An international group of anthropologists take a fresh look at various neglected approaches to comparison and present new approaches that are relevant to the globalized world of the twenty first century.

The growing interdependence of the local and the global demand innovative approaches to human development. Such approaches, the author argues, ought to be based on the emerging ethics of global intelligence, defined as the ability to understand, respond to, and work toward what will benefit all human beings and will support and enrich all life on this planet. As no national or supranational authority can predefine or predetermine it, global intelligence...

This volume sheds light on the structures and causal relationships of normative control through competition in a particularly cost-intensive area of ​​medical care: the hospital sector. The Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA are the focus of the study, which compares law and is supplemented by economic comments. In all countries, competition serves as a control instrument to achieve welfare state allocation effects...

The ability to communicate effectively with cancer patients and their family members has been linked to patient satisfaction, reduced psychological morbidity, enhanced health and reduced clinician "burn-out". Yet, despite what we know about the benefits of effective communication, cancer clinicians have only recently begun to receive routine training in the psychosocial and emotional aspects of cancer patient care. This volume creates a multi-disciplinary...

Drugs play a crucial role in saving lives, restoring health, and preventing diseases and epidemics. But they need to be safe, efficacious, of good quality, and used rationally. This means that their production, import/export, storage, supply and distribution should be subject to government control through prescribed norms and standards and an effective regulatory system. Substandard and counterfeit drugs proliferate primarily in an environment where...