The Social and Scientific Role of C.E.P.S.I.

The Belgian Centre d'Etudes des Probleémes Sociaux Indigènesis, so far as we know, unique in Africa, and one that deservesto be even more widely known than it is. The following abridgedaccount has been translated by Mary Hicks from pp. 5–11and pp. 78–85 of the C.E.P.S.I. Bulletin No. 10 (1949).M. Albert Gille is Provincial Commissioner, Coquilhatville,and M. F. Grévisse, Assistant District Commissioner,Elisabethville.     

The B.B.C. Arabic broadcasts

This is an account of the origins and history of the little-known British Advisory Mission in Vietnam (BRIAM), which sought to transfer to Vietnam the techniques used in the Malayan Emergency to isolate insurgents from the population at large, while at the same time winning the loyalty of that population. This article looks first at the situation in South Vietnam and second at how the US and the UK viewed that situation and what they were doing about it. The third section deals with what BRIAM itself tried to do in introducing the process labelled “strategic hamlets”. The final section seeks to explain why the process failed.     

A real electoral duel between the P.J.D. and the P.A.M.? Analysing constituency-level competitiveness in the 2016 Moroccan elections

ABSTRACT

This article examines electoral competitiveness between the two main contenders in Morocco’s 2016 legislative elections, i.e. the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (P.J.D.) and the pro-monarchy Party of Authenticity and Modernity (P.A.M.). In contrast with electoral results at the national level, which reflect a high parliamentary competitiveness between these two parties, the analysis of competitiveness at the local constituency level (92 electoral districts) leads to quite different conclusions. The degree of local standard competitiveness between the P.J.D. and the P.A.M. was generally very low and, in most of the districts, the Islamists held a large advantage over the P.A.M. Other third parties also played a significant role and became the voters’ first or second choice in some districts, with the effect of increasing parliamentary fragmentation and decreasing competitiveness between the P.J.D. and the P.A.M. Thus, the proportional system used in a large number of districts contributed to achieving the monarchy’s aim of avoiding a predominant party. Also, the central role played by the loyalist National Rally of Independents (R.N.I.) in blocking the coalition government talks after the elections questions the idea that the Moroccan party system is becoming polarized between the P.J.D. and the P.A.M.     

The Moral Economists: R. H. Tawney,Karl Polanyi,E. P. Thompson,and the Critique of Capitalism

The Moral Economists: R. H. Tawney, Karl Polanyi, E. P. Thompson, and the Critique of Capitalism . By Tim Rogan (Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2017), pp.263 + viii. AU$48.82 (hb). Available in Australia through Footprint Books.     

B. Reviews

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ARABIC LITERATURE. Volume 1: Arabic Literature to the End of the Unayyad Period. Edited by A.F.L. Beeston, T.M.Johnstone, R.B.Serjeant and G.R.Smith, pp.xvi, 547. Cambridge University Press, 1983. £37.95.

AL‐MAQRIZI'S “BOOK OF CONTENTION AND STRIFE CONCERNING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BANU UMAYYA AND THE BANU HASHIM”. Translated into English, with an introduction and commentary by C.E.Bosworth. (Journal of Semitic Studies, Monograph No.3), Manchester, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Manchester, 1980. pp.157.

ARABIC CULTURE THROUGH ITS LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. By M.H. Bakalla. London, Kegan Paul International, 1984. pp.371, 51, plates, maps.

ARABIC LINGUISTICS: AN INTRODUCTION AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. By M.H. Bakalla. London, Mansell, 1983. pp.742.

LA RELATION DE THOMAS PELLOW: UNE LECTURE DU MAROC AU 18^e SIÈCLE. By Magali Morsy. (Synthèse No.12), Paris, Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1983. pp.254, 17pl. FF.129.

ESPANA Y EL NORTE DE AFRICA: EL PROTECTORADO DE MARRUECOS (1912–56). By Victor Morales Lezcano. Madrid, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, 1984. pp.249. Photos., maps, diagrams. 600.00 ptas.

EGYPT AND THE PALESTINE QUESTION 1936–1945. By Thomas Mayer. Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1983. pp.391 (paperback).

