Tradition,UMNO and political succession in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Leaders of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysia's ruling party, invented 'Malay tradition' for the purpose of maintaining control not only over the domestic political process, but also in their own ranks. Yet, this did not deter challenges to the leadership which were also legitimised on the basis of tradition. In this regard, the rhetoric of tradition also functioned as a barometer assessing the stakes and the levels of support for the contestants. When the stakes of political contestation became extraordinarily high, the major protagonists were quite willing to depart from tradition to determine outcomes. Realising its instrumental worth, the UMNO elites manufactured tradition to legitimise deviations from established norms. But in the process of reinventing the wheel, the leaders of UMNO inadvertently contributed to the construction of ethnic identity.     

Morocco: Monarchy,legitimacy and succession

Letting history be the guide: writings by African‐American women

The Temple of My Familiar Alice Walker London: The Women's Press. 1989. 405pp. £12.95hb.

Quicksand and Passing Nella Larsen London: Serpent's Tail. 1989. 277pp. £7.95pb.

Corregidora Gayl Jones London: Camden Press. 1988. 185pp. £5.95pb.

Bird at my Window Rosa Guy London: Virago. 1989. 282pp. £4.99pb.

Lyrical Campaigns: selected poems June Jordan London: Virago. 1988. 143pp. £5.99pb.

Moving Towards Home: political essays June Jordan London: Virago. 1989. 213pp. £5.99pb.

Living by the Word, Selected Writings 1973–1987 Alice Walker London: The Women's Press. 1988. 193pp. £5.95pb.

Brazilian backwaters: Jorge Amado's Bahia

The violent land Jorge Amado Translated from the Portuguese by Samuel Putnam London: Collins Harvill. 1989. 336pp. £6.95pb

Shepherds of the Night Jorge Amado Translated from the Portuguese by Harriet de Onis London: Collins Harvill. 1989. 364pp. £6.95pb

Tent of Miracles Jorge Amado Translated from the Portuguese by Barbara Shelby London: Collins Harvill. 1989. 380pp. £6.95pb

Show‐down Jorge Amado Translated from the Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa London/New York: Bantam Books. 1988. 422pp. £12.95hb     

Presidential succession,economic crisis,and populist resurgence in Brazil

Latin American populism has been characterized as a time-bound phenomenon, part of the political revolution against the old agricultural oligarchy and accompanying import-substitution industrialization. It has been asserted that populism died with the “exhaustion” of the “easy phase” of import-substitution, and that bureaucratic authoritarian regimes were predicated on that demise. Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru are regularly cited as evidence. This article examines these definitional premises in light of the apparent resurgence of populist politics in the democratic transition in Brazil. It is argued that populism is not a pre-1964 anachronism, but is predictably appealing in the 1980s. Distinctions among populistappeals, contention for power, andsuccessful populist order suggest that populism and its leaders offer a very limited alternative to the future of Brazilian politics. Gamaliel Perruci, Jr., a native Brazilian, is a doctoral student in political science at the University of Florida. He is currently conducting research on Brazilian industrial and trade policy. Steven E. Sanderson is professor of political science at the University of Florida. His most recent book isThe Transformation of Mexican Agriculture: International Structure and the Politics of Rural Change (Princeton University Press, 1986). He is currently completing a book entitledThe Politics of Trade in Latin American Development.     

Globalisation,extremism and violence in poor countries

Globalisation—understood as external and internal market liberalisation—generates conditions in poor countries that are conducive to the emergence of extremist movements, instability and conflict. Liberalisation and the accompanying requirement of macroeconomic stabilisation subject people to rapid and sometimes devastating changes in fortune. Yet globalisation has had vastly different effects in different countries. Many have succumbed to sporadic growth or stagnation, inequality and turmoil, whereas others have achieved a broadly based prosperity, peace and democracy. A comparison of two liberalising African cases—Egypt and Mauritius—is employed to explain this divergence in paths. Mauritius has so far deftly navigated the maelstrom of globalisation by achieving growth with considerable equity and genuine democracy, while Egypt has followed a path of belated and partial liberalisation, irregular growth, the rise of new inequalities and insecurities, repression and violent Islamist movements. The major reason for this divergence lies in certain contingent institutional and class processes.     

Seeds of hope,seeds of despair: Towards a political economy of the seed industry in southern Africa

The seed industry in Southern Africa has been radically transformed by a policy of liberalisation and privatisation started under structural adjustment. Traditionally under the domain of parastatals, seed research, production and distribution has been criticised for failing to provide modern variety seed to smallholder farmers. However, the private companies which have stepped in to replace seed parastatals in southern Africa have proven no more effective in meeting the demands of smallholders. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement, concluded in 1994 as part of the Uruguay Rounds of GATT negotiations, as well as certain biotechnological innovations such as Terminator or Traitor technologies, threaten to further undermine local seed production and consumption by destroying the informal seed sector so central to agricultural production in the region. What alternatives exist? The success of Zimbabwe's maize seed network offers some insight. Resting on a unique relationship between government and nationally based producer co-operatives, Zimbabwe's maize programme was able to provide nearly every farmer in the country with hybrid maize suited for local growing conditions.     

Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis

Culture in its various forms now serves as a primary carrier of globalization and modern values, and constitutes an important arena of contestation for national, religious, and ethnic identity. Although reactions in Europe, Japan, and other societies where modern values prevail, tend to be symbolic, in areas of the developing world, especially in Muslim countries where traditional values and radically different notions of identity and society predominate, reactions tend to be very intense and redirected at external targets through forms of transference and scapegoating. Ultimately, this is not so much a clash between civilizations as a clash within civilizations.     

