The essential reference guide to the 53 member countries and core values of the modern Commonwealth, as well as to the many partner organisations that, as the Commonwealth 'family', work together to foster co-operation and collaboration across borders and between cultures.

The Minerals Yearbook is an annual publication that reviews the mineral and material industries of the United States and foreign countries. The Yearbook contains statistical data on materials and minerals and includes information on economic and technical trends and development. The Minerals Yearbook includes chapters on approximately 90 commodities and over 175 countries. This volume of the Minerals Yearbook provides an annual review of mineral production and trade and of mineral-related government and industry developments in more than 175 foreign countries. Each report includes sections on government policies and programs, environmental issues, trade and production data, industry structure and ownership, commodity sector developments, infrastructure, and a summary outlook.

Constantine Arvanitopoulos and Konstantina E. Botsiou Europe at a Crossroads European uni?cation has rested on a dual premise. One part was the effort of the European nations to consolidate peace by overcoming the nationalism which had 1 twice drenched the continent in blood in the 20th century. War among West European states became unthinkable in the post-war era. The second part was the creation of a single European economy following the tremendous task of post-war 2 reconstruction and recovery. Over the years the achievement of economic stability was matched by initiatives that aimed to render Western Europe competitive on a global scale. The creation of the European Union (EU) in the 1990s through the Treaties of Maastricht (1992) and Amsterdam (1997), and later Nice (2001), which successively revised the founding Treaties of Rome (1957), was largely a response 3 to the challenge of globalisation. Integration ‘rejuvenated’ the nation state, thus creating the hybrid of the Euro- 4 pean welfare state, a mix of state-imposed stability and private initiative. Like its 1 Sforza, C. (1936). Europe and the Europeans: Community: Report A study in historical psych- ogy and international politics. London: George G. Harrap and Company. 2 Milward, A. S. (1984). The reconstruction of Western Europe 1945–1951. London: Routledge. Hogan, M. J. (1987). The Marshall plan: America, Britain, and the reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–1954. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3 Dyson, K. , & Featherstone, K. (1999).

The annual Global Civil Society Yearbooks provide an indispensable guide to global civil society or civic participation and action around the world. The 2009 Yearbook explores the framings, strategies and impacts of a range of actors on poverty and its alleviation. The overarching question is to whether such actors, in pressing for poverty alleviation actually achieve anything/empower the poor, or simply aid wealthy states in maintaining the status quo. The contributors are diverse, including scholars and practitioners from India, America, the UK, Australia, Thailand, and Mali. The Global Civil Society Yearbook remains the standard work on all aspects of contemporary global civil society for activists, practitioners, students and academics alike. It is essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the key actors, forms and manifestations of global civil society around the world today.