‘Women are trouble,did you know that Fergus?’: Neil Jordan's <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Crying Game</Emphasis>

The subject of this article is Neil Jordan's film The Crying Game. Released in 1992, it was widely received as a film that challenged stereotypes in relation to both the IRA and questions of race, sexuality and desire. This article calls into question such a radical reading by analysing the way in which Jude the IRA woman is represented. Through a feminist deconstruction, the article proposes that the character of Jude can be seen to represent both national and international anxieties concerning contemporary masculine and feminine subject positions. The article plots this by investigating how the film deals with the specifics of gender and Irish nationalism. It then moves on to consider how these specifics can be seen to articulate international postmodern concerns about contemporary gender identities.     

Book reviews

Vernon Hewitt, The New International Politics of South Asia (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1997), xxxvi +305 pp., ISBN 0–7190–5121–5 (hb), 0–7190–5122–3 (pb)

Ruth Lister, Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives (Macmillan, London, 1997), 284 pp., ISBN 0–333–53488–3

Martin Bull and Martin Rhodes (eds), Crisis and Transition in Italian Politics (Frank Cass, London, 1997), 253 pp., ISBN 0–7146–4816–7 (hb), 0–7146–4366–1 (pb)

Linda McDougall, Westminster Women (Vintage, London, 1998), 215 pp., ISBN 0–09–927405–1     

A: Reviews: General

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HADITH. By John Burton. (Islamic Surveys.) Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. 210 pp. £39.95 (hb); £16.95 (pb).

POLITICS, GENDER, AND THE ISLAMIC PAST: THE LEGACY OF ‘A'ISHA BINT ABI BAKR. By D. A. Spellberg. New York, Columbia University Press, 1995. 250 pp. $35.00.

MEDIEVAL ISMA'ILI HISTORY AND THOUGHT. Edited by Farhad Daftary. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996. 331 pp. £40.00

THE THRONE CARRIER OF GOD: THE LIFE AND THOUGHT OF ‘ALA’ AD‐DAWLA AS‐SIMNANI. By Jamal J. Elias. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1995. 260 pp. $16.95

OTTOMAN SEAPOWER AND LEVANTINE DIPLOMACY IN THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. By Palmira Brummett. (SUNY Series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East.) New York, State University of New York Press, 1994. xvi, 285 pp. 2 maps, 7 plates. $19.95.

HAIFA: TRANSFORMATION OF AN ARAB SOCIETY, 1918–1939. By May Seikaly. London, I. B. Tauris, 1995. 284 pp. £39.50 (hb).

THE FORMATION OF MODERN SYRIA AND IRAQ. By Eliezer Tauber. London, Frank Cass, 1995. 427 pp. £30.00 (hb); £15.00 (pb).

IRAQ: POWER AND SOCIETY. Edited by Derek Hopwood, Habib Ishow and Thomas Koszinowski. (St Antony's Middle East monographs, 29.) Reading, Ithaca Press, 1993. viii, 400 pp. £30.00.

SECRET WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE COVERT STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA, 1949–61. By Andrew Rathmell. London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 1995. 256 pp. £39.50.

LEBANON: A SHATTERED COUNTRY. By Elizabeth Picard. Translated from the French [Liban: État de discorde] by Franklin Philip. New York and London, Holmes & Meier, 1996. xii, 202 pp. £29.95.

THE ISLAMIST DILEMMA: THE POLITICAL ROLE OF ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS IN THE CONTEMPORARY ARAB WORLD. Edited by Laura Guazzone. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1995. 390 pp. £45.00.

ISLAM AND THE MYTH OF CONFRONTATION: RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By Fred Halliday. London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 1996. 256 pp. £35.00 (hb); £12.95 (pb).

THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER. Edited by Haifaa A. Jawad. Basingstoke, St Martins Press/Macmillan, 1994. viii, 154 pp. $35 (hb).

CONFIDENCE BUILDING AND VERIFICATION: PROSPECTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Shai Feldman. (Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies Study, 25.) Published jointly by the Jerusalem Post and Westview Press, Boulder, 1994. 255 pp. £28.50 (hb).

CHILDREN IN THE MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1995. xviii, 477 pp., photographs. $22.50 (hb).

