘primordialists’ and ‘modernists’) as well as developing his own critique.

Hellmuth, Molly E., Anne Moorhead, Madeleine C. Thomson and Jim Williams
Climate risk management in Africa: Learning from practice
Palisades, NY: International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), 2007, ISBN 978-0-9729252-3-5, 104pp.
Climate Risk Management in Africa is the inaugural issue of The Climate and Society series. It describes current efforts that are helping societies to better adapt to climate change. It seeks to show that when climate information successfully reaches vulnerable populations it can be used to improve livelihoods and economies and even save lives. The report was launched at a special session of the 8^th African Union Heads of State Summit held in Addis Ababa in January 2007. Five case examples are shown of how climate risks are being successfully managed in Africa: flood management in Mozambique; food security in Ethiopia; malaria control in Southern Africa; agriculture in Mali; and drought insurance in Malawi.

Islam, Rizwanul (ed.)
Fighting poverty: the development-employment link
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006, ISBN: 1588263967, 521pp.
Contributors argue that a high rate of economic growth is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for poverty reduction. Much development literature focuses on overall economic growth and targeted micro-level interventions to reduce poverty, but this book seeks to offer a systematic analysis of the link between employment and pro-poor economic growth, drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Jackson, Tim (ed.)
The Earthscan Reader on Sustainable Consumption
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1-84407-164-2, 402pp.
Northern consumption is unsustainable, depending on finite resources and damaging the environment. Poor people in the South suffer as a result. This heavily referenced and annotated book includes discussion on a shift from a ‘North first’ to an international agenda, and whether ‘simplicity’/de-modernisation and reduced consumption can actually improve the quality of life.

Jones, Andrew
Dictionary of Globalization
Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-7456-3441-9, 258pp.
Jones analyses globalisation and the vocabulary associated with it, situating concepts and processes, ‘thinkers’, and organisations and institutions in relation to the globalisation debate. The author considers the origins of and ways of understanding globalisation, and whether this holistic concept is more than theory or even viable.

Jordan, Lisa and Peter Van Tuijl (eds.)
NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations
London/Sterling, VA.: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN-10: 1-84407-367-X  257pp.
NGOs are the fastest growing segment of civil society and under fire for being ‘unaccountable’. This book examines the issues and politics of NGO accountability across all sectors and internationally. It assesses the key technical tools available including legal accountability, certification and donor-based accountability regimes, and questions whether these are appropriate and viable options or attempts to ‘roll-back’ NGOs to a more one-dimensional function as organisers of national and global charity. Input and case studies are provided from NGOs such as ActionAid and across the globe including China, Indonesia, and Uganda. In the spirit of moving towards greater accountability the book looks in detail at innovations that have developed from within NGOs and offers new approaches and flexible frameworks that enable accountability to become a reality for all parties worldwide.

Kettell, Steven
Dirty Politics? New Labour, British Democracy and the Invasion of Iraq
London and New York: Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 1-84277-741-6, 213pp.
Kettel believes that Britain’s alliance with the USA over the invasion of Iraq was rooted in a political decision to gain global influence as the two governments developed a policy of regime change in Iraq, then tried to build legal and political cover for this policy, including ways in which political discourse is being re-shaped. Kettell calls for more power to be invested in parliament and greater freedom of information.

Landon, Megan
Environment, Health and Sustainable Development
New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 2006, ISBN: 0070636176, 221pp.
The environment is linked to health, which prompts the need for sustainable development. A challenge for public health practitioners is to adapt this environment–health relationship amidst bigger changes. Landon examines the underlying concepts, the history of environmental health, and key factors that affect public health.

Leach, Melissa and Ian Scoones
The Slow Race: Making technology work for the poor
London: Demos, 2006, ISBN: 1-84180-162-3, 81pp.
Science and technology are increasingly important factors in expanding economic prosperity and thus in international development. But the benefits of scientific and technological advancement tend not to reach poor people or rural communities. This is mainly due to private-sector ownership. The ‘slow race’ emphasises science and technology specific to local contexts, supported always by appropriate pro-poor governance.

Lister, Marjorie and Maurizio Carbone (eds.)
New Pathways in International Development: Gender and Civil Society in EU Policy
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, ISBN: 0-7546-4718-8, 215pp.
The EU’s pursuit of global trends such as neo-liberalism raises the danger that resources may decrease or become subordinated to foreign policy. The first half of this book analyses gender integration in EU development policy in the ACP countries, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe. The second half takes a similar look at civil society, and shows that European NGOs are now less important to Southern civil society organisations.

Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II. Vegetables
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2006, ISBN-10 0-309-10333-9/ISBN-13: 978-0-309-10333-6, 352pp.
This book is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa’s food supply. This volume describes 18 indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have  potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists, policy makers, and the world at large.  This book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. 

McPeak, John G. and Peter D. Little (eds.)
Pastoral Livestock Marketing in Eastern Africa: Research and Policy Changes
Rugby: IT Publications, 2006, ISBN: 1-95339-631-1, 288pp.
This book looks at livestock marketing in eastern Africa from perspectives including anthropology, geography, economics, and rangeland economy. It presents current findings on how livestock markets operate in this area; describes policy options that help markets to function more effectively; and identifies topics meriting further research. The issues are examined at household, market, national, and international levels, and many of the contributors also highlight the importance of cross-border trade.

Mehrotra,  Santosh and Enrique Delamonica
Eliminating Human Poverty: Macroeconomic and Social Policies for Equitable Growth
London and New York: Zed Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84277-773-2, 432pp.
This examination of how basic social services, particularly education, health and water, can be financed and delivered more effectively departs from the dominant macro-economic paradigm.  The authors draw on their own broad ranging research at UNICEF and UNDP and argue that fiscal, monetary and other macro-economic policies for poverty reduction, human development and economic growth can be compatible with micro level interventions to provide basic social services. Policy makers have more flexibility than is usually assumed to engage in macro-economic and growth-oriented policies than can also expand human capabilities and fulfil human rights. More than just more aid is needed. Strategic shifts in aid policy, decentralised governance, health and education and the private-public mix in service provision are a prerequisite to achieve the goals of human development and to eliminate human poverty within a generation.

