Book Notes
| Published date | 01 November 2003 |
| Date | 01 November 2003 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433030406023 |
| Author | Dieter Janssen |
| Subject Matter | Notes |
results of risk assessment related to regional con-
flicts in this quintessential think-tank (see, for
instance, Thomas S. Szayna, ed., Identifying Poten-
tial Ethnic Conflicts, RAND, 2000). It is written
mostly by RAND experts who may be not that well
known in the academic world, with Phil Williams,
a respected specialist in organized crime, being a
significant exception. That inevitably casts a
shadow of doubt over the applicability of their
model, which has never been subjected to a proper
peer review. Nevertheless, a reader can assume that
deployments in such recently unthinkable places as
Uzbekistan or Georgia have turned US govern-
ment agencies, primarily the military, into very
demanding customers. At the same time, the
authors take pains not only to present their sources
but also to link their assumptions and conclusions
to relevant academic works. The book assembles a
fairly standard set of analytical blocks: political
evolution of the region; economic patterns with
particular attention to natural resources and the
factor of criminalization; ethnic tensions; and
external involvement. Also, the conclusions would
not strike a reader as unexpected or particularly
sharp: the potential of civil unrest is indeed high,
and if the authors assert that it is slightly higher in
Central Asia than in the South Caucasus, the
margin of error is still more significant than this
difference. Overall, the analysis is solid and reliable,
so the book carries a lot of convincing power and,
therefore, is of significant interest for many
categories of readers. Pavel Baev
Rumer, Boris, ed., 2002. Central Asia: A
Gathering Storm? Armonk, NY & London: M.E.
Sharpe. xiii + 442 pp. ISBN 0765608669.
Even before opening the book, a reader might
develop a suspicion that the authors were perhaps
pondering a different storm from the one that has
swept the region since late 2001. And indeed, it
is one of those unfortunate projects where a
reasonably intelligent design is, at the very last
stage, overtaken by a sudden shift of trends far
outside its original scope, so that the editor is left
with a hopeless task of urging his disheartened
team to update the irrelevant. The original idea
was, in fact, quite attractive: to gather a group of
nine local experts who can present their analysis
of security situation, foreign policy framework,
the impact of Islam and economic prospect.
There is no trace of pretence that this analysis is
more accurate or insightful than that presented by
a handful of Western experts who dominate the
field, but there is always hope to discover some
refreshing ideas. And a careful reader might still
enjoy a few of those, particularly in Bakhtiar
Babadzanov’s well-researched chapter on Islam in
Uzbekistan, and also in Evgeny Abdullaev’s more
general analysis on the Islam-politics nexus and
Konstantin Syroezhkin’s juxtaposition of Russian
and Chinese policies. But overall, the book
delivers a conclusion that was probably not
intended by the editor: while at first glance,
Central Asia might appear to continue in the
same unnatural stability that had been the
dominant feature since the mid-1990s, in fact
there is a new dynamism – and new, perhaps
more dangerous storms are looming on the
security horizon. Pavel Baev
Smith, Anthony D., 2001. Nationalism.
Oxford: Polity. x + 182 pp. ISBN 0745626599.
If not the most imaginative, Anthony D. Smith
is today’s leading expert on national identity and
nationalism. This introductory text, which draws
on Smith’s many previous works (Theories of
Nationalism and The Ethnic Origins of Nations
being the most important), starts by defining
nationalism and presenting it as ideology. It dis-
tinguishes between ‘ethnic’ nationalism, seeking
to acquire a state for a people, and ‘civic’ national-
ism, seeking to build a nation around a state. He
then ventures into the various paradigmatic
attempts to explain the strength of nationalism
(modernism, perennialism, primordialism and
ethno-symbolism), discusses the main theories
and emphasizes the role of history and ‘histories’
in nationalism. The last chapter discusses future
prospects. Smith sees no end to either national-
ism or the nation-state. Globalization may
actually reinforce nationalism. This is a clearly
organized, eminently useful introduction. Smith
never hides his own views, but also adequately
presents the perspectives of others.
Stein Tønnesson
von Sponeck, Hans & Andreas Zumach,
2003. Irak – Chronik eines gewollten Krieges: Wie
die Weltöffentlichkeit manipuliert und das Völker-
recht gebrochen wird. [Iraq – Chronicle of a
Deliberate War: How the World Public Is
journal of PEACE RESEARCH volume 40 / number 6 / november 2003
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