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Books on Economic, Social & Gender Issues
We also have rare and out-of-print books on Thailand,
Southeast Asia, and Laos.
THE PERILS OF PROGRESS
by Ashton, John & Laura Ron
US$ 17.50
Book order code : I 8206
This pioneering book is essential reading for all those interestes in their own and their family's health, the wellbeing of the environment and the long-term future of the planet. The Perils of Progress calls on the lastest scientific research to challenge our society's largely unquestioned commitment to new technologies. While these have undoubtedly brought many benefits, the authors argue that industrial society's reliance on every latest technology as a cure-all for our problems is seriously misplaced - in some cases dangerously so. Clearly written, comprehensive in its coverage and meticulously researched, their book introduces the reader to vast array of health and environmental issues which are increasing public concern.
Despite revealing much that is disagreeable about the adverse effects of modern technology, each chapter ends with a positive and empowering 'What You Can Do" section. In these, readers are offered pracitical advice on the steps they can take to protect their health and the condition of the environment.
(London, 1988) Barcode 978-185-6496-97-1
359 pp., 140 x 210 mm., pbk
DILEMMAS OF DOMINATION
: The Unmaking of the American Empireby Bello, Walden
US$ 21.00
Book order code : I 9108
About this book from the acclaimed globalization critic, a far-reaching analysis of Americas military, economic and political vulnerability. The empire seems unassailable, but the empire is weak - and precisely because of its imperial ambitions. So argues Walden Bello's provocative new book, which systematically dissects the strategic, economic and political dilemmas confronting America as a consequence of its quest for global domination. An award-winning development expert, Bello shows how, despite the enormity of the US defence budget, American forces are already overextended, a condition bound to intensify as each local Victory' breeds simmering resistance and new confrontation. He points to the empire's looming economic breakdown, the result of its gargantuan military costs, record-breaking budget deficits, and exploitative trade and investment relations with developing countries. On the political front, he warns of the bitter disillusionment mounting around the world in response to Americas failure to champion liberal democracy. Everywhere America goes, crony capitalism, hostile coercion, and gross inequalities of income eat away at expectations of justice and inclusion. A clear and prophetic examination, Dilemmas of Domination reveals a not-too-distant future in which the empires hidden weak-nesses will yield fatal challenges to American supremacy.
(London, 2005) ISBN 1-84277-693-2
256 pp., 155 x 235 mm, pbk.
PULPING THE SOUTH
: Industry Tree Plantations and the World Paper Economyby Carrere, Ricardo & Larry Lohmann
US$ 16.50
Book order code : I 7 568
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 improverishment 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.
(London 1996)
288 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
BRAVE NEW SEEDS
: The Threat of GM Crops to Farmersby De La Perriere,Brac Robert Ali & Franck Seuret
US$ 15.00
Book order code : I 8 408
Farmers around the world are being pressured by half a dozen giant corporations to grow genetically engineered crops. What are the possible downsides for them? For their environment, their health, their ndependence, their traditional export crops and their access to the marketplaces of their own countries? This book, with its dialogue between farmers' representatives and experts, is a clear statement of principles that should guide governments and communities in bringing this profit-motivated deployment of scientific power under democratic control.
(London 2000)
160 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
LETHAL LAWS
: Animal Testing, Human Health and Environmental Policyby Fano, Alix
US$ 18.00
Book order code : I 7 809
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.
(London 1997)
256 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
AIDS AND MEN
: Taking Risk or Responsibility?by Foreman, Martin (Ed.)
US$ 23.00
Book order code : I 8 198
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, are questions that cannot be easily resolved. This book offers some insights.
(London & New York 1999)
250 pp., 125 x 200 mm, pbk.
THE INTERNATIONAL GLOSSARY ON POVERTY
by Gordon, David & Paul Spicker (Eds),
US$ 12.50
Book order code : I 8 195
This unique international glossary provides an authoritative guide to some two hundred technical terms used in contemporary scholarly research on poverty. Each entry contains definitions and explanations, followed by a select reading list of relevant journal articles and books. The glossary has been compiled by scholars in a number of countries and international agencies with the aim of sensitizing those working in various disciplines as well as policy makers to the complexity of the issues relating to poverty. A special effort has been made to include non-Western approaches and concepts with a view to facilitating comparative poverty studies. An introduction by Robert Pinker of the London school of Economics examines the current state of poverty research.
