First World/Third World

Contemporary ethical debate on First World/Third World issues is here viewed through a new lens and with a new immediacy in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Matters of life and death in the Third World are now seen as matters of life and death in the First World. The Third World is taken to be a state, one defined by a set of problems and challenges raised by poverty and economic underdevelopment. The focus of the book is on the conflict of values around several key issues: human rights and social justice - including foreign aid, debt repayment and forgiveness; economics - including income disparity, economic development, trade and globalization; the environment and population growth - including global climate change, biodiversity, depletion of resources; and armed conflict - including war and terrorism, refugees and asylum, first-world support for Third-World governments. It is these issues that must be successfully addressed if long-term peace and security are to be achieved for inhabitants of both First and Third Worlds.
This volume should appeal especially to students and general readers in philosophy, politics, environmental studies, peace/war studies and human rights.