Rejoinder

Abstract

Many of Mr. van Walt's criticisms are based solely on fabrications of his own making. For example, I am accused, twice, of referring to myself as a “scholar” and to my article as “scholarly.” I could find no trace of either. I am further accused of considering all Tibetan refugee accounts as “unreliable.” To be sure, I believe that one cannot base the study of historical events solely on refugee accounts, but that does not make all of these stories “unreliable.” After all, Dawa Norbu, a refugee himself, wrote in Red Star Over Tibet, “I never saw or heard of any case of misconduct by a Red soldier.” I would never argue that this statement was unreliable. We are further told that I refer to Tibetans as Chinese when in the second paragraph of my review I wrote, “… Tibetans [are] only one of 56 minority nationalities.” Chinese citizens yes, ethnic Hans no. A final example, although there are many more, is Mr. van Walt's attempt to attribute to me the opinion that

… the only importance to the Western academic world is that the situation in Tibet can teach us how to eliminate a “mystical religion” and that “it gives clues as to how Peking will integrate a capitalist Taiwan into a Communist China in the future”. (emphasis added)     

Saudi Arabia: the ‘arab street’, the media and popular agitation since September 11

Dr Mai Yamani studied Anthropology at Bryn Mawr and Oxford. She has taught at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, and lectured widely in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. She is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where she has participated in conferences in the Middle East Programme. In February 2003 she, with others in the RIIA Programme, published Iraq, the Regional Fallout, which is available on the RIIA website. She has written numerous articles and her book, Changed Identities: the Challenge of the New Generation in Saudi Arabia (Royal Institute for International Affairs, 2001) was reviewed in the February 2002 issue of Asian Affairs.     

BEYOND THE WILLOW PALISADE: MANCHURIA AND THE HISTORY OF CHINA'S INNER ASIAN FRONTIER

Dr David Sneath is the Director of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University and a lecturer in Social Anthropology. He is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College where he is Deputy Tutor for Advanced Students and Director of Studies in Archaeology and Anthropology. He is the Co-editor of the journal Inner Asia and his most recent book Changing Inner Mongolia: Pastoral Mongolian Society and the Chinese State was published in 2000 by Oxford University Press (reviewed in Asian Affairs, June 2002). The following article is based on a lecture which he gave to the Society on 17 July, 2002.     

Lionel Smith on education in Iraq

Dr Grace E. Goodell (The Elementary Structures of Political Life: Rural Development in Pahlavi Iran. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Pp.362. £40.00)

Dr Habib Ladjevardi (Labour Unions and Autocracy in Iran. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1985. Pp.328. $29.95)     

The United Arab Emirates: economic vibrancy and US interests

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Dr J. E. Peterson is a historian and political scientist specializing in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf. He received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University and has taught at several academic institutions in the USA and worked for the US government and various research institutes. Until 1999, he served as the Historian of the Sultan's Armed Forces in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defence in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, and he spent 2000–2001 at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. His books include The Arab Gulf States: Steps Toward Political Participation (Praeger, for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1988), Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia (Scarecrow Press, 1993; 2^nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 2003) and Defending Oman: A History of the Sultan's Armed Forces (forthcoming). He has written an Adelphi Paper, Saudi Arabia and the Illusion of Security (2002). His articles on ‘Saudi-American Relations after September 11’ and ‘Bahrain's First Steps Towards Reform Under Amir Hamad’ appeared in recent issues of Asian Affairs. Dr Peterson's website is www.JEPeterson.net     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: BESOZZI, Claudio (2001). Illegal, legal ‐ egal? Zu Entstehung, Struktur und Auswirkungen illegaler Märkte. GOTTRAUX, Philippe, Pierre‐Antoine SCHORDERET und Bernard VOUTAT (2000) La science politique suisse à l'épreuve de son histoire. MARTY, Frank (2001). Managing International Rivers, Problems, Politics, Institutions. MATHIEU, Lilian (2001). Mobilisation de prostituées. RITTBERGER, Volker (2001). German Foreign Policy Since Unification, Theories and Case Studies. HOFFMANN‐NOWOTNY, Hans‐Joachim (2001). Das Fremde in der Schweiz. Ergebnisse soziologischer Forschung.     

