The class forces that have come to play a central role in directing movements in different socio-political, temporal, and geographic settings are explored in case studies of the political history of nationalist movements in Palestine, Kurdistan, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Puerto Rico, the Basque Country, and Quebec the role of the state in ethnic conflicts in India, China, the former Soviet Union, and the former Yugoslavia the role of women and issues of gender and class in Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. Berch Berberoglu is Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, and Director of the Institute for International Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has published thirteen books, including "The Political Economy of Development: Development Theory and the Prospects for Change in the Third World" and "Class Structure and Social Transformations".