End of millennium: The information age, economy, society and culture - Manuel Castells (The rise of the network society #3)

The final volume in Manuel Castell's trilogy is devoted to processes of global social change induced by interaction between networks and identity. 

End of Millennium opens with a study of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which traces its demise back to the incapacity of industrial statism to manage the transition to the Information Age. In this volume, the author demonstrates the rise of inequality, polarization, and social exclusion throughout the world, taking as his focus Africa, urban poverty, and the plight of children. In addition, Manuel Castells documents the formation of a global criminal economy that deeply affects economies and politics in many countries. He analyzes the political and cultural foundations of the emergence of the Asian Pacific as a critically important region in the global economy. And he reflects on the contradictions of European unification, proposing the concept of the network state.

In the general conclusion of the trilogy, included in this volume, Castell draws together the threads of his arguments and his findings, presenting a systematic interpretation of our world in this end of millennium.