This is a weighty volume, and one which provides a very useful addition to the Cambridge Handbook series, which previously has covered such topics as phonology, code-switching, child language, endangered languages, sociolinguistics and pragmatics. The volume comprises a total of 30 chapters, which in turn are grouped into five constituent parts. Part I sets out ‘Definition and principles’, Part II deals with ‘Language policy at the macrolevel’, Part III discusses language policies in ‘Non-governmental domains’, Part IV tackles ‘Globalization and modernization’, and, finally, Part V focuses on ‘Regional and thematic issues’. Bernard Spolsky's opening chapter on ‘What is language policy?’ clears the discursive and theoretical space for much that follows, with Spolsky cogently resolving the often confusing issue of where language ‘policy’ ends and ‘planning’ begins thus:

Part I of the Handbook also includes a number of other insightful contributions on the history of language policy as an academic field (from Jernudd and Nevkapil), as well as chapters on policy and nation/nationalism (Wright), ethnic diversity (Garcia), endangered languages (Sallabank) and instrumentalism (Robichaud and De Schutter) in relation to language policies. It also includes an illuminating essay from Denise Réaume and Meital Pinto on ‘Philosophy of language policy’. In this, they observe that, as ‘language is fundamental to human interaction’, the issue of ‘which language to use, and who gets to decide, are questions that pervade multilingual societies’. They then proceed to assert that (at many levels of discussion) in language policy, ‘[t]he central language question is whether convergence on a single language should be promoted, or linguistic diversity protected and fostered’ (37). The general relevance of their assertion is attested to by many of the chapters that follow, although it is perhaps unsurprising that almost all contributors to this volume firmly align themselves with a perspective that seeks to protect and foster diversity.

Indeed, again at theoretical and discursive level, this can be seen throughout many of the contributions to Part II of the volume, which discusses language policy at ‘the macrolevel’, including the chapters on supranational policies (de Varennes), territorialism and regional autonomy (Williams), imperialism and colonialism (Phillipson), the municipal level (Backhaus), service domains (Angelelli), medium of instruction issues (Walter and Benson) and additional languages (Cenoz and Gorter). Tellingly, perhaps, the only chapter that breaks with the general discursive flow, supporting multilingual language policies from a broadly progressive perspective, is a fascinating contribution from Brecht and Rivers (Chapter 13) on ‘US language policy in defence and attack’, which discusses the current interest of defence and military organizations in the USA in training personnel in such languages as Arabic, Chinese and Farsi, in a context where the US military has a ‘global deployment in well over 100 countries’, and ‘the most developed language policy and the leading edge of innovation in language acquisition and deployment in the United States is in military and intelligence entities’ (262). It is perhaps unlikely that this chapter was intentionally included to provide evidential support for Phillipson's sharply focused discussion of ‘Imperialism and colonialism’ (Chapter 10), which – some pages earlier – precedes it, but nevertheless does so rather effectively.

Part III of the volume moves on to survey language policies in such ‘non-governmental domains’ as the workplace (Duchêne and Heller), religion (Bratt Paulston and Watt), the family (Caldas), the deaf (Wilcox, Krausneker and Armstrong), with these chapters broadly adopting a sociolinguistically informed approach to issues of language management in such settings.

In contrast, Part IV sets out to survey a cluster of issues linked to ‘Globalization and modernization’, with contributions on such topics as ‘Transnationalism, migration and language education policy’ (King and Rambow), ‘Language management agencies’ (Edwards), ‘Literacy and writing reform’ (Coulmas and Guerini), ‘Language activism and language policy’ (Combs and Penfield) and ‘English in language policy and management’ (Ferguson). One small quibble, here, might be to question how well such contributions fit a rubric of either ‘globalization’ and or ‘modernization’. For some of these chapters, it seems that there is only a partial fit, and, as a result, for example, John Edwards's intelligent discussion of language management (which inter alia highlights the continuing and pervasive role of prescriptivism in language policy initiatives) is only awkwardly accommodated by this rubric.

Finally, Part V completes the volume with six regional and thematic surveys from India, Israel, Indonesia and Ireland (Lo Bianco), Africa (S. Makoni, B. Makoni, Abdelhay and Mashiri), the Americas (McCarty), the European Union (Ammon), the former Soviet sphere (Hogan-Brun and Melnyk) and Asia and the Pacific (Baldauf and Nguyen). As in other sections of this Handbook, each of the chapters is well-researched, informative and up-to-date in their coverage of policy issues. Nevertheless, given the broad sweep of these chapters, a number of these contributions are probably best seen as a point of entry for further research on typically highly complex areas of investigation.

Throughout all parts, and many chapters, of the volume, the role of English at the level of individual societies as well as a global linguistic force is seen as contentious and problematic. Predictably, this is perhaps clearest in Robert Phillipson's contribution to the volume, where English is seen unequivocally as a ‘language of empire’, which is currently ‘driven by the corporate and military forces of the USA and its allies’ (223). However, Gibson Ferguson's article on English in language policy (Chapter 24) also provides a nuanced analysis of the problematics of English worldwide. Here, Ferguson identifies three major criticisms concerning the influence of English on language policies and management around the world: (i) that the spread of the English language is ‘a threat to global linguistic diversity’; (ii) that ‘English contributes to, and consolidates, socio-economic inequalities within and between countries’, and (iii) that ‘English is implicated in processes of cultural homogenization [and] a vector of cultural ‘Americanization’'. Gibson notes that the spread of English has evoked different responses in different societies worldwide, with some, as in Scandinavia, moving to implement policies to protect national languages, whereas elsewhere, as in parts of Asia, governments have tended to promote English somewhat uncritically, not least for economic advancement. Ultimately, Ferguson notes, ‘the complex effects of English elude easy summary’, concluding that:

In this context, it should nevertheless be emphasized that this Handbook is not simply (or mainly) about English, it is first and foremost an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of language policy (and language management aka ‘language planning) with reference to major languages, minor languages and endangered languages. As such, it succeeds excellently as a benchmark volume that should become a standard reference work in the area of language policy and language management. As this work convincingly suggests, this is now a sub-discipline of linguistics which has become increasingly self-aware and intellectually sophisticated over the last fifty years or so.

However, to what extent the best efforts of academic linguists (as language policy scholars) are effective in influencing such key decision-makers as government officials and politicians is open to question. Indeed, as John Edwards points out in his chapter, ‘the role of linguistic experts, while essential, is not the most important feature’ in policy formation, and ‘at the point at which any application becomes socially important, [language] planning is subservient to the demands of non-academic interests, with social and political agendas whose remit is typically broader than language alone’, so that ‘“experts” are called upon as needed, and their recommendations are either implemented or gather dust according to how well they support or justify desired positions’ (435). Nevertheless, notwithstanding this essential gap between the academic discourse and ‘real world’ political decision-making, this Handbook does succeed in presenting a comprehensive overview of theoretical and applied issues in the field. The volume is not only weighty, but also highly informative and authoritative, and is strongly recommended to all those interested in language policy as an area of inquiry and research.