Afghanistan in the Great War

The period of the Great War in Afghanistan was one of the most transformational periods of her entire history. Less than a year after the end of the Great War, both Afghanistan and her relations with the rest of the world had changed forever. The article covers Afghanistan and the outbreak of war, the Niedermayer-Hentig mission from Germany, pressure on the frontier and at court, and the aftermath of the Assassination of Amir Habibullah. At Kabul, the emergence of a ‘War Party’, which favoured the declaration of war on India on the side of the Central Powers, caused difficulties for Habibullah's attempt to remain neutral. Although the War Party was to have some support from the Niedermayer-Hentig Mission to Kabul, it was never strong enough to act until the Great War itself was over. On the other side of the frontier, the tribes were expecting to be called to fight at any moment. Keen to raid into the plains, they initially moved too early and were rebuffed but low-level tribal activity took place all over the frontier, though not at the intensity seen in previous large uprisings. At the same time, the Indian Army was taking out the best troops to send to Europe and other fronts, leaving a comparatively small force to protect the frontier. Large scale response to tribal raiding was not possible but the Indian Army was able to deploy aeroplanes, artillery and machine guns as force multipliers to help make up for the lack of fighting men. The cumulative experience was one of change which needed to be understood and accommodated in short order. Men like Sir Denys Bray of the Foreign Department and Mahmud Tarzi and Abdul Quddus Khan in Kabul were able to do this and, in so doing, facilitated Afghanistan's emergence to independence and nationhood.     

Imperialism and Chinese nationalism: Germany in Shantung,By John F. Schrecker

Abstract

Professor Schrecker's book is basically a defense of Qing foreign policy during the 1895-1911 period. He demonstrates a concern of nationalism in late Qing with protecting the legal sovereignty of the Chinese state by showing how turn-of-the-century governors Yuan Shi-kai, Zhou Fu, and Yang Shi-xiang labored to defend the territorial integrity of Shandong [Shantung] province against German imperialism. The book's strength lies in Schrecker's conceptual analysis of Chinese foreign policy and its intellectual roots in the late nineteenth century. He argues cogently and with originality that in their concern for defending “sovereignty,” officials like Yuan Shi-kai combined the militant conservative qing-i school of the 1880s with the internationalist approach after 1895 of radical reformers like Kang You-wei. But Schrecker also argues that Qing foreign policy succeeded in stopping German imperialism in Shandong by 1911 and in terms of the empire as a whole that “in the last decade of the dynasty the Chinese government made considerably more progress in its struggle against imperialism than has generally been believed.” (p. 254) In such judgments about the success of late Qing foreign policy, he betrays the bias of what Bulletin readers have come to know as the Harvard school of apologetics for Western and Japanese imperialism. Schrecker deserves credit for drawing attention to the nationalist posture which the late Qing took after 1901 but he goes too far in his defense of the dynasty and the “progress” actually made against Western and Japanese imperialism.     

Authoritarian leaders and multiparty elections in Africa: How foreign donors help to keep Kenya's Daniel arap Moi in power

This article argues that prior accounts of Moi and KANU's re-election in Kenya's 1992 and 1997 polls overemphasise divisions within the opposition and underestimate the role of international actors. Drawing on interviews with central players and internal donor documents, the author demonstrates that aid donors played a central part not only in initially advancing the cause of multipartyism but subsequently also, on several occasions, actively impeding further democratisation. Donors twice knowingly endorsed unfair elections (including suppressing evidence of their illegitimacy) and repeatedly undermined domestic efforts to secure far-reaching political reforms, which were a prerequisite for an opposition victory and a full transition to democracy. In the face of anti-regime popular mobilisation, donors' primary concern appeared to be the avoidance of any path that could lead to a breakdown of the political and economic order, even if this meant legitimising and prolonging the regime's authoritarian rule.     

The Memory of Violence: trauma in the writings of Alexander Kanengoni and Yvonne Vera and the idea of unreconciled citizenship in Zimbabwe

Seasonal Dimensions to Rural Poverty. Edited by Robert Chambers, Richard Longhurst and Arnold Pacey, London: Frances Pinter. 1981. 259pp. £15.50.

International Trade 1980–81. GATT, Geneva: GATT. 1981. 199pp. Swiss Francs.30.

Global Strategy for Growth: a report on North‐South issues. Lord McFadzean of Kelvinside, Chairman of the Study Group London: Trade Policy Research Centre. 1981.100pp. £2.00.

Part‐Time Farming in Cyprus: a pilot study. Richard Pearce, Reading, England: Department of Agriculture Economics and Management, University of Reading. 1981. 93pp. £2.00.

