Over the past decade there has been an increase in poverty in the industrialised countries of the 'North', while many of the developing countries in the 'South' have experienced some improvement. This collection argues that there are a number of likenesses between the predicaments of the North and South.

1. Introduction Paul Mosley and Elizabeth Dowler2. Prospects for equitable social provision in a globalising world Bob Deacon3. Globalisation and the direction of future social policy Arjan de Haan4. Risk and Vulnerability: the forward-looking role of social protection Robert Holzmann5. Governance and the common man: embedding social policy in the search for security Geof Wood6. Economic growth and social capital Paul Whiteley7. Defining the limits of a discourse: 'social capital' in Africa John Campbell8. Perspectives on poverty in North and South Fran Bennett9. Globalisation and home-based workers in North and South Paul Mosley with assistance from Jane Tate10. Food and poverty: current global challenges? Elizabeth Dowler and Geoff Tansey11. Microfinance, poverty and social exclusion in North and South Paul Mosley and Lucy Steel12. Social capital and micro-enterprise development: microfinance and urban regeneration in Eastern Europe Marek Markus13. Debt versus equity in urban regeneration Jo Henderson