THE HISTORY OF THE MAZRU'I DYNASTY OF MOMBASA. By Al‐Amin Bin ‘Ali Al Mazru'i. Translated and annotated by J. McL. Ritchie (Union Académique Interna‐tionale/Fontes Historiae Africanae: Series Arabica XI.) Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1995. x, 182, 76 pp. £27.50 (hb).

AN INTRODUCTION TO ARAB POETICS. By Adonis. Translated from the Arabic by Catherine Cobham. London, Saqi Books, 1990. 108 pp.

ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN PALESTINIAN LITERATURE. Edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York, Columbia University Press, 1992. 744 pp. $34.95.

THE EYE OF THE MIRROR. By Liana Badr. Translated by Samira Kawar. (Arab Women Writers.) Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1995. 264 pp. £8.95 (pb).

THE GOLDEN CHARIOT. By Salwa Bakr. Translated by Dinah Manisty. (Arab Women Writers.) Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1995. 193 pp. £ 8.95 (pb).

THE STONE OF LAUGHTER. By Hoda Barakat. Translated by Sophie Bennett. (Arab Women Writers.) Reading, Garnet Publishing, 1995. 231 pp. £ 8.95 (pb).

AL‐KITAAB FII TA'ALLUM AL‐'ARABIYYA (A TEXTBOOK FOR BEGINNING ARABIC). By Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud Al‐Batal and Abbas Al‐Tonsi. Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press, 1995. Introduction 224 pp., textbook 480 pp., videotapes, cassettes.

DAS MUTAFI‐LAZISCHE. Edited by Silvia Kutscher, Johanna Mattissen and Anke Wodarg. (Arbeitspapier, Nr. 24, Neue Folge.) Köln, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft Universität zu Köln, 1995. 136 pp.

GRAMATIKA JEZYKA KRYMSKOTATARSKIEGO. By Henryk Jankowski. (Seria Jezykoznawstwo, Nr. 15.) Poznań, Uniwersytet Im. Adama Mickiewicza, 1992. xviii, 455 pp.

CULINARY CULTURES OF THE MIDDLE EAST. Edited by Richard Tapper and Sami Zubaida. London, New York, I. B. Tauris, 1994. 302 pp. £34.50 (hb).     

Electoral Systems, Campaign Strategies, and Vote Choice in the Ukrainian Parliamentary and Presidential Elections of 1994

In the Ukrainian parliamentary elections of 1994 the Communist party gained the greatest number of seats, yet the presidential election of the same year was won by a liberal reformer, Leonid Kuchma. The question arises as to how within a period of only a few months the Ukrainian electorate could have brought about such divergent results. This article addresses the question with reference to the workings of the Ukrainian electoral systems. It argues firstly, that the systems governing the two types of election created distinctive incentive structures for campaign strategy which interacted with the structure of preferences of the electorate in different ways, and secondly, that majoritarian aggregative formulae had different effects in the two sets of elections.     

MENDING RIFTS

How far can the Biden administration go to rebuild trust with China?There is a great deal of speculation regarding a Joe Biden presidency,including whether it will soothe the existing toxic relationship between the U.S.and China.While many credit Donald Trump with"standing up to China"and question whether Biden will do the same.     

Art,Cold War Diplomacy and Commonwealth: Australian and Canadian Art at the Tate Gallery 1962–1964

This article analyses the formation, presentation and reception of two seminal exhibitions: Australian Painting: Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary (1962–1963) and Canadian Painting 1939–1963 (1964). The presentation of these exhibitions at London’s Tate Gallery reflected the institution’s support for “old dominion” Commonwealth members. The exhibitions also highlight the differing visions of the Canadian and Australian governments concerning the relationship between art, diplomacy and politics during the Cold War. In Canada, Vincent Massey (Governor General 1952–1959) played a key role in ensuring that all forms of Canadian art were promoted internationally. Massey wanted to connect with the European and American avant-garde and to be part of a multiracial Commonwealth. This contrasted with the rather “old-fashioned” views of the Australian prime minister, Robert Menzies, and the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. They supported a Commonwealth dominated by the “white dominions” and the initial exhibition plan for Australian Painting recalled previous British Empire art shows. The British response to the Canadian and Australian exhibitions is also discussed. British critics preferred the nationally identifiable “exotic” art found in Australian art to the transnational forms of international abstraction in Canadian art. Eventually, Australia “caught up” with Canadian cultural policy following the establishment of the Australia Council.