The Baghdad railway: Its new rôle in the Middle East

General

Gardens of Paradise: The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens. By John Brookes. London, Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1987. Pp. 240. Maps. Bibliog. Index. Chronology. Illus. £20.00.

The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia. By E. L. Jones. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 279. Bibliog. Index. £27.50 Hb, £9.95 Pb.

Expansion of Third World Navies. By Michael A. Morris. London. Macmillan, 1987. Pp. 293: Index £35.00.

Central Asia

Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom ‐ the Legend of the Kingdom of Prester John. By Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev. Translated from the Russian by R. E. F. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp. 403. Bibliog. Index. Maps. (First published in Russian, under the title: Poiski vymyshlennogo Tsarstva: legenda o Gosudarstve presvitera Ioanna, Moscow, 1970). £37.50.

Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan. By Albert von Le Coq. Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 180. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £8.50 Pb.

The Tragedy of Afghanistan: the Social, Cultural and Political Impact of the Soviet Invasion. Edited by Bo Huldt and Erland Jansson. London, Croom Helm, 1988. Pp. 270. Index. £27.50.

South Asia

The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. II 1. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. By Dr. C. A. Bayly. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 206. Gloss. Bibliographical Essay. Index. £17.50.

The New Cambridge History of India, II, 2: Bengal: the British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740–1828. By P. J. Marshall. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 195. Index. Maps. £17.50.

India and Tibet. By Francis Younghusband. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1985. Pp. 455. Illus. Maps. Index. £21.00.

Below the Peacock Fan: First Ladies of the Raj. By Marian Fowler. New York, Viking, 1987. Pp. 337. Illus. Notes. Bibliog. $19.95.

Mediaevalism to Modernism: Socio‐economic and Cultural History of Hyderabad 1869–1911. By Sheela Raj. London, Sangam Books, 1987. Pp. 340. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £19.95.

The Days of the Beloved. By Harriet Ronken Lynton and Mohini Rajan. London, Sangam Books, 1988. Pp. 279. Illus. £11.95.

South Asia: The Narrowing Options. Economist Intelligence Unit Special Report No. 110. By Brian Slocock. London. Economist Intelligence Unit. 1988. Pp. 119. Map. £115.00 Pb.

The Cat and the Lion. Robert W. Stern. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1988. Pp. 331. Bibliog. Index. $56.00.

Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement. By Edward Duyker. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 201. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £11.95.

The Political Economy of Pakistan, 1947–85. By Omar Noman. London, KPI, 1988. Pp. 218. Bibliog. Index. £25.00.

Banditry in Islam: Case Studies from Morocco, Algeria and the Pakistan North West Frontier. By David M. Hart. London Middle East and North African Studies Press, 1987. Pp. 86. Maps.

Sri Lanka: A History. By Chandra Richard de Silva. London, Sangam books, 1987. Pp. 316. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £14.95.

Crime, Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka. By John D. Rogers. Curzon Riverdale, 1987. Pp. 270. Appendices. Bibliog. Index. No price stated.

South‐East Asia

ASEAN at the Crossroads. Ed. by Noordin Sopiee, Chewhay See and Lim Siang Jin. Kuala Lumpur. ISIS, Malaysia, 1987. Pp. 577. $25.00.

Financing East Asia's Success. By Michael Skully and George Viksnis, London, Macmillan, 1987. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £29.50.

The Commerce in Rubber ‐ The First 250 Years. By Austin Coates. Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1987. Pp. 380. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £25.

Government and Politics in Singapore. Ed. Jon S. T. Quah, Chan Heng Chee and Seah Chee Meow. Southeast Asian Studies Program, Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1987. Tables, Bibliog. Index. Pp. 338. £11.50.

On the Road to Tribal Extinction: Depopulation, Deculturation, and Adaptive Well‐Being Among the Batak of the Philippines. By James F. Eder. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 276. Maps. Notes. Index. $38.00.

Land, Poverty and Politics in the Philippines. By Mamerto Canlas, Mariano Miranda Jr., and James Putzel. London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1988. Pp. 87. Map. Index. £4.95.

Punishing the Poor: The International Isolation of Kampuchea. By Eva Mysliwiec. Oxford, Oxfam Publications, 1988. Pp. 172. £3.95. Pb. £14.95 Hb.

Middle East

Israel and the American National Interest ‐ A Critical Examination. By Cheryl A. Rubenberg. Urbana and Chicago. University of Illinois Press, 1986. Pp. 446. Index. $24.95.

The Zealous Intruders: The Western Rediscovery of Palestine. By Naomi Shepherd. London, Collins, 1987. Pp. 282. Illus. Map. Bibliog. Index. Price not stated.

Far East

The Cambridge History of China. Volume 13. Republican China 1912–1949, Part 2. Edited by John K. Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker. Cambridge University Press, 1986. Pp. 1111. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £60.00.

