The globalization of economic relations is posing numerous new challenges to policy-makers at national and international levels. At present, the necessary re-design of policy has proceeded furthest, though still imper-fectly and unequally, in the economic field. The reformulation of policy to address the rapidly changing nature, patterns, and causes of social disadvantage is, however, not well-advanced.

This book is based on the view that there is a need for new approaches to social issues which frame analysis and policy design in a way which takes account of globalization and which does not separate the social from the economic. It explores the value of understanding poverty, deprivation and inequality in terms of the social exclusion of individuals and groups from sources of livelihood and from citizenship rights. It examines both the rhetoric and reality of social exclusion, and possible policy responses.

The concept "social exclusion" is a complex one. It has recently become central in West European policy discourse and this book examines the relevance of the social exclusion approach globally, and particularly in the context of developing countries. But it seeks to do so in a way which explicitly avoids exporting concepts from the North to the South, from situations where the great majority are well-off to situations where the great majority are very poor.

The book includes conceptual work to "deconstruct" the usage of the term social exclusion in European policy debates and to fashion a notion of social exclusion which is not Eurocentric but relevant globally, in a wide variety of country settings; reviews of existing relevant literatures in developing countries, reinterpreting findings in terms of social exclusion and assessing the potential value-added; and summaries of empirical studies which explore different dimensions of exclusion and how they relate to the process of development in nine countries in different parts of the world. Taken together, the book offers the first insights into the pheno-menon of social exclusion as a global issue.