Book reviews

Hauptstadtsuche. Hauptstadtfunktionen im Interessenkonflikt zwischen Bonn und Berlin, Frankfurt a. M. By Klaus von Beyme. (Edition Suhrkamp 1709, Neue Folge 709) Suhrkamp Verlag, 1991.

Enlargement without Accession: The EC's Response to German Unification. RIIA Discussion Paper no. 36. By David Spence. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1991. £5.00 pb.

A History of Germany 1815–1990. Fourth Edition. By William Carr. London: Edward Arnold, 1991. £12.95 pb.

The End of the East German Economy. By Philip J. Bryson and Manfred Melzer. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1991. £40.00 hb.

Federal Republic of Germany and EC Membership Evaluated. Edited by Carlchristoph Schweitzer and Detlev Karsten. London: Pinter, 1990. £30.00 hb.

Postmodern Politics in Germany: The Politics of Resentment. By Hans‐Georg Betz. Macmillan: Basingstoke and London, 1991. £35.00 hb.

Germany in the Twentieth Century. By David Childs. London: Batsford, 1991. £25.00 hb.

Upheaval against the Plan: Eastern Europe on the Eve of the Storm. Edited by Peter R. Weilemann, Georg Brunner and Rudolf L. Tökes. Oxford: Berg, 1991. £27.50 hb.

Germany and European Integration. The Common Agricultural Policy: an Area of Conflict. By Gisela Hendriks. Oxford: Berg, 1991. £25.00 hb.

Britain's Policy for West German Rearmament 1950–1955. Cambridge Studies in International Relations 13. By Saki Dockrill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. £27.50 hb.     

Federalism,regionalism, nationalism: A century of Catalan political thought and its implications for Scotland in Europe

Although on Spain's periphery, Catalonia has often held a central position in Spanish politics. In dealing with the Catalan question, politicians in Madrid and Barcelona have had to grapple with different models of state structures. Some have even attempted to consider the issue in terms of greater European solutions. At the end of the 20th century, Europe's regions are having to consider their role not just within the traditional states, but also within the new European framework. The Scottish movement has now found itself in a position to affect British politics. The long tradition of Catalan thought on statecraft, and the influence Catalonia has had on the Spanish state, can serve as useful examples for the traditionally more marginalised Scots. Both Scots and Catalans face the question of defining their own identity, the identity of the state and the identity of Europe. In two decades of British politics, the SNP has also shifted to define itself within a greater European context.     

Direct Government Investment: Perverse Privatization or New Tool of Government?

In recent years, public administration scholars have called attention to a blurring of the boundaries between the public and private sectors. However, little attention has been focused on the administration of public programs that seek to impact private markets through direct government investment in private firms. The direct government investment approach is a new tool of government that has been applied in several countries and at multiple levels of government. Through an analytic mix of theory and attention to practice, this article leverages a deep case analysis of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program to propose and utilize criteria for examining justifiable rationales for direct government investment, areas of administrative capacity necessary to manage such investments, and potential pitfalls of this new tool of government.     

Kommunikasiekunde aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir C.H.O.

SUMMARY

This case study tracks the process of the establishment of a community radio station in the Zululand area of KwaZulu-Natal, an area which is characterised by the vastly different levels of development of its constituent communities. Survey work, establishing the patterns of attention to existing media, and the question of the establishment of a community station to satisfy community communication needs are discussed. The role of the station in the areas of local governance, economic development, media training, public relations and industrial relations and language policy are examined. The findings of a survey investigating listeners' responses to the station's language policy, subsequent to the station going on the air, are also discussed.     

Improving smallholder livestock farmers’ incomes through value chain financing in South Africa

Separating the commercialisation of agriculture from other programmes to improve access to formal credit for smallholder farmers is a source of dramatic failures of most programmes. Despite the popularity of value chain financing, livestock agriculture remains marginalised. This paper analyses the MAFISA-NERPO Livestock Credit Scheme, a scheme which provides value chain financial products in order to improve the cash incomes of smallholder farmers in South Africa. Evidence shows that more than 80% of participating farmers receive average annual incomes of US$30,000. This implies that this scheme has addressed those factors hindering effectiveness and efficiency of smallholder credit institutions, using value chain finance.