Mkandawire, Thandika
Disempowering new democracies and the persistence of poverty: Democracy, governance and human rights (paper no. 21)
Geneva: UNRISD, 2006, ISSN: 1020-8186, 34pp.
This paper considers two current processes in developing countries: the adoption of orthodox economic policies; and democratisation leading to increased political empowerment. Democracies have emerged under diverse economic and social conditions (examples in Latin America, Africa, and Asia are studied), but democracies are sometimes consolidated in unfavourable structural contexts. Mkandawire argues that in such cases, economic policies often take precedence over attempts to tackle inequity and poverty.

Mohanty, Ranjita and Rajesh Tandon
Participatory Citizenship: Identity, Exclusion, Inclusion
New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN: 81-7829-618-7, 250pp. .
In a democratic system, the state grants its citizens rights and freedoms and provides a legal framework to protect these. In India, however, the lower castes, poor people, women, and tribal peoples lack these safeguards. The contributors to this volume investigate how these excluded groups can be brought ‘into the fold’.

Murunga, Godwin R. and Shadrack W. Nasonnng’o (eds.)
Kenya: The Struggle for Democracy
Dakar/London, CODESRIA Books/Zed Books, 2007, ISBN-13:978-2-86978-203-7, 344pp.
This comprehensive study of Kenya’s political trajectory shows how the struggle for democracy has been waged in civil society, through opposition parties, and amongst traditionally marginalised groups like women and the young. It also considers the remaining impediments to democratisation, in the form of a powerful police force and damaging structural adjustment policies. The authors argue that democratisation in Kenya is a laborious and non-linear process.

Mulder, Karel (ed.)
Sustainable Development for Engineers: A Handbook and Resource Guide
Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, 2006, ISBN: 1-874719-19-5, 288pp.
Technology is a political issue but the non-neutrality of technological decisions is often hidden from the public. Contributors ask whether technology the ‘culprit’ or the ‘saviour’ of sustainable development, highlighting the importance of addressing this issue at the design stage of new technologies. Among their conclusions is that advanced technology may run counter to sustainable technology.

Newell, Peter and Joanna Wheeler (eds.)
Rights, Resources and the Politics of Accountability
London and New York: Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 1-84277-555-3, 270pp.
There is increasing onus on governing bodies and powerful corporations to be more accountable to those affected by their actions. Contributors examine various social actors and their strategies to gain increased rights and resources through accountability, which range from formal measures (court cases, legislation) to informal (public hearings, boycotts); from collaboration methods to confrontation. The context of each circumstance is essential for the formation of effective accountability strategies, especially the political ramifications of demands for rights and resources. A recurrent theme is that accountability is not an end in itself but also a means to provoke further social and political change.

Ocampo, Jose Antonio, Jomo K. S. and Sarbuland Khan (eds.)
Policy Matters: Economic and Social Policies to Sustain Equitable Development
Hyderabad/London/Penang/New York: Orient Longman/Zed Books/Third World Network/United Nations Publications, 2007, ISBN: 978 1 84277 836 4, 347pp.
In 2000, UN member states pledged to halve world poverty by 2015, among other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chapters in this volume address disparate problems in achieving the UN Development Agenda, from the complex effects of trade and financial liberalisation to the realities of development aid, itself a central pillar of the MDGs.  The unifying theme is one of economic and social integration  and an emphasis on the long-term strategic investment in education, health, and infrastructure.

Lahouzine Ouzgane (ed.)
Islamic Masculinities (series: Global Masculinities)
London and New York: Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 1-84277-275-9, 248pp.
The rise of Islamic feminist and Western masculinity literature has prompted further study of Islamic masculinity. This edited volume is divided into three sections. The first relates masculinity to religion, the second to the Palestine–Israeli conflict, and the third to social practice. Numerous aspects of Islamic masculinity are compared with Islamic femininity and Western thought; set within Islamic religious, social, and military contexts; and located within the discourse between the Islamic and non-Islamic world.

Paupp, Terrence E.
Exodus from Empire: The Fall of America’s Empire and the Rise of the Global Community
London/Ann Arbor: Pluto Press,2007, ISBN-13: 978-0-7453-2613-9, 424pp.
This book lays out a comprehensive vision for a new world order based on cooperation between the developing world and leading Left countries in Latin America. The author argues that the ravages of corporate capitalism are unsustainable and projects ahead to a global countermovement against the IMF and US hegemony.

Payne, Geoff (ed.)
Social Divisions (2nd Edition)
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN: 1-4039-4439-3, 408pp.
This new edition includes updated statistics and entirely new chapters on religion, elites, and poverty. Many examples are taken from the UK, but much is relevant to other industrial societies. Within a global society ‘we like to believe that we have a new freedom, that we can be what we consume’, but in fact there has been increasing homogenisation of cultures and lifestyles. This text is written for a wide student readership in higher education and beyond.

Peet, Richard
Geography of Power: The Making Of Global Economic Policy
London/New York: Zed Books, 2007, ISBN: 9781842777114, 216pp.
This work looks at how contemporary global economic policies are made: by which institutions, under what ideologies, and how they are enforced. The author examines the roles played by organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank in supervising the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people. He argues that neo-liberal economic policy is enforced by a few thousand experts in the North and has failed to deliver tolerable living conditions for the poor. The conclusion makes a positive contribution by exploring policy alternatives that point the way forward.

Pietillä, Hilkka
T he Unfinished Story of Women and the United Nations
Geneva: UN NGLS, 2007, UNCTAD/NGLS/2007/1, 162 pp.
This contribution to the Development Dossier series, based on the United Nations Intellectual History Project, covers 85 years of largely untold history between the women's (feminist and peace) movements and inter-governmental organisations, starting with the League of Nations in 1919 and charting progress through the First United Nations Conference on Women in Mexico City in 1975, culminating in the ten-year review and appraisal in 2005 of the 1985 Beijing Platform for Action. Referring to the astute diplomacy of the 'founding mothers' of cooperation between the women's movement and the emerging structures of the United Nations, the author illustrates that the League of Nations 'was soon in advance of most of its Member States concerning women's issues'. For example, when the International Labour Organization, the first UN body, was being established in 1919, women trade unionists called for an eight-hour day, an end to child labour, support for pensions, social insurance, and maternity benefits, equal pay for equal work for women and men, and  minimum wages for housework to be included in its consitution - proposals deemed too radical at the time - since when many of these same demands form the basis of the ILO's core labour standards to be adopted by all Member States.

Poku, Nana K., Alan Whiteside and Bjorg Sandkjaer (eds.)
Aids and Governance
Aldershot and Burlington, VA, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-7546-4581-8, 267pp.
A volume in the Global Health series in which the editors draw together contributions exploring the impact of AIDS on governance and the politics of responses in a context where the epidemic does not seem to be slowing down in the developing world. The political impact of HIV and AIDS varies greatly and states depend on how governments choose to manage the political implications.

