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An optimistic assessment of the prospects for a new international order - acting as a counter-blast to global pessimism. The text explains how the international system operates, the pressures it faces and the changes it must undergo, and offers concrete ideas to re-frame international relations, foreign aid and humanitarian intervention, without using jargon or simplistic judgements.
List of contents
Introduction: the Co-operative Imperative * Part One: Looking Back - 1945 and All That: a Brief History of International Co-operation * How do Countries Grow? It's the Polity, Stupid! * It's not Size that Matters: Development Projects Re-examined * Matters of Life and Death: the Record of Humanitarian Intervention * Summary: Sticks, Carrots and Room to Manoeuvre * Part Two: Looking Forward - Creativity plus Opportunity: a New Formula for Foreign Aid * Humanising Capitalism: Which Way Forward? * Light but Firm: the Future of Global Governance * Building Constituencies for Change: the Rise and Fall of Third-World Charity * The Getting of Wisdom: Institutional Reform and Personal Revolution * Conclusions: How Can I Help? * References and Notes * Index
About the author
Michael Edwards is the Director of the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society Unit in New York.
Report
Edwards' Future Positive is a remarkably coherent account of complex and diverse issues.' London Review of Books 'This courageous book pursues the biggest issue of all: how international co-operation can be raised to a higher level. The pursuit is full of intellectual excitement, arriving at conclusions that are inspiring and challenging.' John Toye, UNCTAD 'Edwards approaches problems facing the world with steady determination and a cool eye... He is remarkably persuasive, wise and extraordinarily well-informed.' Global Ideas Bank 'It is particularly refreshing to read a book which sets out how such changes might be achieved, and which is fundamentally optimistic that they can be.' David Bryer, Director, Oxfam.