(London & New York 1999)
174 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
TIGERS IN TROUBLE
: Financial Governance Liberation and Crises in East Asiaby Jomo, K. S. (Ed.)
US$ 13.50
Book order code : I 7 976
This important book provides a cogent critique of the nature of Southeast Asian capitalism. It argues that the crises are due not to excessive regulation, but to too much financial liberalization and a consequent undermining of monetary and fiscal governance. While recognizing some macroeconomic problems and abuses of state intervention in the region, the book also highlights the nature and implications of IMF and domestic policy responses which exacerbated the crises. It shows how the herd behavior of stock markets and injudicious official responses transformed an inevitable correction of overvalued currencies into wholesale collapse. The danger now is that the policies which built the success of Japan and the first wave of newly industrializing economies will no longer be available to the rest of the region. The analysis contained in this book raises profound questions which resonate way beyond the Asian region itself. They relate to the appropriate role of the state, the policies of the IMF and the viability of the deregulated free market capitalist model which these and other Third World countries have been encouraged to pursue.
(London & Bangkok 1998) ISBN 974-8434-59-1
272 pp., 150 x 215 mm, pbk.
Sex Work in Southeast Asia
: The Place of Desire in a Time of AIDSby Law, Lisa
US$ 15.00
Book order code : I 8 431
Southeast Asian sex workers are stereotypically understood as passive victims of the political economy, and submissive to western men. The advent of HIV/AIDS only compounds this image, as sex workers come to represent the victims of, and vectors for, a deadly virus. This book is a cultural critique of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes targeting sex tourism industries in Southeast Asia. By juxtaposing practical, contemporary issues of AIDS prevention with current theories of subjectivity and identity. Sex Work in Southeast Asia posits a new place for a speaking sex worker subject. This book will be vital up-to-date research for scholars in cultural, political, social and urban geography, as well as in development and gender studies.
(London 2000)
158 pp., 155 x 235 mm, pbk.
RISING SUN, RISING DAUTHERS
: Gender Class and Power in Japanby Liddle, Joanna & Sachiko Nakajima
US$ 18.00
Book order code : I 8213
Western interest in Japan has grown consistently since the war, but surprisingly little is known about Japanese women. This book explores the themes of gender and class by tracing the changing position of women through significant moments of history and into the contemporary period. Their story repudiates the commonly held view of the submissive Japanese woman, and shows how women have been active agents in constructing new identities both in family and public life. The energy of the women's liberation movement of the late twentieth century resonates with echoes of struggle and resistance from earlier times.
Japan is a unique canvas on which these dramas have been played out. Japan has been a colonial power and has also been subject to ealry forms of colonisation, has been both an ally and an enemy of the west, and has moved from an inward-looking society to a major player in the global political economy. Using a new conceptual framewrok, the authors demonstrate how gender relations are crucially related to the construction of class, and show how women and gender relations are used as a resource in the struggle for power between nations.
The contemporary material is based on detailed interviews, conducted over two decades, with women who have challenged the stereotypes normally attached to Japanese women and attained positions of influence in professional life. The authors weave together the voices and lives of these women with the analytical themes of the book. Their stories are powerful and sometimes moving, and they bring into focus the broader movements of history and culture within the experiences of individual women. The book offers an original approach to the contemporary issues of gender, class and global politics, and will appeal to both specialist and general readers.
(London, 2000) Barcode 978-185-6498-79-1
352 pp., 135 x 215 mm., pbk
NEO-LIBERALISM OR DEMOCRACY?
: Economic Strategy, Markets and Alternatives for the 21st Centuryby MacEwan, Arthur
US$ 19.50
Book order code : I 8 298
Is it true that there is no alternative to the neo-liberal ideology of free trade, deregulation of markets, and government abandonment of social programmes? 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 modern 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.
(London 1999)
267 pp., 135 x 225 mm, pbk.