Book Reviews

CHURCH, Clive H.(2004). The Politics and Government of Switzerland. HERMANN, Michael und Heiri LEUTHOLD (2003). Atlas der politischen Landschaften. Ein weltanschauliches Porträt der Schweiz. HÖPNER, Martin (2003). Wer beherrscht die Unternehmen? Shareholder value, Managerherrschaft und Mitbestimmung in Deutschland. MAZZOLENI, Oscar (2003). Nationalisme et populisme en Suisse. La radicalisation de la “nouvelle” UDC. SEGESVARY, Victor (2003). World State, Nation States, or Non‐Centralized Institutions? A Vision of the Future in Politics. VIRIOT DURANDAL, Jean‐Philippe (2003). Le pouvoir gris: sociologie des groupes de pression des retraités.     

“Holding Nationalist Flags Against Red Flags” —Anti-American Icons in Contemporary China and their Reconstruction by the Public (1999–2003)

Focusing on the construction and reconstruction process of anti-American icons in contemporary China, this paper compares the patterns of interactions between the Chinese government, intellectuals and general public during four events centering on China-US relations: the 1999 Belgrade embassy bombing, the early 2001 plane collision incident, the September 11 attacks, and the 2003 war in Iraq. The article suggests that the proliferation of anti-American icons in China does not only point towards the existence of anti-foreign ideologies. It is also a channel for different players in China to advance their personal and group interests. As long as tolerance from Beijing is signalled, much nationalist rhetoric is a coded way of directing limited dissent at the Chinese state itself, but how exactly the Chinese public hold the “nationalist flags” — which is allowed by the party–state — against the “red flags” of the same regime remains relatively unexplored. Filling up such an intellectual vacuum is the central focus of this paper.

Malaysia: the making of a grand design

Anthony Stockwell is Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He was President of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2002–2003 and is currently a Vice-President. His publications include British Policy and Malay Politics during the Malayan Union Experiment (1979) and, as editor, British Documents on End of Empire: Malaya, 1942–1957 (three parts, 1995). He has been joint editor of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History since 1990. This is a version of a lecture delivered to the Royal Society for Asian Affairs on 26 February 2003.     

The Kurds in Iraq

The following briefs are edited versions of papers presented at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Anchorage, Alaska, November 8, 2003. The editors were Hakan Yavuz and Michael Gunter, whose papers are included below. Why Kurdish Statehood is Unlikely , Michael M. Gunter, professor of political science, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee Transnational Networks: New Opportunities and Constraints for Kurdish Statehood , Denise Natali, visiting research fellow, Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI); director of WKI's transnational project Turkey and Kurdistan‐Iraq, 2003 , Robert Olson, professor of Middle East and Islamic history, University of Kentucky Could a Kurdish State Be Set Up in Iraq? , Nihat Ali Özcan, author of PKK (Kurdistan ýpçi Partisi) Tarihi, Ideolojisi ve Yönetimi (Ankara: Asam, 1999) Kurdish Reality in an Emerging Iraq , Khaled Salih, University of Southern Denmark Provincial Not Ethnic Federalism in Iraq , M. Hakan Yavuz, associate professor of political science, University of Utah     

The origins and development of the Jihadist movement: from anti-communism to terrorism

Gilles Kepel is Professor, Institute of Political Studies, Paris (1985 to present); Senior Researcher, CNRS (National Board for Scientific Research), Paris (1984 to present); Director of the Doctoral Program on the Muslim World, Institute of Political Studies (1994 to present). He was Visiting Professor, Columbia University, New York (1996–1997); Researcher, CEDEJ (Egyptian–French Center for Scientific Cooperation), Cairo, Egypt (1980–1983). He is the author of several books on Islam, including Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, published by IB Tauris in 2002 (reviewed in this issue of Asian Affairs, p. 158) and Bad Moon Rising: A Chronicle of the Middle East Today (Saqi, 2003). An earlier version of this article was published in Ramse`s, 2003     

The drug trade in Southern Africa

Introductory Address by Dr. AM Omar MP, Minister of Justice, at the South African Institute of International Affairs’ Workshop on ‘The Drug Trade in Southern Africa’, 5 June 1997, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.     

Book reviews

Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush, Muslims of the Soviet Empire: a Guide. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1986, xviii + 294 pp., $24.95, Foreword by Hans Bräker.