Prempeh, E. Osei Kwadwo
Against Global Capitalism: African Social Movements Confront Neoliberal Globalization
Aldershot/Burlington, VA: Ashgate, 2006, ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4764-5/ISBN10: 0-7546-4764-1, 189pp.
The fundamental challenge of democratising globalisation by opening up spaces for democratic participation beyond the state is addressed in this study. The author captures both the democratic activities and voices of opposition to neo-liberal globalisation and investigates how this reinvention of democracy through resistance to neo-liberal globalisation has taken shape in the African context. In doing so he reasserts the relevance of the de-globalisation and anti-capitalism movements. Case studies consider African Social Movements and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the campaign for HIV/AIDS drugs in Africa, Water Privatisation, Campaigns for Debt Cancellation, Social Movements, and New Trade Regimes.

Raby, Diana
Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and Socialism Today
London and Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-7453-2435-5, 304pp.
Shying away from dogmatism and the ‘Old Left’, epitomised by the Soviet system, Raby argues that Latin American revolutionary models, such as Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, provide examples of feasible socialist democratic governments. Economic regulation and control are seen as political processes, not the ‘inevitable’ result of technical specialisation. Raby concludes by outlining some of the lessons to be learnt from revolutionary processes, maintaining that the incorporation of the qualities and values they embody could usher in a new anti-capitalist era.

The Reality of Aid 2006: Focus on Conflict, Security and Development Corporation
London and New York: Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 9710325733, 386pp.
The 2006 edition of this annual report analyses the impact of international policies and actions, of donors in particular, on the rights, needs, and interests of populations affected by conflict. It explores strategic issues in the convergence of peace, security, and development agendas and asks questions about the relevance of a rights-based approach to the nexus between human development and security; whose security is being protected; and the extent to which aid is implemented as ‘risk management’ for national security.

Reed, David (ed.)
Escaping Poverty’s Grasp: The Environmental Foundations of Poverty Reduction
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1844073718, 206pp.
This book takes issue with the idea that poverty reduction and improved national resource management should originate with international organisations and in national capitals, arguing that change must begin at local level and push upwards to affect policies and institutions at higher levels. This would remove political, economic, and institutional impediments that stifle environmental management and opportunities for the rural poor. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has devised a ‘3xM Approach’, promoting policy and institutional changes necessary for improved local environment, better community livelihoods, and sustainable development. Tools and case studies show practitioners how to adopt the 3xM Approach in diverse settings.

Rees, Andy (ed.)
Genetically Modified Food: A Short Guide for the Confused
London and Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-7453-2439-8, 248pp.
Large biotech companies proffer GM food as a salvation for developing nations and a solution to world hunger. Much GM food is consumed without public knowledge, especially in the USA. Rees reveals evidence against the health claims of GM food, and illuminates its benefits to seed patenting and agribusiness. Rees expounds the risks and dangers to farmers and the environment, and the efforts of big business to conceal these hazards. The book documents successful campaigns against GM foods, calling for vigilant opposition to ‘Genetic Tinkering’.

Ridde, Valéry
Équité et mise en oeuvre des politiques de santé au Burkina Faso
Paris: Harmattan, 2007, ISBN: 978-2-296-02358-1, 536pp. Over the last 30 years there have been numerous policies formulated with the objective of improving equitable access to health care for the poorest. Despite this inequality continues. Through a case study of a project in Burkina Faso this book tries to shed light on the aspect of equity in health policies.

Rubin, Barry
The Truth About Syria
Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-4-39-8273-5, 283pp.
Barry Rubin of the Global Research for International Affairs Center examines the critical issues that have given Syria a reputation as a powderkeg in the Middle East. Despite the support for the war in Lebanon and the Iraq insurgency, this country with a mix of religions and ethnic groups, radical ideologies, and political repression remains little known to the West.

Ruth, Matthias, Kieran Donaghy and Paul Kirshen (eds.)
Regional Climate Change and Variability: Impacts and Responses
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006, ISBN: 1-84542-599-5, 260pp.
Public debates on climate change have focused upon the emission of greenhouse gasses by humans, and the implementation of mitigation strategies. Recent study has concentrated upon local strategies to improve economies, societies and ecosystems.

Sait, S., and Hilary Lim
Land, Law and Islam: Property and Human Rights in the Muslim World
London/New York, Zed Books, 2006, ISBN-10: 1-84277-813-7/ISBN-13: 978-1-84277 813-5, 241 pp.
The authors address Islamic property and land rights, drawing on a range of socio-historical and contemporary resources. They address the significance of Islamic theories of property and Islamic land tenure regimes on the ‘webs of tenure’ prevalent in Muslim societies. They consider the possibility of using Islamic legal and human rights systems for the development of inclusive, pro-poor approaches to land rights. They also focus on Muslim women’s rights to property and inheritance systems. Engaging with institutions such as the Islamic endowment (waqf) and principles of Islamic microfinance, they test the workability of ‘authentic’ Islamic proposals.

Scudder, Thayer
The Future of Large Dams: Dealing with Social, Environmental, Institutional and Political Costs
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1-84407-338-6, 389pp.
Scudder was a commissioner on the World Commission on Dams, which was wound down in 2000. The focus of this book is on large dams; theories of resettlement and river-basin communities; downstream and upper catchments; institutional arrangements; and environmental and social impacts. Large dams may be extolled by politicians and project authorities, and fought over by international contractors and consultants, but they have the worst effect on ecosystems and displace the largest number of people.

Shatkin, Gavin
Collective Action and Urban Poverty Alleviation: Community Organizations and the Struggle for Shelter in Manila
Aldershot/Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-7546-4786-7, 184pp.
Currently some 600 million people live in informal or 'squatter' settlements in the rapidly growing cities of the developing world. These settlements often lack basic necessities, and there is an urgent need to address this crisis. Recent approaches have focused on the role of community-based organisations (CBOs) in setting up self-help and participatory programmes. This book questions whether communities have the ability to organise, engage government, and undertake major re-development. It also examines when and how community mobilisation occurs and if CBOs possess any influence in the intensely political decision-making arena of urban land development. It is illustrated by a detailed analysis of the experience of CBOs in Manila, as the Philippine government has undertaken a radical experiment in decentralised, participatory approaches to urban governance. The book emphasises the external conditions that influence patterns of collective action within communities and addresses issues such as the local political economy and the communities' place within the global economy.

