Bryan Roberts - Böcker

Originally published as 'Cities of Peasants', this highly-acclaimed account of the expansion of capitalism in the developing world has now been extensively rewritten and updated.Focusing on Latin America, Bryan Roberts traces the evolution of developing societies and their economies to the present. Taking account of the move towards more 'open' economies, a shrinking of the state and various transitions towards democracies, he shows how urban growth has produced new patterns of social stratification, creating opportunities for social mobility, but doing little to decrease income inequality or political and social pressures.Underlying social changes have broadened the practice of citizenship in developing countries, limiting authoritarian rule but within a context of entrenched social inequalities and persisting political instability. This book conveys both the flavour of life in the cities of the third world and the immediacy of their problems.

The number of people who live in Asia is greater than the total number of people who live in the rest of the world. More than 160 cities in Asia have a population of at least one million people. Thus, when new infectious diseases threaten popu- tions in Asia, huge segments of the global population are at risk. At the same time, Asians are thoroughly integrated with the rest of the world, providing skilled exp- tise and becoming trading partners in all continents. Infectious diseases ordinarily show no preference for infection or disease according to race or ethnic background. A few exceptions exist, due to the host– pathogen evolution that happened before the recent era of rapid travel. Such exc- tions occur usually because the infectious agent was newly introduced to one population only after having existed and evolved for hundreds or thousands of years in a different population. As air travel became popular in the last few generations of people, it became increasingly difficult for populations to remain in isolation. Thus, in 2003, SARS in China rapidly became SARS in Canada. Throughout history, a major source of new infections of people has been old infections of animals. For some, such as Ebola or Lassa, transmission to people is rare and self-limiting, though frighteningly lethal for the few unfortunate indivi- als who get infected. And Ebola and Lassa are indigenous for Africa, not Asia.

This volume traces the development of the central highlands, one of Peru's major mining regions. It draws on extensive fieldwork carried out in Peru between 1970 and 1982, spanning a reforming military government, reaction and a return to civilian politics under Belaunde. Through historical material combined with field studies of villages and of the major town of the region, Huancayo, the book examines the economic and cultural processes underlying the 'progressive' reputation of the region in Peru and in the literature on development. Since the major enterprise of the region, the Cerro de Pasco Mining Corporation, was, until the 1970s, foreign owned, a persisting theme is the type of economic growth associated with and the distortions produced by, foreign capitalist economic enclaves on predominantly peasant economies. The political consequences are examined, showing the weakness of regional interest groups and the failure of contemporary regional development policies.

The number of people who live in Asia is greater than the total number of people who live in the rest of the world. More than 160 cities in Asia have a population of at least one million people. Thus, when new infectious diseases threaten popu- tions in Asia, huge segments of the global population are at risk. At the same time, Asians are thoroughly integrated with the rest of the world, providing skilled exp- tise and becoming trading partners in all continents. Infectious diseases ordinarily show no preference for infection or disease according to race or ethnic background. A few exceptions exist, due to the host– pathogen evolution that happened before the recent era of rapid travel. Such exc- tions occur usually because the infectious agent was newly introduced to one population only after having existed and evolved for hundreds or thousands of years in a different population. As air travel became popular in the last few generations of people, it became increasingly difficult for populations to remain in isolation. Thus, in 2003, SARS in China rapidly became SARS in Canada. Throughout history, a major source of new infections of people has been old infections of animals. For some, such as Ebola or Lassa, transmission to people is rare and self-limiting, though frighteningly lethal for the few unfortunate indivi- als who get infected. And Ebola and Lassa are indigenous for Africa, not Asia.

This volume focuses on recent experiences of return migration to Mexico and Central America from the United States. For most of the twentieth century, return migration to the US was a normal part of the migration process from Mexico and Central America, typically resulting in the eventual permanent settlement of migrants in the US.