Book reviews

Bill Jordan, The New Politics of Welfare (Sage, London, 1998), 260 pp., ISBN 0–7619–6022–8 (pb)

Michael Cox (ed.), Rethinking the Soviet Collapse. Sovietology, the Death of Communism and the New Russia (Pinter, London, 1998), 294 pp., ISBN 1–85567–321–5 (hb), 1–85567–322–3 (pb)

Adrian Little, Post‐industrial Socialism: Towards a New Politics of Welfare (Routledge, London, 1998), 190 pp., ISBN 0–415–17193–8 (hb), 0–415–17194–6 (pb)

Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity (Verso, London and New York, 1998), 143 pp., ISBN 1–85984–222–4 (pb), 1–85984–864–8 (hb)

Adrian Guelke, South Africa in Transition. The Misunderstood Miracle (I. B. Tauris, London, 1999), 224 pp., ISBN 1–86064–343–4 (hb)

Ryan Bishop and Lillian S. Robinson, Night Markets: Sexual Cultures and the Thai Economic Miracle (Routledge, London and New York, 1998), 278 pp., ISBN 0–415–91429–9 (pb)

Frank Field, Stakeholder Welfare (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1996), 114 pp., ISBN 0–255 36390–7 (pb)

David G. Green, Reinventing Civil Society; the Rediscovery of Welfare without Politics (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1993), 166 pp., ISBN 0–255 36279‐X (pb)

David G. Green, Benefit Dependency; how Welfare Undermines Independence (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1998), 49 pp., ISBN 0–255 36433–4 (pb)

Will Hutton, Stakeholding and its Critics (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1997), 102 pp., ISBN 0–255 36396–6 (pb)

Lawrence M. Mead, From Welfare to Work; Lessons from America (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1997), 155 pp., ISBN 0–255 36399–0 (pb)     

香格里拉与宗教生态旅游开发

香格里拉是人们追求的一种理想境界,它以独特的自然景观、多民族聚居、多种宗教和平共处以及中庸之道的哲学精神为特色.其宗教生态观为天人合一、和睦祥瑞.香格里拉宗教旅游属于生态旅游,开发形式为保护性开发.     

Solomon Islands: blending traditional power and modern structures in the state

By mid‐2001, the Solomon Islands government was on the edge of bankruptcy after two years of unrest on Guadalcanal. Solomon Islanders' hopes that the national government can improve their living standards have been dashed, only 23 years after British colonial rule ended on these South‐West Pacific islands. The reasons for the state's limited capacity to facilitate development extend much further than the financial crisis, as a comparison between power relations typically institutionalized in Western liberal democratic states and those institutionalized in the Solomons state shows. The Solomons state is a syncretism of traditional political practices and modern structures. Many of these traditional practices are impeding development. Recent neo‐liberal reforms championed by the previous government, the Asian Development Bank and other aid agencies did little to address these practices and were terminated in the unrest in 2000. If the state is to improve the living standards of ordinary Solomon Islanders, changes in structure, such as the state governments being established following the Townsville Peace Agreement, are not the sole answer. There also need to be changes in the political practices of both officials and politicians at national and local level. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.