The political significance of the state will not be lost, no matter how insignificant international borders are apparently reduced to by a thriving and increasingly omnipotent global economy. Expansion and fragmentation of political power are the attributes of fundamental political change. Even if the state delegates its own authority and internationalisation inhibits autonomy, the state simultaneously finds new modes of cooperation and coordination which takes place both at its own national and international levels, says Subir Ghosh.

Not everyone is protected from immediate ecological crises. The global division of ecological labour is a harsh reality. While those in the South are forced to work to sustain the viability of life, others in the North are more concerned with establishing a quality of life. While all people desire a better quality of life, the question of who has the freedom to fulfil these desires is largely informed by global questions of power and privilege. When activists focus solely on questions of ecological need and survival they fail to recognise the qualitative concerns of the poor who also share desires for a meaningful and pleasurable quality of life, writes Subir Ghosh.

For one not acquainted with the Kiwi way of life, its gardens, kitchen, sensibilities and lore, 'Rapunzel Rapunzel', a collection of poems by Janet Charman makes reading a tad difficult --specially as it carries no information about the author or her milieu. However, pouring through the lines one realises that the predicaments of human life are basically the same all over --boundaries are but a blur as man deals with the various situations he is thrown in, writes Gene Evans.

Nazar Chagatayev, a young man, not a Russian, walked into the courtyard of the Moscow Institute of Economics. He looked wonderingly around him. He had been walking through this courtyard for several years, it was here his youth had gone, but he did not regret it. He had climbed high now, high up the mountain of his own mind from which could be seen all this summer world warmed by the setting evening sun. Excerpts.

Duncan Brack and his colleagues, in this book, deal with the interaction of two of the key driving forces in today's world: trade liberalisation and environmental protection. The key environmental aspect discussed is the one about climate change. What is discussed in correlation with each other are the Kyoto Protocol and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The authors start off with the possible trade impacts of climate change policies. The efforts of industrialised countries to limit CO2 emissions affect other countries by means of impacts on international energy markets, trade in energy-intensive goods, overall trade structures and volumes, and reduced climatic impacts, says Subir Ghosh.