Geography  

This volume examines the nature and causes of global inequality and critically analyzes contemporary approaches to economic development across the third world. Students gain a deeper understanding of the interacting dynamics of culture, gender, race, and class; biophysical factors, such as climate, population, and natural resources; and economic and political processes; all of which have led to the present-day disparities between the first and third worlds.

Why do some political leaders create and strengthen institutions like title registries and land tribunals that secure property rights to land while others neglect these institutions or destroy those that already exist? How do these institutions evolve once they have been established? This book answers these questions through spatial and temporal comparison of national and subnational cases from Botswana, Ghana, and Kenya and, to a lesser extent, Zimbabwe. Onoma argues that the level of property rights security that leaders prefer depends on how they use land.

For undergraduate World Regional Geography courses, or for a courses on globalization or cultural diversity. Diversity Amid Globalization explicitly acknowledges the geographic changes in today's world by emphasizing both the homogenizing and diversifying forces inherent to the globalization process. This approach allows the authors to emphasize the interconnections that bind people and places together. The globalization approach challenges students to make critical comparisons between the regions of the world in order to understand them more fully. Examples of the sorts of topics used to accomplish these goals include: *The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in SW Asia. *Aboriginal groups using high-technology tools to forge common political survival strategies. *The economic and political integration of the European Union, contrasted with micronationalism and the factionalism in Europe. *Ethnic diversification in the face of strong participation in the global assembly line in SE Asia. *The globalization and localization of beer consumption and production in the United States and Canada.