This compelling new book offers a unique global perspective on children's lives throughout the world. It shows how the notion of childhood is being radically re-shaped, in part as a consequence of globalization. Taking an engaging historical and comparative approach, the book discusses wide-ranging issues such as children and war, child labour and young people's activism around the globe. Important themes considered include: How children are constituted as raced, classed and gendered subjects; How family policy results in some kinds of family being labelled as normal and others as deviant, and how this impacts in children; How children's involvement in war is connected to the globalization of capitalism and organised crime; How school and work operate as sites for the governing of childhood. This book will be of great value to students and scholars in the fields of sociology, social policy and development studies. It will also be a valuable companion to practitioners of international development and social work, as well as to anyone interested in childhood in the contemporary world.