The Cambridge History of China. General Editors, Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank. Volume 14, The People's Republic, Part 1: The Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1949–1965. Edited by R. L. MacFarquhar and J. K. Fairbank. Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp. 722. Bibliographical Essays. Bibliog. Gloss. Index. £50.00.

The Archaeology of Ancient China. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. By Kwang‐Chih Chang. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1987. Pp. 475. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £45.00 Hb. £14.95. Pb.

A Dream of Red Mansions. By Ts'ao Hsüeh‐ch'in and Kao Ngo, (tr. Yang Hsien‐yi and Gladys Yang). London, Unwin Paperbacks, 1986. Pp. 499. £7.95 Pb.

Outlaws of the Marsh. By Shih Nai‐an and Lo Kuan‐chung (tr. Sidney Shapiro). London, Unwin Paperbacks, 1986, Pp. 458. £7.95 Pb.

Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century. By Susan Naquin and Evelyn S. Rawski. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1987. Pp. 288. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £22.50 US $35.00.

The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. By Joseph W. Esherick. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 451. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. $45.00.

The Communist Party of China and Marxism 1921–1985: A Self‐Portrait. By Laszlo Ladany. London, C Hurst &; Co 1988. Pp. 588. Bibliog. Index. £32.50.

The Sino‐Soviet Confrontation since Mao Zedong. Dispute, Detente, or Conflict? By Alfred D. Low. Social Science Monographs, Boulder, 1987. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Pp. 332. Notes. Bibliog. $40.

Education and Socialist Modernization ‐ A Documentary History of Education in the People's Republic of China, 1977–1988. Edited by Shi Ming Hu and Eli Seifman. New York, AMS Press, 1987. Pp. 229. $62.50.

East Asian Conflict Zones. Ed. Lawrence E. Grinter and Young Whan Khil. Basingstoke, Macmillan Press, 1988. Pp. 239. Map. Notes. Bibliog. Index. £29.50.

Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan: The Kaitokudō Merchant Academy of Osaka. By Tetsuo Najita. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press. 1987. Pp. 344. Index. £29.95. Hb. £11.95 Pb.

Japan in the Victorian Mind: A Study of Stereotyped Images of a Nation, 1850–1880. By Toshio Yokoyama. London, St Antony's/Macmillan, 1987. Pp. 233. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £27.50.

Fire Across the Sea: The Vietnam War and Japan, 1965–1975. Princeton University Press, 1987. Pp. 329. Illus. Notes. Index. £25.00. Hb. £11.70. Pb.

The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual. By Emiko Ohnuki‐Tierney. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1987. Pp. 269. Illus. Index. Bibliog. £18.75.

Dōgen Kigen: Mystical Realist. By Hee‐Jin Kim. Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1987. Pp. 324. Bibliog. Index. $18.95 Pb.

Hong Kong in Transition. Ed. Joseph Y. S. Cheng. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 457. £8.95. Pb.

Chinese Christians: Elites, Middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong. By Carl Smith. Oxford University Press, 1985, 1988. Pp. 252. Chronology. Plates. Notes. Index. £15.00.

Siberia and the Soviet Far East: Strategic Dimensions in Multinational Perspective. Ed. Rodger Swearingen. Stanford, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1987. Pp. 298. Index. $32.95.

Shorter notes

Soviet Economic Assistance to the Less Developed Countries. By Quintin V. S. Bach. Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 175. Bibliog. £27.50.

The Tibet Guide. By Stephen Batchelor. London, Wisdom Publications, 1987. Pp. 466. Illus. Index. £13.95 Pb.

The Second Afghan War 1878–1880 Casualty Roll. Compiled by Anthony Far‐rington. The London Stamp Exchange Limited, 1987. Pp. 189. (A4) £14.95.

Indian General Service Medal 1895 Casualty Roll. Compiled by Anthony Far‐rington. The London stamp Exchange limited, 1987. Pp. 166. (A4) £14.95.

The Makers of Indian Colonial Silver 1760–1860. Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson. London, W. R. T. Wilkinson, 1987. Pp. 229. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £97.50.

Kashmir. By Raghubir Singh. London, Thames and Hudson, 1987. Pp. 32. Illus. Map. £9.95 Pb.

Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Society. Ed. Chowdhury E. Haque. Winnipeg, Bangladesh Studies Assemblage, University of Manitoba, 1987. Pp. 139. Price not stated.

Course for Disaster: From Scapa to the River Kwai. By Richard Pool. London, Leo Cooper, 1987. Pp. 196. £13.95.

Medieval Persia 1040–1797. By David Morgan. Longman, London and New York, 1988. Pp. 197. Bibliog. Index. £15.95 Hb. £7.95 Pb.

Iron in the Fire: the Chinese Potters’ Exploration of Iron‐oxide Glazes. London, The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1988. Intro. Plates. £16 (incl. postage).     

India and South Africa: Shifting priorities

Ties between India and South Africa have grown rapidly over the past few years. But despite close collaboration on a range of issues and growing trade and investment ties, the relationship is a long way from reaching its full potential and there are still areas of difference between the countries. Philip Alves examines how the relationship has evolved historically, particularly since 1994, both politically and economically, and where it might be going.     

