Designed to replace Martin Holland's The European Union and the Third World, this new text provides systematic coverage of the European Union's policies in relation to the developing world in the 21st century and includes substantial coverage of governance issues and the relationship between development initiatives and European integration.

This text provides a broad ranging analysis of the EU's relations with the developing world today set in the context of the policy, debates and changes of the 1990s and the EU's historical ties to the Third World. Covering the whole range of the EU's relations with developing states including the Cotonou Agreement and the "Everything but Arms" Regulation, the book assesses the likely evolution of trading regimes and the scope and limits of opportunities for fostering economic progress and good governance.