THE TALIBAN
: War Religion and the New Order in Afghanistanby Marsden, Peter
US$ 22.00
Book order code : I 8043
Since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Taliban have become the focal point of the West's difficult relations with the Islamic world. This book helps us understand what has been happening inside the country, the nature of radical Islamic movements, and the very difficult questions ahead which war cannot answer.
(London, 199) Barcode 978-184-2771-67-9
173 pp., 3 maps, 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
THE GLOBAL TRAP
: Globalization and the Assault on Prosperity and Democracyby Martin, Hans-Peter & Harald Schumann
US$ 19.50
Book order code : I 7 872
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 manu-facturers, 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 labour cost countries, is the main line of the book.
(London 1997)
280 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk.
THE WORLD AHEAD
: Our Future in the Makingby Mayor, Fedricp & Jorome Binde
US$ 20.00
Book order code : I 8539
Will humanity survive the coming century? Are we threatened by a demographic time-bomb? Will there be food for all? Can we eliminate poverty? Are we, in our cities, heading for a kind of apartheid between the affluent and the socially excluded? Will new information technologies increase the gap between rich and poor - or, on the contrary, open up opprtunities for lifelong distance education for all? Are women going to win thier legitimate place in society? Is it true that many languages are in danger of extinction? How can we forestall global warming and the onward march of the world's deserts? Will there be wars over access to shrinking suppliers of water? What are the prospects of running out of affordable oil and gas; and can we harness solar energy?
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. The choice is stark: either a 21st century with human face or the grimacing mask of a 'Brave New World'.
(London, 2001) Barcode 978-185-6498-75-3
509 pp., 155 x 230 mm., pbk
SEX TRAFFIC
: Prostitution, Crime and Exploitationby Monzini, Paola
US$ 19.00
Book order code : I 9181
(London, 2005) Barcode 978-184-2776-25-4
202 pp., 130 x 200 mm., pbk
FORGOTTEN LAND
: A Rediscovery of Burmaby O'Brien, Harriet
US$ 26.00
Book order code : I 5824
Forgotten Land leads us through a land of elephants, pagodas and Buddha images; a country whose associations with Empire are encapsulated in Kipling's 'Road to Mandalay'. It also captures the other Burma, a land of political repression and warring factions; a military dictatorship fighting ethnic rebel forces in the borderlands and set against a more recent movement struggling for democracy within the government controlled areas. Above all, this book is a personal rediscovery of an enchanting and mysterious country that somehow because locked in time.
Burma was front-page news in 1988 when nationwide demonstrations threatened to change the course of almost a quater of a century of military rule but order was ruthlessly reinstated and the country reverted to its former isolation. Harriet O'Brien, who spent much of her adolescence in Burma, was deeply intrigued by this isolated, enigmatic country and decided to return. At a time when new hope for democracy is embodied in Aung San Suu Kyi, the Oxford-educated daughter of a legendary independence hero, she remembers the history of Burmla and records her own powerful impressions.
Although Burma is inaccessible to many foreign correspondents, Harriet O'Brien travels from Rangoon to Mandalay and from the privileged beach resorts of the military to the mountainous border with Thailand where guerrillas continue their relentless forty-year struggle against the government forces. She unravels the mysteries of the economy in a nation starved of foreign aid and investment and uncovers the methods and personalities involved in the alternative economy, the black market. By revealing the beliefs and customs that are the bedrock of Burmese culture, Harriet O'Brien offers her explanations as to why this gracful and sensitive people has allowed itself to be repressed for so long. Penetrating the government whitewash, she meets the students, ethnic groups, rebels and political activists who are bringing this forgotten land to the brink of change.
(London, 1991) Barcode 978-071-8134-26-6
269 pp., 8 pp. photos, 140 x 220 mm.
DEMOCRATISING GLOBALISATION
: The Leverage of the Tobin Taxby Patomaki, Heikki
US$ 20.00
Book order code : I 8548
Professor James Tobin proposed a tax on international currency transactions that would render much speculative movement of funds unprofitable and the world financial system less volatile. This book makes an up-to-date case for implementing the Tobin tax. 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 help control global finance, bolster the autonomy of states and shift globalisation towards more democratic control, social responsibility and justice. On a practical level, Dr Patomaki argues that its implementation could start with a group of countries. This would make it possible to proceed without the consent of every state, while not compromising the eventual aim of a universal and uniform tax.
