Dealing with debt in the 1980s

Dynamics of World Development. Political Economy of the World System Annuals, Volume 4. Edited by Richard Rubison, London: SAGE. 1981. 264pp. £6.50.

Studies of the Modern World‐System. Edited by Albert Bergesen, London: Academic Press. 1980. 277pp. np.

World System Structure: continuity and change. Edited by W Ladd Hollist and James N Rosenau, London: SAGE. 1981. 320pp. £15.50. £6.50pb.

Muslim Society. Ernest Gellner, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1981. 264pp. £18.20.

African Businessmen and Development in Zambia. Andrew A Beveridge and Anthony R Oberschall Princeton University Press. 1980. 382pp. £13.40

Population and Technology. Ester Boserup, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1981. 255pp. £9.95.

Energy Systems and Development: constraints, demands and supply of energy for developing countries. Jyoti K Parikh, Delhi: Oxford University Press. 1980. 152pp. £7.75.

Energy for Development: an international challenge. North‐South Round Table, New York: Praeger. 1981. 257pp. np. pb.

Stitches in Time: the Commonwealth in world politics. Arnold Smith with Clyde Sanger, London: André Deutsch. 1981. 322pp. £9.95

From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: the politics of transition. Henry Wiseman and Alastair M Taylor, Oxford: Pergamon (for the International Peace Academy). 1981. 192pp. £10.00

Southern Rhodesia Elections, February, 1980 The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group on elections leading to independent Zimbabwe. Commonwealth Secretariat, London: Commonwealth Secretariat. 1980. 351pp. £6.00

Toward a Cultural Theory of Education and Schooling. Edited by Frederick Gearing and Lucinda Sangree London: Global Book Resources. 1980. 259pp. £18.12

The Law of International Trade. Mark S W Hoyle, London: Laureate Press. 1981. 414pp. £9.95

Cases and Materials on the Law of International Trade. Mark S W Hoyle, London: Laureate Press. 1980. 282pp. £12.50pb

School and Community in the Third World. M E Sinclair with Kevin Lillis, London: Croom Helm (with the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex). 1979. 188pp. £10.95

Regionalism and the New International Economic Order. Edited by Davidson Nicol, Luis Echeverria and Aurelio Pecci, Oxford: Pergamon 387pp. £22.50 £8.50pb

New Economic Order and International Development Law. Oswaldo de Rivero B. Oxford: Pergamon. 1980.141pp. £8.00

Weak States in the International System. Michael Handel, London: Frank Cass. 1981. 318pp. £15.00

Developing Countries in the International Economy. Sanjaya Lall, London: Macmillan: 1981. 263pp. £20.00

The Non‐Aligned in Havana. Documents of the Sixth Summit Conference and an Analysis of their significance for the Global Political System. Peter Willetts, London: Frances Pinter. 1981.283pp. £16.95

The Transition to Egalitarian Development. K Griffin and J James, London: Macmillan. 1981.128pp. £15.00

Can Equity be Organised?. B. Schaffer and G Lamb London: Gower (for UNESCO). 1981. 166pp. £8.75

Universal Primary Education in Nigeria: a study of Kano State. Mark Bray, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1981. 212pp. £5.50 pb

The Arab Predicament: Arab political thought and practice since 1967. Fouad Ajami, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1981. 220pp. £12.50

Moroccan Islam: tradition and society in a pilgrimage centre. Dale F Eickelman, London: University of Texas Press. 1981. (Modern Middle East Series No. 1) 303pp. £5.85 pb

Jassim: a study in the psychosocial development of a young man in Qatar. Levon H Melikian, London: Longman. 1981. 112pp. £11.95

African Socialism in Two Countries. Ahmed Mohiddin, London: Croom Helm. 1981.231pp. £12.50.

Uganda: a modern history. Jan Jelmert Jørgensen, London: Croom Helm. 1981.381pp. £13.95.

