The recent global movement for women's human rights has achieved considerable re-thinking of human rights as previously understood. Since many of women's rights violations occur in the private sphere of family life, and are justified by appeals to cultural or religious norms, both families and cultures (including their religious aspects) have come under critical scrutiny.

In the wake of the 4th World Conference on Women this volume brings together leading gender and development scholars who interrogate the last twenty years of work in this area. Feminist Visions of Development throws fresh light on key issues including: * gender and the environment * education * population * reproductive rights * industrialisation * macroeconomic policy * poverty. Inspired by recent feminist theoretical work, it re-examines previous structural analysis and opens the way for further research in the field.

A landmark in the development of international women's movement, collecting original articles from women in seventy countries.

Does a global economy render the traditional nation-state obsolete? Does globalization threaten democratic life, or offer it new forms of expression? The German philosopher and social theorist Jurgen Habermas addresses these and other questions in this work.