(London, 2001) Barcode 978-185-6498-71-5
283 pp., 140 x 215 mm, pbk
THE ASIAN FUTURE 2
: Dialogues for Changeby Pracha Hutanuwatr and Ramu Manivannan
US$ 22.00
Book order code : I 9066
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? These two volumes bring 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. The fourteen contributors have each lived through political upheaval and periods of gross human rights violations. Their common ground is a passionate commitment to achieve change in society, including social justice and ecological sustainability. These are the voices of considered, engaged action and transition in Asia today.
(London, 2005) ISBN 1842773453
255 pp., 6 pp. illus., 155 x 235 mm, pbk.
TRAVELS IN THE SKIN TRADE
: Tourism amd the Sex Industryby Seabrook, Jeremy
US$ 25.00
Book order code : I 7572
Press coverage of the sex trade in Thailand routinesly consists of ill-informed, moralising and sensationalist denunciations of the industry. Through the words of sex workers and their clients, accliamed journalist Jeremy Seabrook reconsiders the popular conception of the sex industry and explores the complex relationship between sen and tourism. In so doing he presents an objective, unmoralisng and sensitive view of the industry. Travels in the Skin Trade is now reissued with a new Preface.
(London, 1996) Barcode 978-074-5317-56-4
187 pp., 135 x 215 mm., pbk
TAMING GLOBAL FINANCIAL FLOWS
Challenges and Alternatives in the Era of Financial Globalization: A Citizen's Guideby Singh, Kavaljit
US$ 18.00
Book order code : I 8382
The global financial system, this book argues, is in turmoil. Financial liberalization has led to phasing out of regulatory mechanisms over the movement of huge sums involved in currency speculations, new financial products, offshore financial centers, secretive hedge funds and 'hot money' flows to emerging markets. The result is a degree of volatility in financial markets which threatens the orderly running of national economies. 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 enunciates certain guiding principles in order to create a more stable international financial architecture and recommends a series of concrete measures. This most timely and useful follow-up to his very successful previous book, The Globalization of Finance: A Citizen's Guide, contributes greatly to public understanding of the intricacies of global finance and to the possibilities of effective action by people's movements campaigning for a more just and sound financial system.
(Bangkok, 2000) Barcode 978-185-6497-84-8
254 pp., 135 x 215 mm., pbk
FUEL FOR CHANGE
: World Bank Energy Policy, Rhetoric VS Realityby Tellam, Ian
US$ 15.00
Book order code : I 8410
Fuel for Change, with its evidence and case studies from a wide variety of countries in both the Third World and the transitional economies of Eastern Europe, examines the World Bank's new energy policies. Written by well-informed analysts in leading NGOs concerned with energy questions, it seeks to add to the pressure on the Bank to shift its capital lending and policy advice in favour of sustainable energy, including serious investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and energy provision for the rural poor.
The Bank has traditionally been the leading multilateral financier of energy provision. Since 1992, it has begun to implement a reform programme based on privatization of the energyg sector. This book explains the historical development of the Bank's energy policies. It outlines promising initiatives within the Bang for sustainable energy and explains why these are having little impact on mainstream energy lending. It describes how and why the Bank's energy policies have actually led to an increase in fossil fuel power plants in the top-ten low income countries, while continuing to marginalize renewable energy. While not wishing to launch an ideological attack on privatization, the authors are concerned with how the Bank has allowed regulatory processes to be hijacked by vested interests.
(London, 2000) Barcode 978-185-6497-82-4
224 pp., 135 x 215 mm., pbk
GENDER AND SLUM CULTURE IN URBAN ASIA
by Thorbek, Susanne
US$ 10.00
Book order code : I 8373
Rapid Urbanization has always spawned slums. But what are they like to live in? And particularly for women? This study of slum culture and gender relations compares two slums in Asia - Ratmalana in Colombo and Khlong Toey in Bangkok - and shows how the impact of usbanization, economic change and national politics has differed significantly in Sri Lanka and Thailand, despite their common cultural background of Theravada Buddhism.
