Shifting Terrain places contemporary political, economic, and social questions in long-range historical context. An essay on the new American imperialism is set against one that considers enduring lessons from Thucydides on the hubris of empire. The deep Lockean liberal structure of American politics is treated, along with a case history of the labor movement. Essays on child labor, hunger and poverty explore topics in world political economy as it affects the most dispossessed.

Despite the recent growth of research on social problems facing the people of sub-Saharan Africa, there remains a critical lack of conceptual, epistemological, and empirical research and documentation. This sophisticated new book attempts to fill that gap by synthesizing, interpreting, and extending the existing literature on conditions that constitute serious impediments to socio-economic development in Africa. It provides an original and up-to-date survey of key problems ranging from poverty and inequality to violence and crime. The contributors, all of whom have lived or worked in Africa, show how social problems emerge, how they are defined, and how various actors attempt to deal with them. This timely book provides a much needed analysis of the major issues and debates regarding the dynamics of social problems in the African context. Social Problems in Africa is broken into four parts. The first introduces readers to the nature of social problems in general and provides a framework for analyzing and understanding social problems in an African context. Part II, on culture, human rights and democracy, examines these crucial aspects of social problems in Africa, as well as issues such as language and colonialism. Part III focuses on poverty and inequality, while conflict and violence is the focus of Part IV. Together, the chapters in this volume provide the most comprehensive and systematic approach to the issues available, bringing much-needed attention to the problems in Africa from the perspective of scholars who have lived and worked there.

With increased public concern regarding food safety, greater demands are placed on risk communicators to involve the public and other interested parties in an interactive dialogue and to explain the magnitude and severity of risks associated with foodborne hazards in clear and comprehensible terms that convey credibility and trustworthiness. This requires communicators to recognize and overcome gaps in knowledge as well as obstacles inherent in the uncertainties of scientific risk assessment. This document is the report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Application of Risk Communication to Food Standards and Safety Matters was held from 2-6 February 1998 at the Italian Ministry of Health, Rome.