Panos Institue; Aids and Men
The global AIDS epidemic is driven by men. Men have more opportunity to contract and transmit HIV; men usually determine the circumstances of intercourse, and men often refuse to protect themselves and their partners. The first section of this book examines the relationship between men’s actions and AIDS worldwide, the impact of those actions on men and women and initiatives designed to help men protect themselves and their partners. The second section illustrates many different aspects of the relationship—from machismo in Mexico to drug injection in Russia, from men in prison in Brazil to men living with HIV in Thailand, from men as fathers in the Ivory Coast to men who have sex with men in Kenya. Men undoubtedly take risks in relation to HIV. Whether or not they should also take responsibility for transmission of the virus, and how they can do so—this book offers insights.

Pracha Hutanuwatr & Ramu Manivannan; Asian Future Dialogues for Change Vol. 2, The
For several decades the Western model of development has been criticised forcefully within Asia. But there has been little intellectual articulation of what the alternatives might be—at micro and macro levels—from an Asian perspective. Do the various communities in Asia share anything significant beyond an abhorrence of the local effects of globalisation and Western dominance? The Asian Future: Dialogues for Change, Volume 2, brings together the ideas and experiences of some of Asia’s outstanding intellectuals and social activists from diverse traditions and faiths. Through in-depth interviews and dialogues, an understanding of shared spiritual, social and ecological values emerges. Contributors to this volume include: Walden Bello, Vandana Shiva, Chandra Muzaffar, Arief Budiman, Satish Kumar, Nakamura Hisashi, and Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche.

Patomaki, Heikki; Democratising Globalisation: The Leverage of the Tobin Tax
Patomeki’s book serves as a primer explaining and demystifying question of money, finance and taxes in the global economy today. Because it is so clearly written, it will be equally useful for the general reader as well as for specialists. The Tobin tax is a proposed tax on international currency transactions that would render much speculative movement of funds unprofitable and the world financial system less volatile. The author argues that the power of the global financial markets to undermine economic policies, production and employment has grown rapidly, while also transferring accountability away from national legislatures. The Tobin tax would shift globalization towards more democratic control, social responsibility and justice.

Martin, Hans-Peter & Harald Schumann; Global Trap, The
This remarkable book explores the spread of globalization and the likely consequences for jobs and democracy. The book opens a private seminar attended by 500 chief executives of major corporations, leading politicians and intellectuals in San Francisco. The conclusions were devastating. The biggest manufacturers, while shifting production away from the industrial countries, foresee a technological future in which only a fifth of the world current workforce will be needed. Millions will be unemployed and a growing gulf between the low paid and the well off will be the consequences. But, Martin and Schumann argue, we do not have to be mere cogs in a brutal global dynamic. Democratic power and economic prosperity do not have to give way to unstoppable technological and economic progress. The primacy of politics over the economy and the care of the state must, and can, be reasserted. A left wing view, trying to protect union power and privileged classes in some developed countries, and to prevent the shift to low labor cost countries, is the main line of the book.

Fano, Alix; Lethal Laws
For the past 150 years, chemicals have been tested on animals for the alleged purpose of protecting the public from their dangerous effects. Lethal Laws reveals that using animals as human surrogates is not only unethical, it is bad science. Alix Fano provides a meticulous analysis of the technical and scientific problems that have plagued animal tests for decades, but which have not been forcefully challenged until now. She shows how animal testing has been used as an alibi to allow the continued use of thousands of toxic chemicals. In a field dominated by male voices, this is a pioneering work by a woman that effectively demonstrates the causal link between animal testing and environmental degradation, and the subsequent deterioration of human health.

MacEvan, Arthur; Neo-Liberalism or Democracy ?
Is it true that there is no alternative to the neo-liberal ideology of free trade, deregulation of markets, and government abandonment of social programs? Must we accept, in the name of globalization, the relentless pressure to reduce wages and cut social spending? Can poor countries pursue no other route to development but opening their economies to global forces? The author sets out to explore these questions. In doing so, he subjects central tenets of modem economics to trenchant criticism. He argues that current policies are delivering neither sustained economic growth nor many of the other fundamentals of people’s wellbeing. He also argues that it is possible to construct a democratic economic strategy that produces growth and equity, while protecting the environment and securing local communities.

