In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

This volume covers the language situation in the Baltic States, Ireland and Italy explaining the linguistic diversity, the historical and political contexts and the current language situation - including language-in-education planning, the role of the media, the role of religion, and the roles of non-indigenous languages.

Current population movements involve both established and new destinations, often encompassing marginal and rural communities and resulting in a whole new set of issues for these communities. New Immigration Destinations examines structural forces and individual strategies and behaviour to highlight the opportunities and challenges for ‘new’ destination areas arising from new economic and cultural mobility. Representing a "second wave" in studies of in-migration, this volume examines patterns in "non-traditional" rural and peripheral migration destinations, with a particular case study on Northern Ireland. Indeed, focusing mainly on events in the host society, this book shows how processes of migrant incorporation are complex and rely on multifarious influences including the state, community, individuals and families. Accordingly, the book develops of migration and social integration within rural/peripheral destinations. This subsequently provides clarification of many of the contested concepts including transnationalism; integration, acculturation and assimilation; ‘new’ destinations; and migrants and ethnic minorities. Focusing on the local and the micro with a strong sense of research, social and policy reality, this timely volume critically engages with original theories of migration, thus providing a much fuller conceptual and theoretical understanding that is required in the emerging field of migration studies within a rapidly changing and uncertain world. This book’s interdisciplinary nature will appeal to policymakers, scholars, and both undergraduate and postgraduate students in a range of disciplines including Sociology (Race and Ethnic Studies), Human Geography (Migration, Demography), Political Economy and Community Development.

How has globalization impacted on development? For Harrison, the answer lies in the international political economy, and the ways in which states have managed economic globalization - from positions of strength or weakness. Key themes emerge, such as new geographies of development and the constant need for state economic action.