Globalization, Development and Human Security. Edited by Anthony McGrew, Nana K. Poku Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2007. 228 pp., $27.95 (ISBN: 0-7456-3087-1). Human Trafficking, Human Security, and the Balkans. Edited by H. Richard Friman, Simon Reich. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007. 214 pp., $19.95 (ISBN: 0-8229-5974-7). Globalization, Prostitution and Sex-Trafficking: Corporeal Politics. By Elina Penttinen. London, UK: Routledge, 2008. 167 pp., $140.00 (ISBN: 0-415-42099-7). According to the United Nations (2007), an estimated 980 million people in developing countries live on less than one dollar a day. Each year, more than 500,000 women die from treatable and preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth across the globe (United Nations 2007). Between 600,000 and 800,000 individuals are trafficked across international borders annually for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation (United States Department of State 2005). Meanwhile, rampant criminality, armed conflicts, and natural disasters threaten the survival of entire communities. At any given moment, untold numbers of the world's inhabitants find themselves in a state of deprivation, vulnerability, or insecurity. Keenly aware of these conditions, scholars of international relations are increasingly evaluating globalization's effects on the daily lives of individuals. The three books reviewed in this essay suggest that people are experiencing insecurity as a result of economic globalization. The authors discussed here share the view that “ people matter and are an appropriate focus of concern for the international relations community” (Thomas 2007:107). This people-centered approach is one of the hallmarks of a growing body of work on human security, which differs from standard, state-centric conceptualizations of security. The concept of human security emphasizes freedom from want and freedom from fear: in addition to being able to meet their basic material needs, individuals have the opportunity to live in a dignified manner and a peaceful environment and to actively participate in their communities. The Commission on Human Security, created at the behest of the Government of Japan and co-chaired by Sadako Ogata, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, presented a report in 2003 to then Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The document defined human security as: … protecting fundamental freedoms—freedoms that are the essence of life. It means protecting …