During the 1990s, military spending, arms procurement and defence industrialisation have all increased rapidly in East Asia. Although these developments do not constitute an arms race, they nevertheless have important implications for suppliers of defence equipment, for arms control and for regional stability. This paper assesses trends in the defence spending of East Asian states, particularly in the light of the economic crisis, which began in mid-1997. It also focuses on three closely-related issues: the nature of the regional market for defence equipment; defence industrialisation; and the effect of trends in defence procurement and industrialisation on East Asian states' military capabilities, and on the regional military balance.

Peter Batchelor and Susan Willett analyze the response of the South African defence industry to drastic cuts in military expenditure and the demilitarization of society since the end of the Cold War and apartheid, and the stabilization of the regional security situation. The new ANC-led government is seeking to use the resources released - the "peace dividend" - to restructure and revitalize the country's industrial base and to support reconstruction, development and redistribution. A lively debate on the country's security needs and strategic doctrine is under way. As in other countries, strategies of industrial diversification and conversion have met with limited success. In the absence hitherto of any coherent government policy on defence industrial adjustment, significant skills and technologies have been lost or wasted. This book provides a historical analysis of South Africa's opportunity to develop new and innovative policies on defence and security matters, the arms industry and arms exports, and makes a valuable contribution to the international debate on the relationship between disarmament and development.

This is a book about hope, we all need hope in our lives. Sometimes hope does not seem at all tangible when we are going through storms in our lives and nothing seems certain only more uncertainty. We all need something to believe in to enable us to smile in the face of adversity in my case that something or someone is God. This book of poems is about a relationship with a personal God rather than religion.