Gurtov uses a global-humanist framework to address four interrelated problems: underdevelopment, human rights violations, the arms race, and environmental destruction. This edition of his textbook has been updated to take account of the dramatic developments in world politics and the world economy since 1988. The book includes up-to-date material on: perestroika, pluralism in Eastern Europe, the changing nature of the arms race, events in South Africa, the Gulf crisis, the changes in China, mounting budget deficits in the U.S., tropical deforestation in Brazil and statistics through 1990. The book has a practical bent, conveying how global politics affects the quality and content of people"s lives. It concludes with a definition of international security and specific ways that it might be achieved.