Smith, Dan
The State of the Middle East: An Atlas of Conflict and Resolution
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1-84407-377-7, 144pp.
Defining the Middle East as spanning from Iran to Yemen, and Morocco, Smith argues that statistics are no more than a way of ‘representing facts’, and that statistical comparison involves a large degree of estimation. Data about the same issue from different sources are therefore often incompatible, for technical reasons or because of political agendas or the particular views of those presenting them. Smith’s book covers history, arenas of conflict, and current states of nations.

Springate-Baginski, Oliver and Piers Blaikie (eds.)
Forests, People and Power: The Political Ecology of Reform
London and Sterling, VA, Earthscan, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84407-347-4, 394 pp.
This volume forms part of the Earthscan Foresty Library collection. Focused on India and Nepal and based on data from 60 study villages and over 1000 household interviews the book aims to assess the implementation of participatory approaches to forest management in these highly politicised environments. The authors critically examine the policy, implementation processes, and causal factors affecting livelihood impacts. The research and analysis has relevance to forestry management in a wide range of countries.

Steans, Jill
Gender and International Relations: Issues, Debates and Future Directions (2nd Edition)
Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-7456-3582-2, 183pp.
This book gives an overview of evolving trends on gender and international relations, highlighting many now outdated precepts, and redefining the criteria against which various issues are judged. Themes include feminist perspectives on the international political economy, war, peace, and security. A recurring idea is the strategic and political necessity of speaking ‘as women’ in the predominantly male space of global and local politics.

Stewart, Frances, Ruhi Saith and Barbara Harriss-White (eds.)
Defining Poverty In The Developing World
Basingstoke/New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, ISBN: 9780230516724, 264pp.
The elimination of poverty is the overriding aim of those concerned with development - but poverty is surprisingly difficult to define. Poverty, of course, represents deprivation, but the definition of what is being deprived and by how much - are not agreed. Moreover, despite increasing acceptance of the view that poverty is multidimensional, most policy work adopts a monetary definition. Comparing the monetary approach with three further approaches - capabilities, social exclusion and participatory - and using India and Peru as case studies, this research argues that how poverty is defined and measured makes a substantial difference to conclusions drawn and the implications this has for policymaking.

Tacconi, Luca (ed.)
Law Enforcement, Livelihoods And The Timber Trade
London/Sterling,VA.: Earthscan, 2007, ISBN: 9781844073481, 301pp.
In many countries illegal logging now accounts for a large share of the harvest. The result is a loss of revenue and biodiversity and the issue is one of the major threats to forests. Donors and national governments are starting to develop initiatives to control illegal logging. This book is written by experts in the field and examines key issues including law and enforcement, supply and demand, corruption, forest certification, poverty, local livelihoods, international trade and biodiversity conservation. Included are case studies from forest rich hotspots in North, South and Central America, equatorial Africa and Indonesia. Overall the book explores the multiple dimensions of the causes, impacts, and implication for forests, people, livelihoods, and forest policy.

Thomas, Mark
As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade
London: Ebury Press, 2006, ISBN: 00919021-X, 339pp.
The British comedian and political activist Mark Thomas offers a layperson’s guide to the arms trade system at different levels, in which transnational companies, governments, and individuals are all implicated. Thomas documents attempts to reform arms-trade regulations. Much illegality and abuse of the arms trade has already been revealed, but many aspects remain. This prompts the final conclusion that countering ‘the widgets of barbarity will be the battle of coming decades’.

Tyler, Stephen (ed.)
Communities, Livelihoods, and Natural Resources: Action Research and Policy Change in Asia
Rugby: Intermediate Technology Publications, and Ottawa, Canada: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 2006, ISBN: 1-85339-638-9, 420pp.
This book shares lessons from the IDRC’s community-based natural-resource management (NRM) research projects across Asia. These projects uphold decisions made locally, arguing that the MDGs and Poverty Reduction Strategy Plans neglect the concerns of villagers. The book’s foreword advocates for change in the way national governments and NGOs do business. Its conclusion includes a call to decentralise NRM.

UNCTAD
The Least Developed Countries Report 2006: Developing Productive Capacities
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development secretariat (Team Leader: C. Gore) New York and Geneva: UNCTAD, 2006, ISBN: 9 789211 127010, 352pp.
Overview of Report, and whole document available (in English and French) at http://www.unctad.org Timor-Leste is the fiftieth nation to be designated a least-developed country (LDC), on the basis of low income, human assets, and economic vulnerability. Such a designation yields certain concessions, including a grace period of three years to agree a ‘smooth transition strategy’ so that the loss of LDC-specific concessions does not disturb the country’s socio-economic progress. The underlying approach is founded on the ‘Hirschmann insight’ that development depends not so much on trying to optimise a country’s given resources, as making best use of ‘hidden, scattered, or badly utilised’ ones.

UNFPA
Moving Young: State of World Population 2006: Youth Supplement
New York, NY: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2006, ISBN: 0-89714-777-4, 64pp.
This report seeks to call attention to young people as part of the discussion on international migration. Ten young people in different countries tell their personal stories, which are replete with abuse and violence, and driven by insecurity, conflict and poverty. The preface urges governments to use the resourcefulness and vitality of young immigrants, rather than considering them a burden or a risk. Information on young migrants is scarce. Better data and analysis are needed to guide responses and policies, and to help those children and young people who migrate alone.

Venn, Couze
The Postcolonial Challenge: Towards Alternative Worlds (series: Theory, Culture and Society)
New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN: 0-7619-7162-9, 219pp.
The ‘war on terror’ has unleashed regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere; and homicidal fundamentalism. Venn describes this as ‘transmodern’ and post-colonial, more than a simple choice between existing parties. She looks at the theoretical and the methodological and conceptual problems ranging from modernisation and identity to establishing a postmodern political economy that could open up new grounds for imagining alternative worlds. Venn examines feminism, race studies, cultural and development studies, and positions in science, technology, and critical phenomenology. Her closing premise highlights a growing conviction that alternatives to ‘disordered empires’ are both possible and necessary, particularly concerning the natural environment.

Williams, Robert G.
The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global and Currency Markets
London and New York: Zed Books and Hong Kong University Press, 2006, ISBN: 1-84277-695-9, 286pp.
Williams offers a layperson’s guide to worldwide currency markets, currency trade, and foreign exchange. Other thematic concerns, depicted within a volatile world market include the interrelation between banks in their financial dealings, the progression of the Euro, and the domination of the US dollar in global trade.