Economic and Political Development of Kenya. Edited by Priya Mutalik‐Desai, Bombay: Himalaya Publishing House. 1979. 200pp. £5.00.

The Role of Finance in the Transition to Socialism. Stephany Griffith‐Jones, London: Frances Pinter. 1981. 194pp. £12.50.

The USSR and Africa: foreign policy under Khrushchev. Dan C Heldman, New York: Praeger. 1981. pp. £20.00.

Dependent Capitalism in Crisis: the Sri Lankan economy 1948–1980. Satchi Ponnambalam, London: Zed Press. 1980. 232pp. £14.95.

The Future of Oil, A Simulation Study of the Inter‐relationships of Resources, Reserves and Use, 1980–2080. Peter R Odell and Kenneth E Rosing, London: Kegan Paul. 1980. 265pp. £20.00.

The Supply of Petroleum Reserves in South‐East Asia: Economic Implications of Evolving Property Rights Arrangements. Corazón Morales Siddayao (for the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore and The East‐West Centre, USA) Kuala Lumpur Oxford University Press. 1980. 240pp. £12.50.

The Off‐Shore Petroleum Resources of South‐East Asia: Potential Conflict Situations and Related Economic Considerations. Corazón Morales Siddayao (for the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore) Kuala Lumpur Oxford University Press. 1980. 205pp. £8.00.

Family, Labour and Trade in Western Kenya. Per Kongstad and Mette Monsted. 186pp.

Economic and Social Transformation in Rural Kenya. John Carlsen. 230pp.

Marketing Co‐operatives and Peasants in Kenya. Torben Bager. 116pp. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. 1980. Skv 25 each.

State, Society and Economy in Saudi Arabia. Edited by Tim Niblock, London: Croom Helm (for Centre for the Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter). 1982. 250pp. £14.95.

Brazil in the International System: the rise of a middle power. Edited by Wayne E Selcher, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 1981. 251pp. £18.50.

Inequality and economic development in Malaysia. Donald R Snodgrass, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. 1980. 326pp. £14.50.

Local Government in Peninsular Malaysia. M W Morris, London: Gower. 1980. 121pp. £9.50.

China's Development Experience in Comparative Perspective. Edited by Robert F Dernberger, London: Harvard University Press. 1981. 347pp. £18.00.

The Agrarian Structure of Bangladesh: an impediment to development. F Tomasson Januzzi and James T Peach Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 1981. 150pp. £13.00

Revolution and Economic Development in Cuba. Arthur MacEwan, London: Macmillan. 1981. 265pp. £20.00     

Dealing with Austerity: a case of local resilience in Southern Europe

Southern countries are undergoing a severe economic crisis that has renewed debates about the available strategies to economise their public resources. Political leaders have launched a wide range of different strategies aimed at reducing spending. According to generally accepted political discourse, drastic actions should be taken to guarantee economic and financial sustainability in times of austerity. We explore the main measures adopted by Spanish municipalities in order to examine their impact in budgetary terms. First of all, we identify the most frequently implemented mechanisms including organisational structure, public services and operational economic restructuration. After their quantification, we monitor the presence and impact of each set of policies to analyse the relationship between concrete measures and effective economic impact. The effective reduction of budgets is being implemented but data show that local governments are resilient to non-compulsory changes. The ‘government at a distance’ policy pursued by the central state administration has effectively reduced budgets but has not affected the institutional core of Spanish local governments.     

A Struggle for Power: Al Nusra and Al Qaida in Syria

Abstract

Relying on interviews with members of the organization, the article argues (contrary to the prevailing view) that Al Nusra never split from Al Qaida and even more so from the global jihadist movement. Instead the leadership of Al Nusra was locked in a power struggle with Al Qaida over the control of jihad in Syria and possibly even over the future of Al Qaida itself. Efforts to unify the Syrian opposition, even those limited to jihadist groups, failed also because of the leadership of Al Nusra kept trying to co-opt other opposition groups, rather than forming alliances with them.