Viktor Kozlov, The People of the Soviet Union. Bloomington, Indiana and London: Indiana University Press and Hutchinson, 1988, xi + 251 pp., $45 (Pauline M. Tiffen, Trans.; Michael Rywkin, Intro.).     

Family Firms,Networks and ‘Ethnic Enterprise’: Chinese Food Industry in Britain

Chinese family enterprises in the United Kingdom have penetrated many different sectors of the economy, including restaurants, wholesaling, retailing, trading, manufacturing, property development, computer services and investment holding. Among the companies in these sectors, those involved in different segments of the food industry, as manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers, reputedly feature characteristics of Chinese culture. A majority of these enterprises, for example, function as family firms. This study explores the assertion that, among companies owned by ethnic minorities, culture strongly influences form of business development. This argument will be assessed through a focus on Chinese food-based enterprises in the UK. Two family-controlled companies, Seven Seas (Frozen Food) Ltd and Dayat Foods Packaging Ltd, were selected as case studies as they are involved in key business components of the Chinese food chain industry. Through an in-depth comparative study of the history and development of these two firms, we consider the argument that Chinese businesses have evolved well because of family ties and their inclusion in mutually-beneficial ethnically-constructed networks. Through these case studies, we provide an alternative perspective to diasporic Chinese business development which brings into question the extensive use of the concept of ethnic enterprise.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Ruud Buitelaar and Pitou van Dijck, eds. Latin America's New Insertion in the World Economy: Towards Systematic Competitiveness in Small Economies. Henry Veltmeyer, James Petras, and Steve Vieux. Neoliberalism and Class Conflict in Latin America: A Comparative Perspective on the Political Economy of Structural Adjustment. James E. Mahon, Jr. Mobile Capital and Latin American Development. University Park Walter Molano. The Logic of Privatization: The Case of Telecommunications in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Edward L. Cleary. The Struggle for Human Rights In Latin America. Alexandra Barahona de Brito. Human Rights and Democratization in latin America: Uruguay and Chile. Donald F. Stevens, ed. Based on a True Story: Latin American History at the Movies. James W. McGuire. Peronism Without Perón: Unions, Parties, and Democracy in Argentina. Ransford W. Palmer, ed. The Repositioning of U.S.-Caribbean Relations in the New World Order. Horace A. Bartilow. The Debt Dilemma: IMF Negotiations in Jamaica, Grenada, and Guyana. Maxwell A. Cameron and Philip Mauceri, eds. The Peruvian Labyrinth: Polity, Society, Economy.     

U.S.‐Saudi Relations: Bump in the Road or End of the Road? Rockefeller Foundation Report

The following report of a Saudi-American dialogue held at Bellagio, Italy, June 2–6, 2003, was written by Clifford Chanin and F. Gregory Gause, III. Mr. Chanin is president of The Legacy Project and Dr. Gause is an associate professor at the University of Vermont (see participant list at end).     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Serulnikov, Sergio (2003)Subverting Colonial Authority: Challenges to Spanish Rule in Eighteenth‐Century Southern Andes Connaughton, Brian (2003)Clerical Ideology in a Revolutionary Age. The Guadalajara Church and the Idea of the Mexican Nation (1788–1853) Palmer, Steven (2003)From Popular Medicine to Medical Populism: Doctors, Healers, and Public Power in Costa Rica, 1800–1940 Papiernik, Charles (2004)Unbroken: From Auschwitz to Buenos Aires MacLachlan, Colin M. (2003)A History of Modern Brazil: The Past Against the Future. Bulmer‐Thomas, Victor (2003)The Economic History of Latin America since Independence Silverman, Helaine and Proulx, Donald (2002)The Nasca Castro‐Klarén, Sara and Chasteen, John Charles (eds)(2003)Beyond Imagined Communities: Reading and Writing the Nation in Nineteenth‐Century Latin America Lewis, Laura A. (2003)Hall of Mirrors: Power, Witchcraft, and Caste in Colonial Mexico Hirsch, Jennifer S. (2003)A Courtship After Marriage: Sexuality and Love in Mexican Transnational Families Myers, Kathleen Ann (2003)Neither Saints nor Sinners: Writing the Lives of Women in Spanish America Sanford, Victoria (2003)Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala Warren, Kay B. and Jackson, Jean E. (eds)(2002)Indigenous Movements, Self‐Representation, and the State in Latin America Burgess, Katrina (2004)Parties and Unions in the New Global Economy Dudley, Steven (2004)Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia Jaguaribe Helio and Álvaro de Vasconcelos (eds)(2003)The European Union, Mercosul and the New World Order Saldaña‐Portillo, María Josefina (2003)The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas in the Age of Development Trigo, Benigno (ed.)(2002)Foucault and Latin America: Appropriations and Deployments of Discursive Analysis Egan, Linda (2001)Carlos Monsiváis: Culture and Chronicle in Contemporary Mexico Weiss, Jason (2003)The Lights of Home: A Century of Latin American Writers in Paris     