Winters, Alan and Shahid Yusuf (eds.)
Dancing with Giants: China, India and the Global Economy
Washington, DC/Singapore, World Bank and The Institute of Policy Studies, 2007, ISBN: 0-8213-6749-8/ ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-6749-0, 288pp.
Developed as a collaborative venture between the World Bank and the Institute for policy Studies in Singapore this book analyses the influences on the rapid future development of China and India and examines how their growth is likely to impact on other countries. It considers international trade, industrialisation, foreign investment and capital flows and the implications of their broadening environmental footprints. It further discusses how the two countries have tackled poverty, inequality, and governance issues and whether progress in these areas will be a key to rapid and stable growth.

Weyland, Kurt
Bounded Rationality and Policy Diffusion: Social Sector Reform in Latin America
Princeton NJ and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN: 978-0-691-13471-0, 297pp.
This is an examination of why different countries with different contexts emulate the same policy models. Decision makers often consider foreign models, sometimes promoted by development institutions such as the World Bank. However, rather than fully assessing the costs and benefits of external models they over extrapolate from these.

Zetter, Roger and Georgia Butina Watson (eds.)
Designing Sustainable Cities in the Developing World
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, ISBN: 0-7546-4355-7, 210pp.
The globalisation of architectural styles, building technologies, and urban space has had a dramatic impact on city design in developing countries. The accelerating destruction of indigenously designed and developed urban places and spaces, means, for example, that unique environments are being removed from their context and replaced by global forms that are seldom adapted to local needs. Historic urban features are commercialised as artefacts for global cultural consumption. Such outcomes raise the question of whether new patterns and processes of urban design and production are sustainable.

Ziai, Aram (ed.)
Exploring Post-development: Theory and practice, problems and perspectives
London and New York: Routledge, 2007, ISBN 10: 0-415-41764-3/ ISBN 13: 978-0-415-41764-8, 240pp.
This volume tackles issues surrounding post-development which is one of the most important debates in the field of North-South relations at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The contributors explore the possibilities and limitations of post-development theory and practice drawing on empirical studies of movements and communities on several continents.

Zweifel, Thomas D., Raymond J. Struyk, Kristin Morse, Margarita Pinegina, Clare Romanik and Marina Shapiro
Policy Analysis for Effective Development: Strengthening Transition Economies
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006, ISBN: 1588263665, 441pp.
The roles of government in the so-called transition countries of the former Soviet bloc have been transformed over the past decade as market-oriented approaches have taken hold. This book aims to provide professionals, practitioners, and students with tools to assist in identifying policy problems and developing sensible and politically viable solutions. Topics include monitoring and evaluation, as well as key concepts such as who pays for and who benefits from policies, and introducing competition into the public sector. Exercises, and European, and US case studies, allow readers to apply lessons learned to real situations.

BOOKS RECEIVED IN 2006

Africa and Development: Challenges in the New Millenium
Dakar/London and New York/Pretoria: CODESRIA/ZED Books/UNISA Press,2006, ISBN 978 1 84277 595 0,288pp.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was launched in late 2001 by Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. Its founding assumptions were that African governments had to be more self-critical of their own performance, and to take more responsibility for their own policies. On this basis, a new, more fruitful relationship with the West was to be built. This book is the first significant attempt by Africa’s own scholarly community to unpack NEPAD and evaluate its practical potential. It raises key questions about market economy, poverty, gender and regional development, and examines NEPAD’s implications for agriculture, industrialisation, trade, the digital divide, and the financial of future development.

Amann, Edmund (ed.)
Regulating Development: Evidence from Africa and Latin America
Cheltenham, UK / Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2006, ISBN: 1-84542-499-9, 309pp.
This book examines the positive and negative effects of regulation on social development in Brazil, South Africa, and Ghana. It asks how far regulation is becoming the main shaper of development in Latin America and Africa. Contributors look in detail at: capital markets; corporate governance regulation; telecommunications; and reforms to boost small and medium enterprises.

Assadourian, E.
Vital Signs 2006-2007: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future
New York and London: Worldwatch Institute, W.W. Norton and Company, 2006, ISBN: 0-393-32872-4, 160pp. (available at: www.worldwatch.org/vsonline)
This report claims that between 12 and 24 languages are lost each year as people’s survival and economic advancement depend on their adopting another language and eventually abandoning their mother tongue. Other global trends are: growing military and peacekeeping expenditure, and rising bicycle production and formal car-sharing adoption. Despite some impressive developments, positive change is too slow to bring about broader changes in the global economy that could stave off imminent ecological and economic crises.

Barbier, Edward
Natural resources and economic development
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN: 0-521-82313-7, 410pp.
The book explores why natural resource exploitation is not yielding greater benefits for the poor economies of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Part I is a historical review of resource use and development, and of current theories that explain the under-performance of resource-abundant economies. It proposes a ‘frontier expansion hypothesis’ as an alternative explanation. Part II develops models to analyse the key economic factors underlying land expansion and water use in developing countries. Part III explores further the ‘dualism within dualism’ structure of resource dependency, rural poverty, and resource degradation within developing countries. It proposes, through country case studies, policy and institutional reforms necessary for successful resource-based development.

Bass, Stephen et al. (eds.)
Reducing poverty and sustaining the environment: the politics of local engagement
London: Earthscan, London, 2005, ISBN: 1-84407-116-2, 318pp.
Addressing the role of politics in environmental issues that are relevant to the poor, this book describes experiences at regional, national, and local levels in countries including China, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, St Lucia, South Africa, and Tanzania. The book demonstrates the importance of political context in addressing poverty/environment issues such as environmental health, access to natural resources for livelihoods and security, and coping with environmental disasters.

Beder, Sharon
Suiting Themselves: How Corporations Drive the Global Agenda
London: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN: 1-84407-331-9, 258pp.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), argued that the ‘sovereign state has become obsolete’: large corporations want national governments that are subservient to corporate and financial interests. Individually, corporations have always had political and economic power, and now form coalitions to increase their power further. In turn, there is widespread public concern about the legitimacy of big business. But coalitions such as the WEF, the European Business Roundtable, and a range of US groups have ensured that through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), ‘the corporate goal of free trade will always have precedence over citizens’ goals such as environmental protection, improved working conditions and health and safety considerations.’ This book seeks to demonstrate how corporations have brought this about.

