Public Reason Liberalism and Sex‐Neutral Marriage A Response to Francis J. Beckwith

This article responds to an article by Francis J. Beckwith that argued that the consistent application of generic liberal principles requires that same‐sex marriage not be recognised in civil law. This response demonstrates that Beckwith's article contains a series of interpretative and substantive flaws that render his argument unsuccessful. These relate to a misinterpretation of core liberal principles and a sidestepping of the matter of undue bias against same‐sex partners. In correcting these flaws I tentatively propose a Voltairean argument in favour of same‐sex civil marriage for those citizens with moral qualms about same‐sex relationships derived from their reasonable comprehensive doctrine.     

TAIWAN AND HONG KONG: CHINA'S POLICIES AND PROSPECTS (Review Article)

The author defines state-building as a process of increasing the capabilities within a society for the benefit of its population, noting that, traditionally, in Afghanistan villages were run through consent, though the state has usually preferred force. He then examines the various factors said to inhibit state-building – geography, class, the warlords, ethnicity and political Islam – drawing relevant comparisons with other South Asian states. His conclusion is that it has indeed been most difficult to try to build a functioning state in Afghanistan, partly because of the war, but partly because force is no substitute for consent.     

Elections In Iraq – 30 January 2005: An Assessment

Divide and Lose. By Michael Ionides. Published by Geoffrey Bles. 1960. Pp. 271. Sources and index. 21s.

Nasser's New Egypt. By Keith Wheelock. Foreign Policy Research Institute No. 8. Praegar, New York. Pp. 326. $6.

Personal Column. By Sir Charles Belgrave. Hutchinson and Co., Ltd. Pp. 248. Map, illustrated, indexed. 30s.

Israel Resurgent. By Professor Norman Bentwich. Published by Ernest Benn, Ltd. 1960. Pp. 238. Map, index and bibliography. 27s.

Women and the New East. By Ruth Frances Woodsmall. The Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C. 1960. Pp. 436. Map, index, illustrations. $5.50.

Daughters of Allah. By Henny Harald Hansen. Translated from the Danish by Reginald Spink. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1960. 81½ × 6½ in. Pp. 190. Illustrations and sketch map. 21s.

Crossroads. Land and Life in South‐west Asia. By George B. Cressey. Lip‐pingcott Co., Chicago, New York, Philadelphia. 1960. 7 × 10 in. Pp. 593. Illustrations, maps, tables and charts. Index. $12.

The Chronicle of Petros di Sarkis Gilanentz. Concerning the Afghan invasion of Persia in 1722, the siege of Isfahan and the repercussions in Northern Persia, Russia and Turkey, translated from the original Armenian and annotated by C. O. Minasian, with an introduction and additional notes by L. Lockhart. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Armenian Library, Lisbon. 1959. Pp. xxiii, 77. No price indicated.

The Sabres of Paradise. By Lesley Blanch. John Murray, London, 1960. Pp. 480. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. 30s.

The Politics of the Developing Areas. Editors : Gabriel A. Almand and James S. Coleman. Published by Princeton University Press and Oxford University Press. Pp. 576. Indexed. 80s.

The Memoirs of Lord Ismay. Heinemann. 1960. Pp. 464. Index, maps, diagrams. 4. net.

Karachi Through a Hundred Years. By Herbert Feldman. Published by the Oxford University Press. Pp. 238. Illustrated and indexed. 27s. 6d.

A Punjabi Village in Pakistan. By Zekiye Eglar. Columbia University Press and Oxford University Press, 1960. Pp. 240. Index, glossary, bibliography, illustrations. 48s.

The Mind of Mr. Nehru. By R. K. Karanjia. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. 1960. Pp. 112. 10s. 6d. net.

Islands of the Marigold Sun. By Suresh Vaidya. Robert Hale, Ltd., London. Pp. 192. Map and illus. 18s. net.

Pilgrimage for Plants. By Frank Kingdon‐Ward. Published by Harrap. Pp. 180. Bibliography, index and illus. 18s.

Englishmen in Tibet from Bogle to Gould. By Sir Olaf Caroe. The Tibet Society of the United Kingdom. Pp. 12. Illus. 2s. 6d.

Tibet in Revolt. By George N. Patterson. Faber and Faber. Pp. 197. 18 Illustrations; map. 21s. net.

Britain and Chinese Central Asia. By Alastair Lamb. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1960. Pp. 387. Sketch‐maps, index, bibliography. 42s.

The Way and the Mountain. By Marco Pallis. Peter Owen, Ltd., London. Pp. 216. Illus. and appendices. 30s.

Russia and China. By J. V. Davidson‐Houston. Robert Hale, Ltd., London, 1960. Pp. 200. Maps, index. Illus. 21s.

Les Mouvements Nationaux chez les Musulmans de Russie: le “Sultangaliev‐isme” au Tatarstan. By Alexandre Bennigsen and Chantai Quelquejay. Mouton and Co. Paris, 1960.

Neither War Nor Peace. By Hugh Seton‐Watson. Methuen and Co., London. 1960. Pp.504. 35s.

Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1941. By George F. Kennan. Van Nostrand, New York. 1960. Pp. 191. $1.25.

Özbekcha‐Ruscha Lughat/Uzbeksko‐Russkiy Slovar’. (Uzbek‐Russian Dictionary.) Compiled by the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek S.S.R. Chief Editor, Professor A. K. Borovkov. State Dictionary Publishing House, Moscow. 1959. Pp. 839. 27 Rubles.

An Introduction to the Turkmen Language. By G. K. Dulling. Published by Central Asian Research Centre. Pp. 48. Price 15s.

The Economic Development of Communist China, 1949–1958. By T. J. Hughes and D. E. T. Luard. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, O.U.P. 1959. Pp. 223. Maps and index. 22s. 6d.

Han Fei‐Tzu. Works from the Chinese. By W. K. Liao. Probsthain's Oriental Series, Vols. XXV and XXVI. U.N.E.S.C.O. Collection of Representative Works —Chinese Series. Pp. 309 and 338. 30s. and 42s. respectively.

Ballads and Stories from Tun‐Huang. By Arthur Waley. Published by George Allen and Unwin. Pp. 266. Index. 25s.