Ashton, John & Laura Ron; Perils of Progress, The
This book uses the latest scientific research to challenge our society’s largely unquestioning commitment to new technologies. While these have no doubt brought many benefits, the authors argue that our confidence in them is seriously misplaced—in some cases dangerously so.

Carrere, Ricardo and Larry Lohmann; Pulping the South
Demand for paper is soaring. In its search for cheap wood to supply raw material, today’s pulp and paper industry is throwing its net ever wider across the world. One of the more disturbing results is the spread of fast-growing pulpwood plantations in the forests, pastures and farmlands of the South. Contesting the industry propagated notion that all tree-planting must be benign, this path-breaking book shows how the new plantations are contributing to impoverishment of people; degradation of soil, water and biodiversity; and rural strife in countries as diverse as Chile, South Africa and Indonesia. This book’s insights into the history, causes and workings of globalization in one of the world’s leading industries, and alternative papermaking will be of interest to activists, environmentalists, economists, geographers and development specialists alike.

Monzini, Paola; Sex Traffic
“This absorbing, thoughtful and elegantly written book gives readers a major insight—both empathetic and analytical—into the demand, supply and contextual mechanisms that underlie the traffic in women and other forms of living off prostitution that have spread along with it.” Michael Levi, Professor of Criminology, Cardiff University “Critically addressing gender relationships, Paola Monzini gives a poignant account of the linkage between sexual exploitation, prostitution and human trafficking. Violence and gender is an old problem to which she responds with a new awareness. Placing the emphasis on the pull factors and exploitation structures in the destination countries, she invariably takes the reader back to the root causes, among which patriarchal structures, the myth of male superiority and the mind-sets of men as well as the prevailing market mechanisms provide fuel for discrimination on the basis of sex and race.” Helga Konrad, OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

Singh, Kavaljit; Taming Global Financial Flows
This book explains and analyses the constantly changing and complex world of global financial flows, and calls for radical reforms in a system that is now more susceptible to the whims of market sentiment than the economic policies of governments. The author recommends guiding principles in order to create a more stable international financial architecture and proposes concrete measures.

Thorbek, Susanne & Bandana Pattanaik; Transnational Prostitution: Changing Global Patterns
“This collection of detailed, smart and sensitive case studies will help us make gritty sense of how globalization is actually working in women’s and men’s lives, and wiser about the international dynamics shaping racialization, the state, migration and sexuality¬.” Cynthia Enloe, author of Maneuvres: the International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives. Patterns of prostitution, like so much else in our increasingly interconnected world, are changing radically, as the investigations in this volume dramatically show. The question of migrant prostitutes in the West may be much debated, but it is little researched. This collection makes a radical break with the current media focus on human trafficking and the old habit of simply blaming the victim. What emerges is a nuanced and empirically grounded portrait of the complexities of prostitution across national boundaries today.

Visvanathan, Nalini; Women, Gender & Development Reader, The
Third World women were long the undervalued and ignored actors in the development process but are now recognized by scholars, practitioners and policy makers alike as playing a critical role. As the first comprehensive reader for undergraduates and development practitioners, this work presents the best of the now vast body of literature that has grown up alongside this acknowledgment. With a guide to further reading at the end of each chapter, this book provides a foundation for any serious student of women in the development process.

Mayor, Fedrico & Jerome Binde; World Ahead: Our Future in the Making, The
Will humanity survive the coming century? Are we threatened by a demographic time-bomb? Will there be food for all? Can we eliminate poverty? Will new information technologies increase the gap between rich and poor, or on the contrary, open up opportunities for lifelong distance education for all? Is it true that many languages are in danger of extinction? This book looks at the major challenges of the future. Packed with the latest information and scientific understandings, it traverses a rich tapestry of crucial issues, threats and choices confronting humanity and proposes a new start based on four broad contracts: social, natural, cultural and ethical. In a world where problems are taking on increasingly global dimensions, we must come up with global solutions. We need to turn a culture of violence into a culture of peace.