In the shadow of the rising global middle class there resides another reality: the planet of slums. Cutting public budgets, deregulating markets and liberalizing trade may have generated new wealth on a global scale, particularly in Asia. But, as Mike Davis points out in his new book, "Planet of Slums" (Verso Press, 2006) these "structural adjustments" required to join the global marketplace have often generated as much misery as prosperity.
While trimming the role of the state, they have been unable...
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