Political succession in Cuba

Amazonia 1990: the burning question

White Gold: the diary of a rubber cutter in the Amazon 1906–1916 John C Yung johann Edited by Ghillean Prance Oracle, Arizona: Synergetic Press. 1989. 103pp. $7.95/£6.95pb

Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in his own words Tony Gross London: Latin America Bureau. 1989. 96pp. £2.95pb

Government Development Policies and Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon Region Dennis J Mahar Washington DC: World Bank Publications. 1989. 65pp. n/p

Bound in Misery and Iron: the impact of the Grande Carajas programme on the Indians of Brazil Dave Treece London: Survival International. 1987. 151pp. £2.00pb

International Amazonia: its human side Donald J Bogue and Yolanda Butts Chicago: Social Development Center. 1989. 177pp. n/p

Indigenous Peoples and Tropical Forests: models of land use and management from Latin America Jason Clay Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cultural Survival. 1988. 116pp. n/p

The Fate of the Forest: developers, destroyers and defenders of the Amazon Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn London: Verso. 1989. 224pp. £16.95hb

Saving the Tropical Forests Judith Gradwohl and Russell Greenberg London: Earthscan. 1988. 207pp. £6.95pb

Reflections on the Gulf War

The Gulf War Edgar O'Ballance London: Brassey's Defence Publishers. 1988. 232pp. £17.95/$32.00hb

The Longest War: the Iran‐Iraq military conflict Dilip Hiro London: Grafton Books. 1989. 312pp. £17.95hb

The Iran‐Iraq War: impact and implications Edited by Efraim Karsh London: Macmillan/Tel Aviv: The Jaffee Center for Stategic Studies. 1989. 303pp. £37.50hb/£15.99pb

The Gulf War: regional international dimensions Edited by Hans Maull and Otto Pick London: Pinter. 1989. 344pp. £30.00hb

Iran and Iraq at War Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp London: I B Tauris. 1988. 318pp. £19.50hb

The Gulf War: the origins and implications of the Iraq‐Iran conflict Majid Khadduri New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1988. 236pp. $24.95hb

The Iranian Military in Revolution and War Sepehr Zabih London/New York: Routledge. 1988. 279pp. £35.00hb     

Land tenure and political conflict in Ankole,Uganda

In Ankole District, Western Uganda, a serious land problem is developing. Land is increasingly being acquired for commercial and speculative purposes; access to land for the majority of Banyankore becomes problematic. This paper is concerned with the origins of only two avenues of land acquisition in Ankole, mailo grants and individual freehold titles. Both have contributed to nascent problems, if only through their inducement of interests in land as a commodity. The paper explores the effects of these policies on Ankole sociopolitical divisions and questions general (especially ‘individualization') land policies concerned with agricultural growth alone.     

Investment penetration,agrarian change,and political conflict in developing countries

This research employs a cross-national design to explore the association between direct foreign investment in agriculture, changes in the agricultural labor force, and political conflict and violence in developing countries. The results reveal different patterns of relationships for Latin American, African, and Asian societies. In Africa, foreign agricultural investments are related to higher employment in the agricultural sector, which in turn is associated with lower levels of political protest. In Latin America, Foreign agricultural investments were directly related to more protest, suggesting a xenophobic nationalist reaction to foreign penetration in this sector. There were no apparent relationships between these variables among Asian states. These results challenge the often-found contention that economic disturbances in the agricultural sector are a fundamental cause of violent uprisings and rebellions. John M. Rothgeb, Jr. is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Miami Univeristy in Oxford, Ohio 45056. He is the author ofDefining Power: Influence and Force in the Contemporary International System (St. Martin’s Press, 1993),Myths and Realities of Foreign Investiment in Poor Countries (Praeger Publishers, 1989) and numerous articles in professional journals. His current research interests include the study of the international and domestic implications of interdependence and the analysis of how economic resources may be used to exercise power in international relations.     

Democracy, Colonization, and Human Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article examines an empirical anomaly. In most developing regions, poor democratic nations enroll more primary school students than their authoritarian counterparts. Regime type, however, cannot account for the wide variance in enrollment in Africa. This study demonstrates that colonial heritage is a good predictor of primary school enrollment for low-income countries in Africa. Additional analysis shows that colonization's impact on education has not diminished since independence. Rather, the initial differences in enrollment between the former French and British colonies have grown over time. The results hold important implications for the study of political institutions and their impact on economic development. Even after they no longer exist, political institutions can have substantial lingering effects on important developmental outcomes. David S. Brown is an assistant professor of political science at Rice University. His work has appeared recently inThe American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, and inComparative Political Studies. His work focuses on the political economy of development and is based on cross-regional work with specialization in Latin America. Specific areas of interest are human capital, democracy, and the international determinants of domestic politics.     

Socialism,political ideas and the labour party

Nicholas Ellison, Egalitarian Thought and Labour Politics. Retreating Visions, (Routledge, London 1994). 272pp. ISBN 0–415–06972–6 (hb).

Eric Shaw, The Labour Party Since 1979. Crisis and Transformation, (Routledge, London 1994). 276pp. ISBN 0–415–05614–4 (hb), 0–415–05615–2 (pb).

Robin Archer, Economic Democracy. The Politics of Feasible Socialism, (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995). 280pp. ISBN 0–19–827891–8 (hb).