Bank for International Settlements. Fifty‐first Annual Report, April 1980 ‐ March 1981. Bank for International Settlements Basle, Switzerland: B.I.S. 1981.168pp. np.

Divide and Rule: South Africa's Bantustans. Barbara Rogers, London: International Defence and Aid Fund. 1980. 136pp.£2.00pb. (revised and enlarged 2nd edition).

Adrian Guelke

Cultural Atlas of Africa. Edited by Jocelyn Murray, Oxford: Phaidon. 1981.240pp. £17.95.

Cattle, Economics and Development. Raymond Crotty Slough, England: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau. 1980. 253pp. np.

World Bank Annual Report. World Bank, Washington, D.C.: World Bank. 1981.210pp. np.

Farm Power in Bangladesh. Vol. 1 G J Gill, Reading, England: Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, University of Reading. 1981. 248pp. £2.00.     

Book Reviews

The New Politics of British Local Governance. Edited by Gerry Stoker. Macmillan, 2000. Pp.xvii + 294, £16.99 pb.

Local Political Leadership. By Steve Leach and David Wilson. Policy Press, 2000. Pp.v + 228. £17.99.

Structural Reform of British Local Government: Rhetoric and Reality. By Michael Chisholm. Manchester University Press, 2000. Pp.194. £40.

The Careers of Councillors: Gender, Party and Politics. By Catherine Bochel and Hugh M. Bochel. Ashgate, 2000. Pp.143. £37.50 hb.

Communicating Successfully in Groups: A Practical Guide for the Workplace. By Marie Reid and Richard Hammersley. Routledge, 2000. Pp.188. £10.99 pb.

Using Psychology in Management Training: The Psychological Foundations of Management Skills. By David A. Statt. Routledge, 2000. £14.99.

Housing Associations and Housing Policy: A Historical Perspective. By Peter Malpass. Macmillan Press, 2000. Pp.298. £16.99 pb.

The State of UK Housing: A Factfile on Dwelling Conditions. By Philip Leather and Tanya Morrison. The Policy Press, 2000. £15.95 hb.

Allocating Social Housing: Law and Practice in the Management of Social Housing. By Hal Pawson, David Mullins and Siobhan McGrath. Lemos and Crane, 2000. £18.95 pb.     

Social Inequality and Assessments of Democracy and the Market: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

Considerable comparative scholarly attention has been paid to various aspects of mass support for democracy and the market. However, despite strong theoretical suggestions of a linkage, little is known about the impact of social inequality on this support. We address this issue using evidence from mass surveys undertaken in 12 post-communist states in 2007, supplemented by country-level data about economic and political performance. Specifically, we investigate whether social inequality generates negative perceptions that democracy and the market will lead to social conflict and if it increases support for anti-democratic forms of governance. Notably, we find little link between citizens’ expectations of social conflict and national-level indices of income inequality. However, we do find a link between perceptions of the extent of social inequality and expectations of market-generated—but not democracy-generated—conflict. Underscoring these positive and negative findings, perceptions of social inequality are also clearly consequential for support for ‘strong-hand’ economic government but not for anti-democratic leadership.     

Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Russia: Contending Paradigms and Current Perspectives

The most outstanding trend in contemporary conflicts has been the fusion of the threats from terrorism and insurgency. Insurgent threats in many places on the globe today are mistaken as terrorist threats, and counterterrorism (CT) is deployed as the local insurgents come increasingly to resemble their transnational terrorist partners. Such an emphasis on the role of terrorism in insurgencies and the undue focus on CT risks strengthening, rather than severing, the connection between local insurgents and transnational terrorists. Russia's counterterrorist strategy inadvertently transformed the conflict from a contained, nationalist rebellion to a sprawling jihadi insurgency and perversely encouraged the group to resort even more to terrorist tactics. The Russian counterinsurgency has been unsuccessful, as the insurgents are neither demolished as a force nor are they isolated by society. Losing the hearts and minds among the Chechen people is a key reason behind why the Russian operation in Chechnya suffered failures. Too little attention was paid to winning over the “hearts and minds” of the people.     

Community Involvement in Rural Regeneration Partnerships: Exploring the Rural Dimension

This paper is about the involvement of local communities in rural regeneration and area development partnerships. In particular it asks questions about the extent to which there are distinctive rural elements to this which differentiate and counterpoise it to such involvement in urban areas. The paper concludes that, whilst there are some commonalities between such involvement across urban and rural communities, there are also challenges particular to rural areas. These are the spatial features of rural areas, the paucity of human capital in rural communities and a much lower resource level than in urban communities. The paper concludes that these challenges can only be met effectively in rural areas where there is strong local voluntary and community sector infrastructure to support community involvement in rural regeneration partnerships.