The Other World: Issues and Politics of the Developing World (4th Edition) - Softcover

Cruikshanks

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801332664 ISBN 13: 9780801332661

Publisher: Db Addison Wesley (Lpe), 1999

Synopsis

The other world, fourth edition, is designed to give students an overview of contemporary issues in the developing world. Using an engaging and informative interdisciplinary approach, it provides students with fundamental information on current problems common to developing areas. The text presents regional coverage of latin america, africa, asia, and the middle east. The authors describe the similarities and differences among nations within these regions and trace events and issues in selected countries in each region.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

PREFACE

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful. - PAULO FREIRE

Much of our perception of the world is from an American perspective. We tend to focus on events in our country, those in other Western nations, and until recently on U.S.-Soviet relations. Yet, despite the military, political, and economic power of the United States, we account for only 5 percent of the world's population. Clearly, most of the world exists outside of our country. Indeed, this "Other World" has become crucial in understanding the larger world in which we live.

This book aims to help students grasp some of the main dimensions of contemporary global issues in the developing world, which we term the "Other World." It is intended to present that part of our world that is considered non-Western in its orientation. To appreciate the "Other World" in today's international climate, we need to know more about its geography, culture, traditions, and political and historical development.

The Other World is a primer on developing world issues, with an interdisciplinary focus. We make no apology that this book is what it appears to be: a descriptive background to selected world issues. It is descriptive because we emphasize basic information on geography, culture, and political tensions in the "Other World." The book targets general education students rather than the specialist. Our position is that these students are better served by a book that emphasizes specific issues, events, and places in a clear, jargon-free way rather than by one written for political science majors and graduate specialists.

We also hope that our analysis will be welcomed by readers who are looking for a supplementary textbook to use in international relations, geography, and comparative government courses in which coverage of the developing world is needed. Our point of view is that at the end of this century the focus of world politics has changed from an East-West dimension to a North-South dimension.

Two traditional approaches dominate the study of global politics: the comparative approach and the area studies approach. The former addresses the political situation in selected countries with an emphasis on their values, institutions, levels of modernization, and types of governments. A deficiency of this method is that it often fails to provide an overview of the geographical areas in which the separate states are located. However, comparative studies are dominant in the social sciences because of their ability to account for similarities and differences among political communities.

The second approach, area studies, centers on the study of geographic regions. This perspective focuses on a region's general characteristics, including geography, climate, economics, political and social structures, culture, religion, and history. Instead of contrasting the differences among states with dissimilar backgrounds, this method promotes an understanding of the peoples and countries in geographical proximity to one another.

This book combines both perspectives. First, it gives an overview of issues relevant to the understanding of contemporary problems common to the "Other World." Second, it provides regional coverage of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and then describes the similarities and differences within these regions. Third, it traces events and issues in selected countries in each region.

All of the chapters have been rewritten to take into account the effects of changing conditions as the people of the "Other World" enter the twenty-first century. We have attempted to keep the topics as relevant and up-to-date as possible. Time does not stand still, so we apologize in advance for any illustrations that may have become dated because of the rush of events.

We hope that the readers of The Other World will gain a new understanding of the major issues that affect much of the world's population. To comprehend the political turmoil in the Middle East or the food crisis in Africa, we must be aware of the dynamics of life in those regions. Finally, we believe that issues in the "Other World" do not respect borders and that global interdependence will be a fact of life in the twenty-first century.

All of us involved in this book benefited from the comments made by the following reviewers:

David Carwell, Eastern Illinois University John O'Rourke, Frostburg State University Rolin G. Mainuddin, North Carolina Central University Ross Burkhart, Boise State University

We believe that this text is stronger because of the help of others. Sherry Couture provided aid in overcoming the technical difficulties of this project. Tamara Beuttner worked long hours to generate information found on many of the charts. Dawn Alexander was responsible for developing the index. Others who helped with proofreading and sympathy include Jane Weatherby, Skye Patterson, A. Norman Cruikshanks, Janis K. Woolpert, Peter Hopkinson, Carol Huff, Mary and Edward Gavin, Ilona Ing-Kranzdorf, and our colleague John Culver. A special thanks goes to Julia Parshall who guided us through the editorial stages. We also received help from others at Longman including Eric Stano, Jennie Errickson, Mark Naccarelli, Alisa Boll and Megan Galvin. Janet Nuciforo was indispensable in helping us get our text ready for publication. Our copy editor was Louis C. Bruno, Jr. Because of the number of co-authors, we each have the luxury of blaming the others for whatever errors remain.

A chapter-by-chapter test bank with multiple-choice, true-false, and long- and short-answer questions is available to adopters. This test bank is available in both hard copy and on the TestGenEQ test generator CD-ROM. To order it, please contact your Longman Higher Education sales consultant or call 1-800-322-1377.

Joseph N. Weatherby Randal L. Cruikshanks Emmit B. Evans, Jr. Reginald Gooden Earl D. Huff Richard Kranzdorf Dianne Long

From the Back Cover:

Providing students with a solid foundation in the geography, culture, history, economy, and political systems of developing countries, The Other World takes an interdisciplinary approach so that students better understand the challenges and opportunities that developing areas are confronted with today. The fourth edition is completely updated and incorporates new sections on women in the area chapters as well as new coverage of multinational corporations.

About this edition

• Publisher: Db Addison Wesley (Lpe)
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0801332664
• ISBN 13: 9780801332661
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 343