Letters to the editor

The Future of India. Part III of the Report on the Constitutional Problem in India submitted to the Warden and Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford. By R. Coupland, C.I.E., M.A., Hony. D.Litt. (Durham), Fellow of All Souls and Nuffield College, Beit Professor of Colonial History in the University of Oxford. 8/1/2>” x 5/1/2>”. Pp. 207. 6 Maps. Oxford University Press. Price 6s. 6d.

Allenby in Egypt. Being Volume II of Allenby: A Study in Greatness. By Field‐Marshal Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica and Winchester, G.C.B., C.M.G., M.C., Viceroy of India, Ios. 6d.

Generals and Geographers : the Twilight of Geopolitics. By Hans W. Weigert. Pp. 259. Oxford University Press (New York). $3.00.

Judæa Lives Again. By Norman Bentwich. Pp. 189. Gollancz. 8s. 6d.

Desert. Journey. By George Rodgers. Pp. 151. 44 photographs. Cresset Press. 15s.

Jordan's Tunis Diary. By Philip Jordan. Pp. 256. London: Collins. 1943. 10s. 6d.

Persia in the Early Days of the Pahlavi Régime. By D. Bourke‐Borrowes.

Return to Happiness. By Jonas Lied. Pp. xi+217. 8/3/4>” x 6”. Macmillan. 18s.

Jenghiz Khan. By Squadron‐Leader C. C. Walker. 10” x 6/1/2>”. Pp.216. 7 Maps. Published by Luzac, London. 1940. 17s. 6d.

Tibetan Sentences. By Sir Basil Gould and H. E. Richardson.

India Today and Tomorrow. By Sir Geoffrey de Montmorency. Signpost Booklet. Price 6d.

The Burmese Scene. By Maurice Collis. 7” x 5”. Pp. 60. John Crowther. 5s.

Government by Assassination. By Hugh Byas. George Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6d.

Survey of the Anglo‐Egyptian Sudan, 1898–1941. By K. D. D. Henderson. Kassala at War. By B. Kennedy‐Cooke.

Advisory council for the Northern Sudan: a broadcast     

Balance of Factional Power in China: The Seventeenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

The Seventeenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), held on 15–21 October 2007 in Beijing, produced some interesting changes to the balance of power among different factional groups in Chinese politics. Compared to the balance of power among factional groups generated as a result of the Sixteenth National Congress of the CCP five years earlier, the four major factional groups had different experiences. In terms of power index, the Shanghai Gang, a factional group affiliated with Former General Secretary Jiang Zemin, declined substantially; the Qinghua Clique, graduates of the Qinghua University, also declined significantly; the Princelings, children of former high-ranking officials, however, increased a great deal; and the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) Group, a factional group closely associated with General Secretary Hu Jintao, witnessed substantial expansion. In terms of group cohesion index, both the Shanghai Gang and the Qinghua Clique shrank significantly; the Princelings increased somewhat; and the CCYL Group expanded substantially.

Book Reviews

Arlettaz, Gérald et Silvia Arlettaz (2004) . La Suisse et les étrangers. Immigration et formation nationale 1848‐1933. Hofmann‐Conrad, Silvia, Sina Bardill Arn, Silke Redolfi und Katharina Belser (2004) . Politische Partizipation von Frauen in der Gemeindepolitik Graubündens. Laborier Pascale et Danny Trom (éds.).(2003) . Historicités de l'action publique. Nassehi, Armin und Markus Schroer (Hrsg.)(2003) . Der Begriff des Politischen. Slaughter, Anne‐Marie (2004) . A New World Order.