Book Reviews/Comptes rendus

This article examines a major instance of United States' (US) involvement in Zaïre during the 1970s and 1980s. The paper looks at an under-studied rural development scheme, known as the North Shaba Project/Projet du Nord Shaba (PNS), which was funded by USAID from 1976 to 1986.The PNS increased maize exports from northern Shaba (Katanga) to central and southern cities in the province and aimed to curtail workers’ discontent by providing cheap food for them. Its quantitative successes and “bottom-up” rhetoric led USAID officials to call the PNS an “obscured revolution”. Unlike its colonial precedents and its post-colonial contemporaries, the project attempted to integrate village farmers’ expertise in order to drive production and provide an opportunity to change existing patterns of “top-down” development. Yet, although anthropologists facilitated some significant intercultural exchanges, the project did not wholly rely on local farming techniques. Instead, the PNS's major outcome was to briefly address the Zaïrian regime's neglect of agricultural production, thus helping it survive despite the financial pressures it was under during the 1970s and the 1980s.     

Comptes Rendus Book Reviews

This article follows the efforts of white settlers to impose cotton as an export crop in Natal and Zululand. Touted as a commodity capable of remaking land and life in the region in the 1850s, the 1860s, and again in the 1910s and 1920s, cotton never achieved more than marginal status in the region's agricultural economy. Its story is one of historical amnesia: although faith in the region's cotton prospects dipped following each spectacular failure, it was routinely resurrected once previous failures had been accounted for, or memories of them had faded.

Two crucial issues are at the centre of this episodic history. First, I explore the logistics of planned expansion, and the reasons for the repeated collapse of cotton-growing schemes. Second, I unravel the side effects of these difficult and disappointing efforts and argue that, despite repeated failure, cotton facilitated important structural changes to the region's agricultural, political and economic landscape.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
The Executive Process: Volume I: Implementation in a Bureaucracy. Volume II: Control in a Bureaucracy. Andrew Dunsire. Martin Robertson
Public Expenditure, Management and Control: The Development of the Expenditure Survey Committee (PESC) Sir Richard Clarke, edited by Sir Alec Cairncross.
Making Budgets: Public Resource Allocation James N. Danziger.
Political Leadership in Local Authorities Edited by G.W. Jones and Alan Norton.
British Rearmament and the Treasury, 1932–1939 G. C. Peden
The Commonwealth Office 1925–1968 Joe Garner.
The Development of an Education Service: The West Riding 1889–1974 P.H.J.H. Gosden and P. R. Sharp.
Professionals and Management Russell D. Lansbury.
State Shareholding: The Role of Local and Regional Authorities R. Minns and J. Thornley.
Administrative Justice and the Unemployed Julian Fullbrook.     

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed in this article:
Royal Commissions and Departmental Committees in Britain T.J. Cartwright.
Techniques and Public Administration: A Contextual Evaluation Maurice Spiers.
Essays on the Study of Urban Politics Ken Young (ed.).
Power, Persistence and Change Margaret Stacey.
The Management of Welfare: A Study of British Social Service Administration R.G.S. Brown.
Environmental Planning, Vol. I, Reconstruction and Land Use Planning 1939-1947 By J.B. Cullingworth.
Ad HOG Governments: Special Purpose Transportation Authorities in Britain and the United States Robert G. Smith.     

Book Reviews

Book review in this article
Policy-Making in the German Federal Republic Renate Mayntz and Fritz W.
Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden: From Relief to Income Maintenance Hugh Heclo.
Financing Public Sector Pensions Raymond Nottage.
Administrative Training and Development: A Comparative Study of East Africa, Zambia, Pakistan, and India Bernard Schaffer (ed.).
The Point of Entry: A Study of Client Reception in the Social Services Anthony S.
Records of Interest to Social Scientists: Unemployment Insurance, 1911 to 1939 Brenda Swann and Maureen Turnbull.     

