Book Review: Africa: Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100344 |
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
407
thus
acquired
by
Mr.
Avery
has
enabled
him
to
make
perceptive
state-
ments
on
such
important
matters
as,
for
example,
the
development
of
the
Babi
movement, and
the
struggle
for
power
between
Sayyid
Zia
al-Din
and
Riza
Khan
after
the
1921
coup
d'dtat.
Mr.
Avery's
analysis
of
the
Musaddiq
regime,
and
of
the
contemporary
political
scene,
is
not
only
sound
but
refreshingly
free
of
the
parti-pros
which
mars
so
much
writing
on
modern
Iran.
Books
on
Iran,
and
on
other
Middle
Eastern
countries,
are
all
too
often
written
from the
outside looking
in,
and
are
based
solely
on
secondary
sources
and
the records
of
Western
chanceries.
As
an
Irano-
logist,
Mr.
Avery
bases his
history
firmly
on
the
primary Persian
sources,
and
his
work
thereby
acquires
depth,
dimension
and
balance.
Of
particular interest
are
the
views
of
Abd
Allah
Mustawfi,
the
shrewd
commentator
on
social
and
political
conditions
during
the
decline
of
the
Qajar
dynasty, and
those
of
Yahya
Dawlatabadi, a
leading
Demo-
crat
and
supporter
of
the
Constitutionalist
movement,
and
one
of
the
four men
who
voted
against
the
assumption
of
kingship
by
Riza
Khan,
the
father
of
the
present
Shah,
in
1925.
It
is
not
an
easy
book
to
read.
Its
style
is involved
and
often
obscure.
There
are
some
rather
glaring
typographical
errors,
and
the
author
does
not
use
consistently
any
of
the
possible
systems
for
the
translitera-
tion
of
Persian
names
(on one
page,
for
example,
"Musaddiq"
is
spelt
in
three
different ways)
The
references
to
the Safavid
period
in
the
introduction
are
frequently
out
of
focus.
Despite
these
defects,
Modern
Iran
is
a
comprehensive
and
sensitive
study
of
a
country
which
has
suffered
much
in
the
past
from
Great Power
rivalry
which
has
managed
at
considerable
cost
to
preserve
its
independence,
and
which
is
currently
engaged in
a
umque
experiment,
a social
revolution
initiated
and
directed
by
the
monarch himself.
University
of
Toronto
R.
M.
SAVORY
Africa
POLITICAL
PARTIES
AND
NATIONAL
INTEGRATION
IN
TROPICAL
AFRICA.
Edited
by
James
S.
Coleman
and
Carl
G.
Rosberg,
Jr.
1964.
(Berkeley*
University
of
California
Press.
xiii,
730pp.
$10.00)
This
massive
volume
(much
delayed
and
hence
much
anticipated)
opens
with
an
important
assumption:
At
this
stage
of
Africa's
develop-
ment
political
parties
not
only
illuminate
most
clearly
the
nature
of
African
politics,
but
also
are important
determinants
of
the
unfolding
African
political
scene"
political
groups
assume
such
vital
importance
"because
of
the
nature
of
the
new
societies
in
which
they
function.
While
the
editors
do
not
seek
to
defend
the Arthur
Bentley axiom
of
1908
that
"groups
are
the most
relevant
phenomena
to
study
in poli-
tics,
they insist
that
"power
within
the
new
states
has
passed,
by
de-
fault,
[because
of
fragile
'national' institutions]
into
the hands
of
leaders
of
organized
groups.
To continue reading
Request your trial