A survey of the history and geography of sexually unconventional behaviour. Includes a country to country survey of the laws affecting sexual minorities.

The ending of the Cold War was supposed to increase global security and divert expenditure previously earmarked for arms purchases to more constructive ends. Instead, the arms trade has flourished. Not only conventional arms, but also police and surveillance equipment, have been provided by Western countries seeking to make a profit from conflict in unstable parts of the world. Foreign debt has remained high, development has been held back, and human rights have been systematically abused, all with the connivance of an arms trade prepared to turn a blind eye to the uses to which increasingly sophisticated weaponry is put, so long as hefty profits can be reaped. This disturbing book names the players in the arms trade and charts the impact that it has had on war, human rights, and development. The financial and trade mechanisms that permit the arms trade to continue are revealed, amid sordid tales of bribery and corruption. Gideon Burrows concludes his examination by reviewing the ways in which this trade can be controlled or even abolished.

Terrorist or freedom fighter? Analyzing the causes and contexts of terrorism the world over, Barker guides readers through the moral and political theories justifying and guiding terrorist acts.

The power and influence of the mass media grows daily, crucially affecting the way all of us see and understand each other. The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Media introduces readers to the political economy of the major mediafilm, television, radio, recording, publishing and the Internet. Peter Steven looks at the ever greater concentration of ownership and at the convergence of technologies and media functions. At the same time, he emphasizes the diversity of local media production and media around the world. The media is more than the economics of ownership and the technology of production, he stresses; it is also audiences, in all their annoying and wonderful diversity.

Water sustains life: without it, humans cannot survive for more than a few days. And yet this precious fluid is becoming increasingly politicized as the debates about control and ownership of water itself, and of the many organizations which govern its use, gain force. Maggie Black explores the many roles water plays in human life and, as the defense of water rights looks set to become an explosive issue, provides a clear overview on the vital issues of distribution, technology, irrigation, land use and commodification.

"All too often what passes for development improves life for the better-off, while actively hurting the very people the venture was meant to support." -- back-cover.

At the turn of the new millennium, the United Nations determined that world poverty would be halved by 2015. International agencies are all committed to "poverty abatement." The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have renamed their structural adjustment policies "poverty reduction strategies." But can this work? No, argues Jeremy Seabrook, not if we fail to understand the meaning of poverty. Drawing on testimonies from around the world, as well as on the hard facts, he challenges the assumption that wealth overcomes poverty, and demonstrates that the opposite of "poor" is not "rich" but "self-reliant." Appealing passionately for a shared sense of "sufficiency," he gives verbal snapshots of people's lives to show how poverty shifts, changes and endures in response to the growth of wealth.

Includes statistics.

From coffee farms in Peru and cocoa production in Ghana to jeans manufacture in China and the Banana War of Guatemala and the Caribbean, this fully revised No-Nonsense Guide tells the human story behind the products we consume. Examining the contest between 'free' and 'fair' trade around the world, David Ransom argues that the key question is not whether trade should be regulated or deregulated, but whether it is to be the master or servant of the people.

Has the battle for women’s rights been won? Not when women still make up 70 percent of the world’s poor. This guide examines the advances that have been made and looks beneath the surface to find out what the reality is for women all around the world. It shows how, in this “post-feminist” age, women’s rights are still very much an issue. Nikki van der Gaag is a freelance writer, editor, and evaluator on development issues. Prior to this, she was editorial director at the Panos Institute and co-editor of the New Internationalist magazine.