This work provides an introduction to some of the major issues and ways of comprehension involved in analyzing poverty and development in the 1990s. The editors seek to help readers past oversimple solutions and begin to delve into what is perhaps the world's most complex and yet pressing issue. After presenting the basic elements of poverty and development, the book provides an historical background to the development of the Third World. It includes discussion of the changing political order of the world, gender relations, technology, and culture.