Book Reviews

Thain, Colin and Wright, Maurice, The Treasury and Whitehall: the Planning and Control of Public Expenditure, 1976–1993 Thompson, Helen, The British Conservative Government and the European Exchange Rate Mechanism 1979–1994 Chandler, J.A. (Ed.), The Citizen’s Charter Smith, T.A. and Young, A.M.M., Th Fixers: Crisis Management in British Politics Tindale, Stephen (ed.), The State and the Nations, the Politics of Devolution McLaverty, Peter, The Politics of Empowerment? Boston, Jonathan, Martin, John, Pallot, June, Walsh, Pat, Public Management: The New Zealand Model Schick, Allen, The Spirit of Reform: Managing the New Zealand State Sector in a Time of Change – A Report Prepared for the State Services Commission and the Treasury, New Zealand McLeay, Elizabeth, The Cabinet and Political Power in New Zealand Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Governance in Transition: Public Management Reforms in OECD Countries Kettl, Donald and Milward, Brinton (eds), The State of Public Management Lynn, Laurence E., Public Management as Art, Science and Profession Gummett, Philip (ed.), Globalization and Public Policy Fitzmaurice, John, The Politics of Belgium, a Unique Federalism Handler, Joel F., Down from Bureaucracy: The Ambiguity of Privatization and Empowerment Nagel, Stuart S., Crotty, William and Scarritt, James (eds), Political Reforms and Developing Nations Cherry, Steven, Medical Services and the Hospitals in Britain, 1860–1939 Surrey, John (ed.), The British Electricity Experiment. Privatization: the Record, the Issues, the Lessons Ledwith, Sue and Colgan, Fiona (eds), Women in Organisations Challenging Gender Politics Grayson, Leslie and Davies, Howard (eds) Inlogov Informs on Quangos     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
The Dynamics of Administrative Reform Richard A. Chapman and J.R. Greenaway.
Managing the Civil Service John Garrett.
Policy and Practice: The Experience of Government Royal Institute of Public Administration.
Presidents and Prime Ministers Richard Rose and Ezra Suleiman (eds.).
The Machinery of Change in Local Government 1888–1974: A Study of Central Involvement Clifford J. Pearce.
The Reorganization of Secondary Education P. R. James.
Social Need: Policy, Practice and Research Gilbert Smith.
Social Work in Conflict Bryan Glastonbury, David M. Cooper and Pearl Hawkins (eds.).
The International Civil Service: Changing Role and Concepts Norman A. Graham and Robert S. Jordan (eds.).
Foreign Affairs for New States P. Boyce.
The Parliamentary Agents: A History D. L. Rydz.
Scottish County Government in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Ann E. Whetstone.     

Book Reviews

Michael Pugh, ed., The UN, Peace, and Force (London: Frank Cass, 1997), 208 pp.

Caroline Kennedy‐Pipe, The Origins of the Present Troubles in Northern Ireland (London: Longman, 1997), 204 pp.

Alan O'Day, ed., Political Violence in Northern Ireland: Conflict and Conflict Resolution (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997), 248 pp.

Iver B. Neumann and Ole Waever, eds., The Future of International Relations: Masters in the Making (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), 380 pp.     

Book Reviews

Caring and Coping: A Guide to Social Services. By Anthony Douglas and Terry Philpot. Routledge, 1998. Pp.259. £14.99 pb.

The Personal Social Services: Clients, Consumers or Citizens? By Robert Adams. Longman, 1996. Pp.290. £13.99 pb.

Social Services: Working Under Pressure. Edited by Susan Balloch, John McLean and Mike Fisher (eds.). The Policy Press, 1999. Pp.216. £45 hb; £16.99 pb.

Managing State Social Work: Front‐line Management and the Labour Process Perspective. By John Harris. Ashgate, 1998. Pp.152. £32.50 hb.

Health Policy in Britain. By Christopher Ham. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 4th edn 1999. Pp.237. £16.99 pb.

