Co-publications
- Abstracts and bibliographic information

The world's top producer of opium, Myanmar has had a long and difficult history with regard to the drug. Successive governments have been unable to end the large-scale cultivation and use of opiates, and recent political instability seems to have fueled the widespread domestic use of heroin. The opium trade has helped to finance ethnic insurgency, as well as the central government's efforts to suppress it. This book assesses the historical and contemporary impact of illicit drugs on the people, economy, and international relations of Myanmar. The author also suggests ways to reduce the country's drug-related problems, encouraging a constructive engagement involving the government of Myanmar and the international community.

ISBN 92-808-0917-2
1996, 152 pages
US$38, hard
Available from UNU Press in Japan and South-East Asia, elsewhere from Lynne Rienner Publishers.

A global transformation of labour relations and production systems began to occur in the 1980s with new industrial and occupational patterns, technological progress, and the end of the welfare state. From the OECD to the Eastern block, to the newly developing countries of Latin America and Asia, old practices and approaches were found wanting. This book explores these transformations in eight countries or regions; the OECD, Eastern Europe, Brazil, South Korea, China, India, Malaysia, and Japan ; to examine the causes of this change and the likely prospects for the future. Throughout this volume, the emphasis is on production systems and their relationship to macroeconomic dynamics such as wage formation and the use of productivity gains. The authors examine the demise of Taylorized systems and Fordist macroeconomic regimes.

ISBN 92-808-0900-8
1995, 305 pages
US$95, hard
Available from UNU Press in Japan, elsewhere from Edward Elgar.

The economic crisis that has afflicted so many African countries has raised some hard questions about the continent's future viability. Does Africa have a real chance of a competitive industrial outlook in today's international economy? Could industrial structuring help steer it out of a dead-end path? Such questions are addressed in this new volume; part of a pioneering UNU series which aims at placing technology policies at the heart of national and international development strategies. The book brings useful insights from the experience of 55 exporting firms from six Sub-Saharan countries.

ISBN 0-415-12691-6
1995, 452 pages
US$50, hard
Available from UNU Press except in USA, where it is available from Routledge.

This book contributes to the growing literature on cultural, social, and economic issues pertaining to the Arab region. The primary focus is on women, their educational attainment, their share in employment, and their contribution to national development. The book documents the patterns and trends of female employment and highlights the determinants of labour-force participation in a number of countries. Attention is drawn to systematic and cultural bias in underestimating women's real contribution to national product and family welfare.

ISBN 92-808-0915-6
1995, 224 pages
US$35, paper
Available from UNU Press in Japan, China, and South-East Asia, elsewhere form Zed Books.

The changing nature of employment, new occupational patterns, joblessness, and their origins and consequences are now high on the public agenda all over the world. If these are left only to the spontaneous operations of the market, the consequences in terms of accelerating poverty, mass migration, social violence and international conflict may be serious. But what are the options and alternatives?

These original investigations by experts, economists, sociologists, political scientists - brought together by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University - examine the changing and increasingly interconnected labour markets of the OECD countries, the new market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the heterogeneous economies of the South.

The studies explore inter alia the impact of socio-economic and technological factors, the new division of labour, in shaping the internationalisation of labour markets. They examine the parts played in this process by global competition, regional economic integration, global sourcing by transnational corporations, and the impact of international migration. They look at the variety of national responses to the new problems and at international initiatives. Particular attention is given to the growing role and specific position of women in the various economic sectors.

For scholars and policymakers alike, the wide range of issues analysed, the unparalleled scope of regional and country experiences examined, and the policy implications explored, make this two-volume study of utmost and timely importance.

ISBN 92-808-0910-5
1995, 287 pages
US$25, paper
Available from UNU Press in Japan and South-East Asia, elsewhere form Zed Books.

Globalization involves structural changes in forms of state, society and culture, ecology and political economy and in ethics and expectations. In this collection, globalization and multilateralism are linked to questions of epistemology, ontology and strategy. Epistemology entails critical questioning of the nature of knowledge and its foundations. Ontology concerns the significant factors in global political economy. A critical stragety involves how to move world affairs from its present condition towards the promotion of our collective ability to channel structural change in a more democratic direction.

With this framework in mind, the purpose of this book is to examine the political economy context for consideration of a range of cultural and civilizational possibilities on our planet. Thus, the authors ask, what are the main structural changes, tensions and contradictions in the emerging global political economy? What are the limits and contradictions of the dominant knowledge/power structures and multilateral arrangements? What is the significance of these developments in terms of democratic social choice?

ISBN 0-333-67833-8 hardcover
ISBN 0-333-67834-6 paperback
1999, 304 pages

Available from Macmillan Press Ltd.