Behera, M.C. (ed.)
Globalising Rural Development: Competing Paradigms and Emerging Realities
New Delhi / Thousand Oaks / London: Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN 0-7619-3479-0, 462pp.
In the 1950s, ‘rural development’ was first seen as an area of study in its own right. As ideologies around rural development evolved in later decades, different policies and programmes emerged. Part I of this book claims that the most recent, top-down approach cannot meet the goals of rural development in either North or South: equity, gender rights, food security, employment, and sustainability. Part II considers the roles played by the state and NGOs amidst advancing globalisation. The third part examines attempts at rural development in Europe and Asia, and the fourth analyses particular solutions to poverty, such as the empowerment of women.

Beyond Darfur: War’s Impact on Sudanese Women and Their Hopes for a Peaceful Future
Washington DC: Women for Women International, 2006, 34pp. (available at: http://www.womenforwomen.org/documents/Sudanreport.FINAL_001.pdf)
Since independence in 1956, Sudan has suffered internal conflict that has destroyed its basic infrastructure. This book analyses the current state of the country, with particular focus on Sudanese women. A concerted effort has been made to impress gender consciousness into a peace agreement: women have their own concerns and suggestions for how improvement might be achieved. The importance for women’s perspectives and knowledge to be recognised emerges as critical for effecting lasting peace.

Blundo, G. and J-P Olivier de Sardan with N. B. Arifari and M. T. Alou
Everyday Corruption and the State: Citizens and Public Officials in Africa
Capetown/London and New York: David Philip/Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 13-978-184277-563-9,  298pp
This study of everyday corruption in three West African countries (Benin, Niger and Senegal) highlights its prevalence. The authors construct an analytical frame of reference around the various forms of corruption; the corruptive strategies public officials resort to; and how these forms and strategies have become deeply embedded in daily administrative practices. They investigate the roots of the system and the growing inability of weakened states in Africa to either reward their employees adequately or to deliver expected services. They conclude that corruption in Africa today is qualitatively different from other parts of the world in its sheer pervasiveness; its legitimations and its impact on the nature of the state.

Boase, Roger (ed.)
Islam, and global dialogue – religious pluralism and the pursuit of peace
Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 0-7546-5307-2, 310pp.
The 20 contributors to this volume include Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars and leading religious thinkers. They consider the threats to religious pluralism as a result of hatred, prejudice, and misunderstanding from both religious exclusivists and dogmatic secularists. The first part sets out to define the issues while the second looks at relations between Islam and the West, and the last concerns the responses of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to religious diversity.

Bond, Patrick
Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation
London and New York: Zed Books, 2006, ISBN: 1-84277-811-0, 172pp.
The plunder of Africa is rooted in its history and remains a barrier to development. A recurring theme of this book is that Africa’s gains have been mainly limited to public relations, without tangible benefit from aid or reform policies. Bond blames Africa’s constant underdevelopment on phantom aid, exploitative debt, unfair trade, and distorted investment. He criticises top-down approaches, supporting instead social movements and grassroots activism.

Bradnee Chambers, W. (ed.)
Reforming international environmental governance – from institutional limits to innovative reforms
Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2005, ISBN 92-808-1111-8, 234pp.
This book seeks to contribute to discussion on the worsening global environment, and the complex policy and institutional responses required, including the idea of a World Environment Court.

Brown, Ashley et al.
Handbook for Evaluating Infrastructure Regulatory Systems
Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2006, ISBN: 0-8213-6579-7, 397pp.
Excessive business regulation has been detrimental to economic growth in many developing countries. Investors and consumers were meant to benefit from new infrastructure regulatory systems – but neither has done so. This book presents the case for an independent, objective analysis of regulatory systems. A reformed system is needed, that will be both economically and politically viable, and adaptable as well as predictable.

Browne, Stephen
Aid & Influence: Do Donors Help or Hinder?
London / Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2006, ISBN-10: 1-84407-202-9, ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-202-6, 172pp.
Aid wields influence over its recipients, sometimes good, often bad. Donors themselves often feel that aid has no positive effect on development, as well as failing to foster international relations. Browne believes that donors should support not paternalistic central planning, but peace initiatives, economic governance, debt cancellation, fair trade, and vaccination schemes. Aid-recipient countries in return should play an active role when dealing with the North. They need to accept ‘free’ aid, choose their own development partners, and pay their way – as some are already doing successfully.

Burra, Neera, Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, and Ranjani K Murphy (eds.)
Micro-Credit, Poverty and Empowerment: Linking the Triad
New Delhi: Sage and UNDP, 2005, ISBN: 0 7619 3366 2, 369pp.
Microcredit has been seen as having the dual role of addressing female poverty and violations of women’s human rights. This edited volume brings together six case studies from India, many of them supported by UNDP, to assess how far and under what conditions microcredit programmes have been or could be effective in reaching either or both of these goals.

Bussolo, Maurizio (ed.)
Globalisation and poverty: channels and policy responses
Abingdon: Routledge, 2005, ISBN: 0-415-34360-7, 232pp.
Since the 1980s, donor policy advice to developing countries has been centred on greater market openness and better integration into the global economy, namely globalisation. The authors analyse the impact of globalisation on poverty, using simulation methods and empirical evidence to try to establish directions and magnitudes of effect, in order to inform policy. They draw on case studies of Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, India, Nepal, and Vietnam to argue against the uniform application of development policies.

Carin, Barry (ed.)
Accountability of the International Monetary Fund
Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 0-7546-4523-1, 124pp.
This volume brings together experts from North America, Europe, Africa, and SE Asia to discuss the IMF’s accountability to its diverse shareholders and stakeholders, and makes recommendations for more effective and accountable future practice.

Cernea, Michael M. and Amir H. Kassam (eds.)
Researching the Culture in Agri-Culture: Social Research for International Development
Wallingford and Cambridge, MA: CABI Publishing, 2006, ISBN:0 85199 026 6, 512pp.
Contributors to this volume examine the ways in which the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) conducts social and cultural research in the areas of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and livestock. Following an introductory overview, the first section looks at the purpose, methods, findings, and impacts of such research from the perspectives of those working within the CGIAR system. The second section looks at these issues from the various perspectives of donor agencies, academics, and potential ‘users’ or ‘clients’ of the research.

Chambers, Robert
Ideas for Development
London and Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2005, ISBN: 1 84407 088 3, 259pp.
In this book, Chambers reviews his earlier writings on a range of ideas in the light of subsequent experience, and considers their continued potential and future application. The topics covered include commitment and continuity; administrative capacity; procedures, principles, and power; participation and PRA; behaviour and attitudes; and personal reflection and responsibility.

