Third World Options

From the preeminent writer of Taiwanese nativist fiction and the leading translator of Chinese literature come these poignant accounts of everyday life in rural and small-town Taiwan. Huang is frequently cited as one of the most original and gifted storytellers in the Chinese language, and these selections reveal his genius. In "The Two Sign Painters," TV reporters ambush two young workers from the country taking a break atop a twenty-four-story building. "His Son's Big Doll" introduces the tortured soul inside a walking advertisement, and in "Xiaoqi's Cap" a dissatisfied pressure-cooker salesman is fascinated by a young schoolgirl. Huang's characters--generally the uneducated and disadvantaged who must cope with assaults on their traditionalism, hostility from their urban brethren and, of course, the debilitating effects of poverty--come to life in all their human uniqueness, free from idealization.

Security has long been a central organizing concept of International Relations. Until the 1980s students of the discipline understood its simple essence in terms of the arms race and balances of power. Then, reflecting changes encouraged by both the inter-paradigm debate and the so-called third debate, security underwent radical reconsideration. The many attempts to redefine the concept led to a proliferation of terms such as true security, global security, common security and environmental security. However, these terms have often been used in confusing and contradictory ways. In attempting to help students deal with this confusion, this book outlines the theoretical tools at the disposal of students for their own rethinking of the concept of security. The book will help students wishing to seriously engage with IR's security debate at whatever level, and draws its own conclusions as part of this debate.

First published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book debunks the argument that quality in education can only be achieved by limiting, or trading off, equality. The quality of schooling is a major issue for Third World nations across the globe. However there is no single measure which is universally accepted. Whether it is, as some economists might argue, an issue of the number of desks per classroom or one of national sovereignty is widely disputed. Defining equality in education becomes increasingly difficult in an era of globalization in which there exists a wide gap between rich and poor, both within and between nations. In the context of an international move towards New Right politics and neo-liberal economic ideologies, both the quality and equality of education are imperiled. This book argues that any worthy definition of quality education must include the interests and participation of the underprivileged.

In the last quarter century the Soviet Union and the United States have repeatedly come into conflict in various parts of the third world. During this period the most backward third world countries have sometimes proved susceptible to radical revolution, but the countries well on the way to industrialization have moved away from left-wing economic and political policies. In the longer perspective the West has been winning the struggle for the third world. The changes in those countries have been the subject of intense published debate in the Soviet Union—debate on Marxist concepts of the stages of history, on theories of economic development and revolutionary strategy, and on foreign policy. Jerry F. Hough explores the breakup of the orthodox Stalinist position on these issues and the evolution of free-swinging discussion about them. He suggests that, paradoxically, many of the old Stalinist ideas retain their strongest hold in the United States, which has not fully recognized its victory in the third world and the importance of the West's great economic power. The United States too often assumes that radical regimes will inevitably follow the Soviet path of development and that the nature of a regime determines the nature of its foreign policy. Because of these misperceptions, Hough argues the United States misses many opportunities in the third world. It emphasizes military power, even to the extent of undermining its crucial economic power, and it fails to offer the face-saving gestures that would permit Soviet retreats. Hough presents a prescription for an American policy better suited to the new realities in the third world and to the changing Soviet attitude toward them.

Reviews current thinking on development. Describes the inadequacies of existing administrative systems and their inability to cope with the newer developmental challenges. Discusses adapting the administrative apparatus to the requirements of people-centred development.