The Karoo and eco-inflections of fracking: preliminary notes on literary imagination

The awareness of the “planet in peril” has never been more acute in a South African context than today, when the imminent extraction of shale gas through the process of hydraulic fracturing (known as “fracking”) in the Karoo has gained traction in the public mind. At least two broad dimensions are involved. The first, based on the logic of petro-modernity and its profligate culture, is framed within a seductive, neoliberal narrative of industrial progress and economic development. The second is framed as outright resistance to the inevitable environmental damage caused by this petro-industrial venture. This study reflects on how literature might intervene in this bipolar debate. Alfred Jackson’s Manna in the Desert, Pauline Smith’s The Little Karoo, and Etienne van Heerden’s “Poison Karoo” employ the trope of water to stimulate an ethical vision. Materially, water is imagined in its apparent scarcity as a feature of the delicate ecosystem of the Karoo, a vast arid landscape of drudgery, where life forms compete for the limited resource. Allegorically, water signifies as safely concealed, subterranean abundance. The Karoo, possessing more than its external features account for, is a place of beauty and mystical presence where life is sustained and preserved. It is within these significations that the environmental and social repercussion of fracking is inflected. Literature can bridge the divide between the narrative of progress and the counternarrative of ecological consciousness by way of highlighting their contradictions. But it also complicates these contradictions by valorizing their ethical potentiality.     

'All for One and One for All': Transactions Cost and Collective Action

Rational choice analysis of collective action predicts that individual members of a large group will not contribute voluntarily towards a common cause; members of large groups attribute no significance to individual action. Large groups are mobilised by the attraction of private goods and services; private interest, rather than identity with a common cause, is the stimulus. Yet the efficacy of such selective incentives depends on the signal that erstwhile 'profits' (from the provision of private goods) are dedicated to achieving a collective goal. At the same time, the signal that collective action is 'non-profit' enhances the intrinsic value of the act of participation. When the impact of individual action on outcome is difficult to discern, individuals rely on low-cost signals relating to process . There are incentives to identify with the pursuit of a common cause when collective action is deemed 'non-profit' and a common goal is non-rival.     

Deconstructing decentralization in China: fiscal incentive versus local autonomy in policy implementation

This article examines the congruent and conflicting effects of fiscal decentralization and power devolution—two main types of decentralization in post‐reform China—in order to tackle the insufficient distinction between them in current academic analyses. Derived from the two types of decentralization respectively are fiscal incentive and local autonomy, which influence local states' policy implementation in turnover taxation. By uncovering the unique logic of either factor, this article argues that contrary to what is widely presupposed, local autonomy is not necessarily congruent with fiscal incentive in affecting local compliance with centrally imposed policy rules during policy implementation. When power devolution and fiscal decentralization follow an internally consistent logic of decentralization as a whole by proceeding at the same pace and favoring the same specific locality, they inevitably generate conflicting effects on local states' implementation strategies. Congruent effects arise only if incoherent evolution occurs between the two types of decentralization. This paradox highlights the contradiction inveterate in the dynamics of decentralization. This argument is first developed through theoretical reasoning, and then substantiated by an empirical comparison between Guangzhou and Shanghai during 1984–1988 and 1992–1995.     

Demographics, Religion, and the Future of Europe

Immigration and changing demographic trends mean that Europe will in the very near future inevitably be transformed, culturally and politically. As in the Cold War, it again represents a critical theater for rivalry, but this time it is between Christianity, Islam, and secularism. European nations will either be the sites of religious conflict and violence that sets Muslim minorities against secular states and Muslim communities against Christian neighbors, or it could become the birthplace of a liberalized and modernized Islam that could in turn transform the religion worldwide. We urgently need to understand the developing contours of European religious beliefs and practices, and not just as they apply to Muslims, for the outcome of the rivalry there will have profound implications for the United States.     

Neither Here Nor There: Temporary Admission to the UK

This article considers the lacunae in international and Europeanlaw for the protection of those who do not, or do not yet, havetheir refugee status recognised, or whose claim for asylum hasbeen refused. It examines the position of such people in theUK, where they are ‘temporarily admitted’ underprovisions of the general immigration legislation. This meansthat although their physical presence is recognised and notunlawful, they are legally considered not to have entered thecountry. Whilst historically this was a favourable positionthat might itself often lead to naturalisation, the legal positionof those on temporary admission has changed rapidly and drasticallyover the past decade as rights to work and to social securityhave been withdrawn and a programme of mass detention instigated.These developments have in turn led to attempts by those ontemporary admission to use international and European law toattain or reinstate rights and to resist removal. This articleexamines the changes to UK law and policy since the first primarylegislation dealing with asylum in 1993, in the light of internationaland European law, and suggests that they will lead a new categoryof undocumented sans-papiers in the UK.