Illegitimate in the eyes of most people in the world, a failure in the eyes of yet others, the United Nations cannot possibly meet the challenges of the twenty-first century unless it is significantly reformed. But the history of UN reform is dismal and there seems little likelihood that the pattern will change. Thus less traditional forms of multilateralism are looked toward to cope effectively with the consequences of current global structural changes, especially the polarization of rich and poor and the fragmenting and weakening of political authorities. Some hope is to be found in more grassroots level movements and organizations, including regional organizations and those largely contained within a single country. Instances of multilateralism reviewed here, some more successful than others, include human rights, indigenous peoples' demands, women's concerns and AIDS.

ISBN 0-333-68187-8 hardcover
ISBN 0-333-68188-6 paperback
1999, 370 pages

Available from Macmillan Press Ltd.

In the long run productivity depends heavily on a country's ability to achieve technical progress. This book traces the linkages between the demands of structural adjustment programmes and the advance of science and technology in four Sub-Saharan African nations: Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. All four are predominantly agricultural, with a fragile manufacturing base and heavy foreign debt. In a departure from most studies of this question, which have concentrated on macro-economic questions, the volume focuses on micro-economic adjustments: the smaller units in economies, organizations, and individuals that bear the costs of such adjustments and derive the most directly and immediately observable benefits.

ISBN 0-415-12689-4
1995, 308 pages

US$45, hard
Available from UNU Press except in USA, where it is available from Routledge.

Exploring the nature, extent, and consequences of the cultivation of marijuana in the United States, this book focuses principally on the 49 counties in Kentucky that form part of Appalachia. Kentucky consistently ranks among the top 5 states in terms of marijuana eradicated, and often heads the list. The author's county-level analysis attributes this in large part to the historical economic and political exploitation of Appalachia, the relative isolation of the Appalachian counties from the rest of the state, and the pervasive poverty and hopelessness that characterize the region and its people.

ISBN 92-808-0892-3
1995, 140 pages
US$35, hard
Available from UNU Press in Japan and South-East Asia, elsewhere from Lynne Rienner Publishers.

The new realism is distinguished from Cold War realism by its expanding awareness of the relevant forces shaping world order beyond neorealism's limitation to major states. The new realism includes social forces and civilisations, introducing much greater complexity into the making of strategies for action. The interstate system and global economy, which have dominated world order, now confront antisystemic forces, both national and transnational, in the shape of people's movements advocating democratisation, human rights, gender equality, peace and social equity, all refracted through the prism of different civilisational perspectives. This confrontation is influenced in the medium term by the ambivalence of the USA in the world, the consequences of the break-up of the former Soviet bloc, social polarisation between rich and poor and the marginalisation of large populations as in Africa, and the potential for structural change through regionalism.

ISBN 0-333-66584-8
US$24.95, hard
Available from Macmillan Press Ltd.

The book sheds valuable light on the implications of new technologies for development strategy and industrialization policies. Particular attention is paid to the information technology sectors. It studies the successes (and failures) of governments in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico in building national systems that encourage and undergird scientific and technological innovation. It examines the manner in which military rule has shaped such capabilities; and the implications of authoritarianism for such cutting-edge industries as electronics and informatics.

ISBN 0-415-12690-8
1995, 276 pages
US$45, hard
Available from UNU Press except in USA, where it is available from Routledge.

In their earlier report, Reform in Eastern Europe, the WIDER group assessed the main building blocks of a successful transition in Eastern Europe: stabilization, price liberalization, privatization, and restructuring. For the last three years this group of leading economists has been heavily involved in the reform process. In this new report they take stock, returning to the original themes and assessing progress and prospects, particularly in Russia.

Stabilization in the major Central European countries was done very much by the book. Russia, in contrast, is following a path of restructuring without stabilization. The authors discuss how far this alternative strategy is likely to get. Turning to privatization, they note that initial plans started from the assumption that the state owned the assets. As the slow progress of those plans has painfully shown, this assumption was too simple. They point out that assets have in fact many de facto claimants, from managers to workers to local authorities to central ministries, and they discuss how the current Russian privatization program starts and builds up from this more realistic assessment.

In the face of a collapse of trade in Central Europe triggered by reform, and a similar collapse between republics following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the authors show how simple measures such as a payments union can be used to increase trade and output.

Post-Communist Reform concludes with a look at restructuring in Poland. The authors focus on the behavior of the state, the growth of the private sector, the role of financial systems, and the coherence of overall government policy, ending on a note of cautious optimism.

A Report of the United Nations University/WIDER World Economy Group.

ISBN 92-808-042-7
1993, 196 pages
US$25, cloth
Available from UNU Press in Japan and South-East Asia, elsewhere from MIT Press.

This collection explores the effects of new technologies on women's employment and on the nature of women's work. The volume is edited by two pre-eminent scholars in the field and contains thirteen articles from leading academics worldwide. It provides a critique of post-modernism and ecofeminism and debates whether new technology should be used as a vehicle for gender equality in the developing world.

ISBN 0-415-12687-8
1995, 380 pages
US$70, hard
Available from UNU Press except in USA, where it is available from Routledge.

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