Community Care: Policy and Practice. By Robin Means and Randall Smith. Macmillan, 2nd edn, 1998. Pp.285. £13.99 pb.

Community Care, Ideology and Social Policy. By Harry Cowen. Prentice Hall Europe, 1999. Pp.246. £13.95 pb.

Children and Social Welfare in Europe. By Keith Pringle. Open University Press, 1998. Pp.218. £45 hb; £14.99 pb.

The Politics of Old Age in Europe. Edited by Alan Walker and Gerhard Naegele. Open University Press, 1999. Pp.230. £50 hb; £16.99 pb.

Developments in European Social Policy: Convergence and Diversity. Edited by Rob Sykes and Pete Alcock. The Policy Press, 1988. Pp.318. £18.99 pb.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Experiences of an Optimist John Redcliffe-Maud. Implementing Public Policy Ruth Levitt. Organization Theory and Local Government Robert J. Haynes Patterns of Management in Local Government Royston Greenwood, Kieron Walsh, C.R. Hinings and Stewart Ranson. The Nationalized Industries: Policies and Performance Since 1968 Richard Pryke. British Industry and the North Sea: State Intervention in a Developing Industrial Sector Michael Jenkin. Public Policy & Administration in the Soviet Union Gordon B. Smith (ed.). Federal Reorganization: What Have We Learned? Peter Szanton (Ed). Paris and the Provinces: The Politics of Local Government Reform in France Peter Alexis Gourevitch. The Division in British Medicine: A History of the Separation of General Practice from Hospital Care 1911–1968 Frank Honigsbaum. A History of English Prison Administration, vol. I, 1750–1877 Sean McConville. Old People's Homes and the Production of Welfare Bleddyn Davies and Martin Knapp. Supplementary Benefits and the Consumer Eric Briggs and Anthony M. Rees. Fifty Years of Political and Economic Planning: Looking Forward 1931–1981 John Pinder (ed.).     

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed in this article
The Modernization of British Government W. Thornhill (ed).
Economic Planning and Politics in Britain Jacques Leruez
Econocrats and the Policy Process: The Politics and Philosophy of Cost-Benefit Analysis Peter Self
Social Service Budgets and Social Policy: British and American Experience H. Glennerster
Environmental Planning 1939–69, Volume II. National Parks and Recreation in the Countryside Gordon E. Cherry
Swindon: A Town in Transition, A Study in Urban Development and Overspill Policy Michael Harloe
Support for the Arts in England and Wales Lord Redcliffe-Maud
Agriculture D. Murray et al.     

Book Reviews

Book Reveiwed in this article
Formulating Government Budgets: Aspects of Australian and North American Experience K. Knight and K. Wiltshire.
Government Secrecy in Democracies Itzhak Galnoor (Editor)
The Politics of the Judiciary J. A. G. Griffith.
Productivity in Local Government Frederick O'R. Hayes.
The Personal Social Services Eric Sainsbury.
The Future of Voluntary Organizations: Report of the Wolfenden Committee .
Corporate Social Responsibility: A Reassessment Michael Beesley and Tom Evans.
Special Interests arid Policymaking: Agricultural Policies and Politics in Britain arid the United States of America, 1956–70 . G. K. Wilson
Direct Participation in Action: the new bureaucracy David Pace and John Hunter     

Book Reviews

Book review in this article
British Cabinet Ministers: The Roles of Politicians in Executive Office Bruce Headey, Allen and Unwin, 1974.
The Problem of Party Government Richard Rose.
Democratic Theory and Local Government Dilys M.Hill.
The Economic Theory of Representative Government Albert Breton.
Independence and Deterrence Britain and Atomic Energy 1945–1952.
The Management of Urban Change in Britain and Germany Richard Rose (ed.).
Power and Authority in British Universities Graeme C.Moodie and Rowland Eustace.
Power and Politics in the School System Michael Locke.
The Government and Management of Schools George Baron and D.A.Howell.