The book explores the impact of these differences on gender relations and the lives of the very poorest men and women. Dr. Thorbek, a Denish sociologist, discusses how gender indentity is defined; the contradictions between culture as publicly expressed and privately practised in women's daily activities; and how female identity may be understood in each country. And, as in her previous, highly acclaimed Voices from the City: Women of Bangkok (Zed Books, 1987), the author allows the women in the slums to speak through her pages.
(London, 1994) Barcode 978-185-6491-28-0
233 pp., 15 pp. illus., 135 x 215 mm, pbk
TRANSNATIONAL PROSTITUTION
: Changing Global Patternsby Thorbek, Susanne & Pattanaik, Bandana
US$ 17.50
Book order code : I 8668
Pattern 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 curent 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.
As befits a subject with such huge consequences for the lives of people, this volume includes personal testimony alongside sociological investigation. Testimony comes forn both prostitutes and clients. Men are dealt with as customers; as creators of dominant European notions of sexuality, race and prostitution; and as prostitutes themselves selling services to women tourists.
(London, 2002) Barcode 978-184-2770-31-3
247 pp., 135 x 215 mm, pbk
THE WOMEN, GENDER & DEVELOPMENT READER
by Visvanathan, Nalini et al. (Eds)
US$ 13.50
Book order code : I 7 848
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 compre-hensive reader for undergraduates and development practitioners, this book presents the best of the now vast body of literature that has grown up alongside this acknowledgement. The book has a guide for further reading with each chapter.(London 1997)
410 pp., 155 x 235 mm, pbk.
AERIAL NATIONALISM
: A History of Aviation in Thailandby Young, Edward M.
US$ 30.00
Book order code : I 7948
In 1911 aviation was introduced to Thailand (then Siam) through a traveling air show. This dramatic form of technological innovation quickly became integral to the country's program of modernization as a means of gainning international respect. In this first detailed study of the development of aviation in Thailand, Edward M. Young, focusing on the pivotal years 1911-1945, traces the nationalistic impulses that drove the Thai quest for air power, fisrt under the Thai royalty and then under the military regime that followed the coup d'etat in 1932. The book also examines the later development of the Thai air force, when it helped regain territory ceded to the French, participated in the Japanese advance in Burma, and later provided clandestine support to the Allies in World War II.
Young shows how economic, technological, and political issues affected the country's choice of airplanes. The government's purchase of aviation equipment from such American companies as Curtiss Aeroplane and Consolidated in the 1920s, for example, reflected in part a growing desire to draw away from the influence of England and France.
Aerial Nationalism details the benefits of an independent Thai air fleet, including modernization of the country and greatly improved communications. The book also discusses the problems involved in the rise of Thai aviation, including the challenges of fostering technology in a traditional society without a modern industrial base, allocating resources in a developing nation, and striking a balance between civil and military aviation.
(Washington D.C., 1995) Barcode 978-156-0984-05-4
388 pp., 28 pp. illus., 155 x 235 mm.
TINDER BOX
: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorismby Zunes, Stephen
US$ 19.00
Book order code : I 8740
This book does a wonderful job of explainning the tragedy of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Professor Zunes powerfully illustrates how the more the United States has militarized the region, the less secure we have become, Perhaps more importantly, he shows how he have become the target of terrorists not because of our values but because our foreign policy has strayed from those values. It is particularly refreshing to find someone who not only recognizes that Palestinian rights and Israeli security are dependent on each other, but understands how U.S. policy has harmed the prospects for both. The list of tragic blunders and policy debacles Zunes details is a long one, yet he concludes with clear policy alternatives and a sincere hope that, through citizen action, our government's pursuit of Pax American will some day be repeated by a quest for justice and sustainable peace. (Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, TIKKUN Magazine)
(London, 2003) Barcode 978-184-2772-59-1
282 pp., 150 x 225 mm, pbk
We also have rare and out-of-print books on Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Laos.
