The diplomacy of Anglo‐German relations: A study of the ERM crisis of September 1992

This article seeks to address Anglo‐German relations, differentiating between the government‐to‐government relationship and the diplomatic one. The relationship is of the utmost importance not only in regulating bilateral affairs but also on a multilateral level, within the European Union and NATO. With the ERM crisis of 1992 relations deteriorated to the point where they were as bad as between any two allied Western states. The article charts the role played by the diplomatic services of both countries. It concludes that prior to unification in 1990 the bilateral relationship (and the two embassies which articulated it) functioned well. This system was shaken after 1990 for political and economic reasons grounded in British and German domestic politics. The embassies found it hard to cope with these new problems and appeared to founder. The ERM crisis thus raises significant issues for the future of Anglo‐German relations and the role played by diplomatic services to their management, requiring new assessment.     

Anglo‐Russian relationships

Trial and Error. By Dr. C. Weizmann. Pp. 608. Hamish Hamilton. 1949. 21s.

China: The Far East and the Future. By G. Keeton. 2nd Edition. xii and 511 pp. Stevens (Chatham House), 1949. 21s.

The Marichurian Crisis, 1931–2. By Sara R. Smith. Pp. 281. Columbia University Press. 1948. $3.75.

Teach Yourself Chinese. By H. R. Williamson. English University Press. Pp. viii + 530. 7s. 6d.

The 3,000 Commonest Chinese Terms. By Ronald Hall, C.B.E., and Neville Whymant, Ph. D., Litt. D. Luzac. Pp. viii+211. 15s.

How Russia Transformed Her Colonial Empire: A Challenge to Imperialist Powers. By George Padmore. Dennis Dobson, Ltd., London. Pp. xx+185.. 7s. 6d.

Assam Valley. By R. Muirhead Thomson. Pp. 96. Illustrations. Luzac. 10s. 6d.

Mohammedanism. By Professor H. A. R. Gibb. (Home University Library.) Pp. 206. Oxford University Press. 1949. 5s.

Free Will and Predestination in Early Islam. By W. Montgomery Watt. Pp. x + 181. Bibliography. Index. 8½”×5¾”. Luzac, London. 15s.

Life in Modern Turkey. By E. W. F. Tomlin. Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd. Pp. 94. 15 Illustrations. Map. 7¼” × 4¾”.

Three Years in the Levant. By Richard Pearse. Pp.294. 12s. 6d. Macmillan and Co. 1949.

Bird of Time. By Melvin Hall. Pp. 307. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 1949. $3.50.     

The West German 68‐ers encounter the events of 1989

Why did the German left react negatively to the events in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989/90? There are several reasons to be given: the problem the left has in dealing with nationalism, the acceptance on the part of the West German left of the GDR as a legitimate German state; the ambivalent attitude it has towards the United States, and its deeply entrenched ‘state‐fixation’. At the present time, the German left is engaged in soul‐searching discussions which show different lines of development, but its most urgent task is to desist trying to salvage anything of value from the ‘socialism’ practised by the GDR and eastern Europe.     

Migrants' strategies of coping and patterns of accommodation in the oil‐rich Gulf societies: evidence from the UAE

This paper presents an overview of ethnographic documentation of the foreign migrants’ strategies and patterns of accommodation in the oil‐rich Arab Gulf socieites. Documentary evidence is drawn from the UAE in the form of short case studies of families and individuals of both Arab and Asian migrant groups as well as field observations. The evidence is presented as an illustration of similar processes taking place across the Gulf. The migrants investigated represent low‐income workers and a few middle‐income technicians and professionals. Globalization is used as a general guiding theoretical framework to provide integration and coherence to the modes of presentation and explanation of the ethnographic material. Particular attention is given to the differing political economics of the labour‐receiving and labour‐sending countries in order to account for the prevalence of certain strategies of coping among migrants, and also to explain the slight variations found among Arab and Asian migrants.