Chandra Rath, Govinda (ed.)
Tribal Development in India: The Contemporary Debate
New Delhi / Thousand Oaks / London: Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN 0-7619-3423-5, 340pp.
Throughout the last half-century, attempts to lessen the inequality between Indian tribes and the rest of Indian society have served only to strengthen that divide. Yet development economists seldom address the exploitation and mass displacement of tribal peoples by, among others, government officials, landlords, and traders. In this edited volume, 13 contributors reveal that tribal peoples in, for example, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh have a keen awareness of their rights. As welfare development has failed, tribal peoples themselves have pursued not only health services and education, but also political autonomy and access to natural resources. This book is valuable reading for grassroots planners, political scientists, educationalists, economists, and social anthropologists.

Cheru, Fantu and Colin Bradford Jr (eds.)
The Millennium Development Goals: Raising the Resources to Tackle World Poverty
London: Zed Books, 2005, ISBN: 1 84277 735 1, 238pp.
This edited volume brings together contributions from leading economists in institutions such as UNU-WIDER, UNDP, and major think tanks on creative ways to mobilises resources for development, and specifically the MDGs. Resource flows examined include ODA, various forms of debt relief, FDI, and remittances, all of these in relation to the eradication of poverty and the provision of essential services.

Craig, David and Doug Porter
Development Beyond Neoliberalism? Governance, Poverty Reduction and Political Economy
Abingdon and New York, NY: Routledge, 2006, ISBN: 0 415 31960 9, 340pp.
The focus of the neo-liberal development paradigm has shifted from the macroeconomic policies associated with structural adjustment to poverty reduction and governance. The authors plot this trajectory, with extensive case studies from New Zealand, Pakistan, Uganda, and Vietnam, to argue that an apparent consensus among mainstream development agencies in fact masks the increasingly peripheral status of many poor countries and the overreaching of their economic and political objectives.

De Paula, Silvana and Gary Dymski (eds.)
Re-imagining growth: towards a renewal of development theory
London: Zed Books, 2005, ISBN: 1-84277-585-5, 308pp.
Theories of development have been dominated by development economics, and development policy has been coloured by neo-liberal economics. Drawing from heterodox economic and other social science traditions, the contributors to this volume argue that the current intellectual inadequacies and policy mistakes make it necessary to rethink both economics as a discipline and development as a process.

Dinello, Natalia and Lyn Squire (eds.)
Globalization and equity: perspectives from the developing world
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 1-84376-864-4, 253pp.
This book analyses the links between globalisation and equity from the perspectives of researchers from seven regions: the Commonwealth of Independent States, East and South Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions reflect disparate experiences and diverse positions on globalisation and equity, but suggest a fledgling consensus on the potential benefits and risks of greater engagement with the global economy.

Dodhia, Dinesh and Tina Johnson
Mainstreaming gender in debt and development resource management
London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 2005, ISBN: 0-85092-776-5, 166pp.
This publication draws out the linkages between gender and international debt and reviews the policies and actions taken by international development agencies and bilateral donors to promote and mainstream gender in development assistance. It also suggests ways in which governments can mainstream gender equality considerations into their debt and development resource management.

Doornbos, Martin
Global Forces and State Restructuring: Dynamics of State Formation and Collapse
Oxford: Macmillan, 2006, ISBN: 1-4039-9682-2, 225pp.
This book addresses how developing-country states collapse and are restructured in response to globalisation. Doonbos looks at successes and failures in countries in Africa and Europe as well as India in an attempt to discern common patterns across differing contexts and historical periods.

Dore, Elizabeth
Myths of Modernity: Peonage and Patriarchy in Nicaragua
Duke University Press: Durham, NC and London, 2006, ISBN: 0 8223 3674 X, 252 pp.
Based on oral history, scholarly research, and the author's experience in the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, this study charts the historical expropriation of communal lands, and the corresponding rise of debt-peonage and forced labour and changes in gender roles. She argues that patriarchy from above (peonage) and from below (senior male domination over the household) impeded capitalist development. However, the Sandinistas assumed that a (male) agrarian proletariat wanted better wages on state-owned farms rather than land redistribution. This served to disaffect small farmers from the Sandinista project and to bolster their support for the US-backed contra. The end of the civil war thus ushered in years of violent conflicts between small farmers and returning landowners, who claimed that the sanctity of private property had been violated. Yet historically, as Dore points out, it was the bourgeoisie and the state that had, from the 1870s, destroyed common lands in order to create the conditions for large-scale coffee production.

Edelman, Marc and Angélique Haugerud (eds.)
The Anthropology of Development and Globalization: From Classical Political Economy to Contemporary Neoliberalism
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 0 631 22880 2, 406pp.
A reference book on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on development and globalisation, this anthology is organised under the following main headings: classical foundations and debates; twentieth-century debates; development to globalisation; consumption, markets, and culture; gender, work, and networks; nature, environment, and biotechnology; development institutions; and development alternatives or alternatives to development. Authors featured (in order of appearance) include Karl Marx, Max Weber, Karl Polyani, James Ferguson, Saskia Sassen, Sylvia Chant, Jonathan Fox, and Arturo Escobar.

Ellerman, David
Helping People Help Themselves: From the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005,ISBN: O 472 11465 4, 334pp.
The author argues that most conventional development assistance, provided by the would-be ‘helpers’ undermines the capacity of people (the ‘doers’) capacity to help themselves. This entails abandoning pretences at social engineering, and grounding all forms of assistance on respect for and enhancement of autonomy. Ellerman presents leading thinkers across a range of disciplines (Albert Hirschman, Paolo Freire, John Dewey, Sǿren Kierkegaard, and EF Schumacher) to demonstrate that all, from their own professional perspective, have underlined the critical importance of such an ‘autonomy-respecting’ approach to achieving sustainable change.

Eversole, Robyn, John-Andrew McNeish, and Alberto D Cimadamore (eds.)
Indigenous Peoples and Poverty: An International Perspective
London: Zed Books and CROP, 2006, ISBN: 1 84277 679 7, 311pp.
Indigenous peoples worldwide experience disproportionate levels of poverty and exclusion, illustrating what may be defined as the failure of development. This collection addresses the causes and wider implications in relation to rights, citizenship, and self-determination within the nation-state; and indigenous peoples’ perspectives on development. These issues are examined through a series of detailed case studies of the situation of indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, Chiapas, Colombia, Mexico and Central America, New Zealand, Russia, SE Asia, Taiwan, and the USA.