SUDAN. By M.W.Daly. (World Bibliographical Series, Vol.40.) Oxford (UK) & Santa Barbara (USA), Clio Press, 1983. pp.xvi, 176, 1 map. £19.50.

THE OTHER FACE OF OPEC: FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE THIRD WORLD. ENERGY RESOURCES AND POLICIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA. By Ibrahim F.I. Shihata. London, Longman, 1982. pp.281 (paperback).

DEVELOPING EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN THE OIL STATES OF ARABIA: CONFLICTS OF PURPOSE AND FOCUS. By J.S.Birks and J.A.Rimmer. (Occasional Papers Series, No.21: Manpower and Migration Series, no.3). University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 1984. pp.33. E2.50.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO IRAN: THE MIDDLE EAST LIBRARY COMMITTEE GUIDE. Edited by L.P.Elwell‐Sutton. Sussex, The Harvester Press/New Jersey, Barnes & Noble Books, 1984. pp.462.

ARABISCHE UND PERSISCHE PRIVATURKUNDEN DES 12. UND 13. JAHRHUNDERTS AUS ARDABIL (ASERBEIDSCHAN). By Monika Gronke. (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, Bd 72), Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 182. pp.555.

MYSTICISM AND DISSENT: SOCIORELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN QAJAR IRAN. By Mangol Bayat. Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse U.P., 1982. pp.xvii, 228. $25.00.

SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION AND POPULAR RESISTANCE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 1881–1908: REACTIONS TO EUROPEAN ECONOMIC PENETRATION. By Donald Quataert. New York, Columbia U.P., 1983. pp.xxii, 205. $45.50.     

B. Review article

There are two works which are tailor‐made for a short ‘double‐barrelled’ review article. They are: (a) Akbar S.Ahmed, Millennium and Charisma among Pathans: A Critical Essay in Social Anthropology (London, Henley and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1976), pp.173 (price not indicated, but around £4.50); (b) idem, Pukhtun Economy and Society: Traditional Structure and Economic Development in a Tribal Society (London, Henley and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1980), pp.406, diagrams, maps, plates (price not indicated but around £15.00 or $35.00).     

B. Review article

EPIC AND SEDITION: THE CASE OF FERDOWSI'S SHAHNAMEH. By DICK DAVIS. Fayetteville, University of Arkansas Press, 1992. xxxvi, 222 pp. $30.00 (hb).     

Trade-offs in U.S. policy toward the south pacific region

Robert G. Sutter is assistant chief, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, and author ofChinese Foreign Policy: Developments After Mao (Praeger 1986) andThe China Quandary: Domestic Determinants of U.S.-China Policy, 1972⊋ash;1982 (Westview Press, 1983).     

Not bad stuff. Robert E. Park als literarischer Held

Robert Ezra Park, der „Kopf“ der Chicago School of Sociology, hat seine Laufbahn bekanntlich als Reporter und Redakteur begonnen, sich an literarischen Werken versucht und sich literarischer Werke als Quelle bedient. Weniger bekannt ist, dass er selber zur Figur einer literarischen Darstellung geworden ist. In „Organized Crimes“ (1984), einem Roman von Nicholas von Hoffman, spielt Robert Park eine tragende Rolle als Soziologieprofessor. Der Artikel geht der Frage nach, woher der Autor seine detaillierten Kenntnisse hat, die bis hin zu Parks Vorliebe für Anzüge aus schwarz-grünem Plaid („…attributed around the department to an allegedly gamey youth spent as an newspaper reporter“) reichen. Die Story des Romans und die Biografie des Autors führen uns auf die Spur. Saul Alinsky, radikaler Community-Organizer in Chicago und Mentor von Nicholas von Hoffman, hatte Ende der 1920er Jahre am Chicagoer Department studiert. „Organized Crimes“ kann also durchaus auch als eine Quelle für die Geschichte des Departments zur Hochzeit der Chicago School gelesen werden.     

Rupert Murdoch. A Reassessment

Rupert Murdoch. A Reassessment . By Rodney Tiffen (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2014), pp.ix + 374. AU$34.99 (pb).