Foreword

What's for dinner?" It is a question people must answer every single day. A few might dine out on an elegant meal of caviar and filet mignon with a glass or two of merlot, capped off with tiramisu and espresso. Others might serve food grown in their own backyard. And for those who cannot provide enough food for themselves, the question has a note of urgency. While food may seem the most mundane and local of topics, it is also a complex element of international relations, global trade, and national policymaking. This issue of the SAIS Review explores some of the key economic, political, and social issues surrounding the food that does, or does not, find its way to your table.

Peter Coclanis challenges the idea that the globalization movement of the 1990s was a revolutionary change, drawing historical comparisons to the globalization of agricultural markets in the latenineteenth century. In a dialogue with perspectives from four continents, Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla, Bruce Gardner, Antônio Salazar Brandão, Devinder Sharma, and Alan Swinbank tackle the question of why, in this century, the liberalization of agricultural trade has been so divisive and difficult.

On the national level, Jikun Huang and Scott Rozelle buck conventional wisdom about China's accession to the World Trade Organization, explaining how accession may well benefit its farmers and rural economy. Christilla Roederer-Rynning takes a comprehensive look at the historical foundations of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy and its future in the face of EU expansion. Henk Bremen and S. Kofi Debrah argue that the means to improve African food security are already available, outlining an agricultural and policy strategy that focuses on soil improvement techniques rather than increasing irrigation. And Marc Douglas's photographic essay shows how rural farmers in Paraguay have responded to globalization.

Some issues cross national boundaries. Peter Lacy examines the intense debate surrounding biotechnology and how this controversy can be overcome in order to deploy biotechnology in the war against hunger. Margaret Glavin discusses emerging food safety threats that have attended the massive increase in global food trade and how to address them. Finally, Robert Rice closes the food section with a study of the social and environmental issues brewed into your morning cup of coffee.

Leaving the kitchen behind, a collection of five essays reflect some of the most pressing topics in the international arena today. Jeremy Weinstein discusses the re-emergent terrorist threat in Peru, proposing a U.S. response that moves beyond the war on drugs. Tomohito Shinoda also looks at terrorism, using Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's anti-terrorism legislation as a lens through which to examine the effects of Japanese political reforms in the 1990s. Sanam Vakil contributes a powerful photographic essay about the challenges and changes facing the Iranian people, while Yong Shik Choo takes on another member of the Axis of Evil in his description of how to handle North Korea. Antonio La Viña, Gretchen Hoff, and Anne Marie DeRose consider the successes and failures of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Our reviews section includes Michael Innes's discussion of Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Peace and Russell Crandall on Latin America at the End of Politics. Benjamin Rowland compares books by Joseph Stiglitz and William Easterly on the failures of development economics. Erin Corcoran and Nadia Yakoob explore refugee policy, C. Beth Haynes looks at The Microfinance Revolution, and Brendan Conway assesses Another Such Victory, a revisionist look at Harry Truman's foreign policy. Our review of the UN Small Arms Conference from the Winter-Spring 2002 issue generated responses from Gary Perlstein, David Kopel, and Don Kates; Natalie Goldring, Loretta Bondi, and Aaron Karp defend their original positions. Finally, a series of brief reviews of recent books completes the issue.

Overall this issue of the SAIS Review offers readers a balance between some of the cutting-edge economic and political issues of the day and an in-depth look at areas that most people take for granted. We are quite proud of...