Exchange Findings 5, April 2006, 6pp.
Communicating health research: how should evidence affect policy and practice?
This paper presents ways of ensuring that evidence from research is used in a way that benefits its intended beneficiaries. The proposed steps towards this are: researchers, policy makers, and practitioners talk to each other more; networks are built that counteract the present dominance by powerful, policy-making elites; research capacity in the South is increased; research reaches a wide range of audiences in easily understandable forms; and sharper critique of research impact and informal research methodologies.

Flyn, Karen
Food, culture and survival in an African city
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, ISBN: 1-4039-6639-7, 254pp.
The book draws on the personal accounts of over 350 market vendors, consumers, urban farmers, and street-dwellers in a Tanzanian town. Addressed at students and professionals interested in anthropology, African studies, urban studies, gender studies, or development economics, it gives insights into food-provisioning processes in a contemporary African city, and into the roles of gender, migration, exchange, sex, and charity in food acquisition.

Gallagher, Kevin (ed.)
Putting development first – the importance of policy space in the WTO and international financial institutions
London: Zed Books, 2005, ISBN 1 84277 635 5, 301pp.
Developing countries gained little from the Uruguay Round of global trade negotiations, and agreed to enter a new round only if this focused on development, and on the issues of unfair international trade relations. Contributors to this edited volume include development economists, North and South, who focus on the importance of state intervention in spearheading economic development. They address how far WTO rules and other international financial measures restrict the ability of developing nations to establish effective development policy, and the scope they have to preserve and expand upon the existing policy space.

Ghosh, Avik
Communication Technology and Human Development: Recent Experiences in the Indian Social Sector
New Delhi: Sage, 2006, ISBN: 81 7829 585 7 (pb, India), 289pp.
The author addresses the practical issues that arise in planning and undertaking communication programmes aimed at bringing about behaviour change. With a specific focus on rural communities in India, Ghosh argues that communication technology can help to overcome diverse social divisions.

Global Corruption Report 2006: Special focus Corruption and Health
Pluto Press: London / Transparency International, 2006, ISBN: 0-7453-2508-4, 362pp.
Three of the eight MDGs are concerned with health, but corruption within heath systems is severely undermining realisation of these goals in many countries. Corruption is a critical issue for the millions of people who can’t afford bribes or private payments – and particularly for women, denied access to services and information. In the long term, corruption makes it impossible to implement good governance and pro-poor policies. Rich nations urgently need to establish transparent systems of accountability for governments and donors. These themes cut across the three sections of this comprehensive report, namely: the causes and extent of corruption in health systems, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies – and its connection to HIV and AIDS; country reports and lessons learned; and research into corruption including budget transparency surveys, oil and gas revenues, and officials’ asset declaration laws. As the Foreword states, ‘This book should be on the table of every policy-maker who cares about development.’

Goldin, Ian and Kenneth Reinert
Globalization for Development: Trade, Finance, Aid, Migration, and Policy
Basingstoke and New York, NY: World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, ISBN: 0 8213 6274 7, 328pp.
The authors seek to illustrate how globalisation can generate or exacerbate poverty, or conversely be a means of overcoming it. Starting from the assumption that it must be judged on its capacity to address the issues of poverty, the authors present a set of empirical studies and accessible chapters on some of the main trends in trade, financial flows, aid, migration, and how these interact with development thinking, policy, and practice.

Handy, Femida, Meenaz Kassam, Suzanne Feeney and Bhagyashree Ranade
Grass-roots NGOs by Women for Women: The Driving Force of Development in India
New Delhi / Thousand Oaks / London: Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN-10: 0-7619-3500-2, ISBN-13: 978-0-7619-3500-1, 236pp.
This book explains the success of grassroots Indian NGOs – established by women, for women – in tackling rural poverty. It contains interviews held with 20 founders of NGOs over a five-year period. More broadly, it explores female entrepreneurship in the development sector, and how feminist ideology has led to organisational structures that provide microfinance and self-help, among other services. Also examined is the effectiveness of these NGOs in promoting development and women’s empowerment in local communities. Such issues will interest NGOs, funding agencies, students, and researchers.

Hodges, Ron (ed.)
Governance and the Public Sector (in the series Corporate Governance in the New Global Economy)
Cheltenham, UK / Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2005, ISBN 1-84542-302-X, 599pp.
This anthology of research papers looks at the principles and practice of governance in the public sector. The first part suggests six different meanings of public-sector governance. The second and third show how government structures relate to public-sector management and accountability. The final section looks at governance in national and global contexts, such as the IMF, the World Bank, OECD countries, and the impact of globalisation on governance in the South. The volume is the seventh in the series Corporate Governance in the New Global Economy.

Inglis, D.
Culture and everyday life
Abingdon: Routledge, 2005, ISBN: 0-415-31925-0, 159pp.
This volume sets out to illustrate how ‘key concepts and ideas . . . play out in everyday life’. Culture is variously interpreted: in the early 1950s, two US anthropologists came up with 164 different meanings. Inglis looks first at everyday bodily practices that are profoundly influenced by cultural phenomena, and then examines how modern cultural forces have an impact on everyday activities. He explores the differences between high, popular, and low culture, and considers how globalisation may be altering the cultural fabric of everyday life.

International Jesuit Network for Development
Debt and trade: time to make the connections
Dublin: Veritas Publications, 2005, ISBN: 1-85390-844-4, 188pp.
Developing countries owe more than three times the amount of debt that they owed 25 years ago, but have nevertheless been forced to remove trade subsidies and tariffs, while rich countries have maintained protectionist trade policies. Based on papers delivered at a conference organised by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, contributors from a range of countries in the South give first-hand accounts of the impact of debt and unfair trade on their countries. Representatives from the European Commission, Dail Eireann, and Development Cooperation Ireland discuss how Ireland and the EU could help to reform of policies on debt and trade.

Isard, Peter
Globalization and the international financial system: what's wrong and what can be done
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN: 0-521-60507-5, 370pp.
This book examines various aspects of the international financial system that contribute to financial crises and growth failures, and discusses the remedies that economists and international financial institutions have proposed for addressing the underlying problems. The author offers policy perspectives on what countries can do to reduce their economic vulnerability, as well as a number of general directions for a systemic reform.

Kandiyoti, Deniz
The politics of gender and reconstruction in Afghanistan (Occas