Other Books Received
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1968.tb00344.x |
| Date | 01 July 1968 |
| Published date | 01 July 1968 |
Other Books Received
--------
Political and Social Science, by W. J. M. MACKENZIE;
Penguin
Books; notes, book list, index; pp. 424; 7s. 6d.
Professor Mackenzie has provided the academic world with a major workon political
science which will surely be read very widely in the Universities of many lands.
"Political science has in its nature been the social discipline that lies closest to
power
...
much of the academic work described
...
is recognizably ideological, in
that it is the persuasive exposition
of
apoint of view, masquerading as theorem and
proof. So indeed is the book itself; its aim is descriptive,
but
description involves
selection, synthesis and sequence, and the result is recommendation.
The
recommendations
...
are tentative and complex".
This extract from the Introductory Chapter exemplifies the intellectual integrity
of
the whole book.
On development administration Professor Mackenzie points out that
"it
is always
and everywhere difficult to reform an existing administration: Britain in this respect
IS
much
the same as Thailand, and therefore one needs no special theory to explain
the difference"
-"there
is no conceptual difference between the problem of modernisa-
tion in
Africa.
..
and in Britain" - in the former governments tend to use the bull-
dozer too much, in the latter too little, each for their own reasons.
In a stimulating penultimate chapter on change Hans Morgenthan is quoted: "as
military policy is too important amatter to be left ultimately to the generals, so is
foreign aid too important to be left in the end to the economists".
Politics and power go hand in hand.
If
the soldier or the economist has the final
decision-taking in his own hands then he holds power and the politician will have
abdicated.
A very great deal of wisdom and learning is inexpensively costed at 7S. 6d.
Governing Urban Society: New Scientific Approaches.
Monograph 7, edited by STEPHEN B. SWEENEY and JAMES
C.
CHARLESWORTH,
The American Academy
of
Political and Social Science
of
Philadelphia,
May 1967; with appendix, pp. 250; $1.75.
This well produced monograph should stimulate much thought on optimal
approaches to urban planning in the United States.
The
Editors, naively perhaps, believe that having entered the era of technocracy,
scientists with their computors will regulate future urban development.
"Urban
observatories" aphrase invented by Professor Wood (formerly of
M.LT.
and now
Under
Secretary in the Department
of
Housing and
Urban
Development) are to be
the means of providing basic research into urban requirements. One contributor has
coined "urbanology" to describe this study by the observatory method and so no
doubt Urbanologists will be created. Another foresees the M.E.D.L.A.R. (medical)
automated information storage system as a forerunner to a future national
urban
library.
Emphasis is placed on the need for more intellectual talent to be devoted to
urban
problems,
but
there is no mention of the American-backed study of Ekistics in Greece
which would seem relevant.
In
Quarterly Notes we provide statistics indicating the probable growth of
urban
populations up to
2000
AD.
Thought
needs to be given to how far the general pattern
will follow that in the United States where, as the Editors point out, four-fifths of
the largest cities have lost population in the past decade, while peripheralcommunities
have had a teeming growth -suburbs wishing for no
unity
with each other nor for
consolidation with the central city,
but
which, it is suggested, may be integrated
functionally and procedurally through the use
of
systems and machines.
One reads much of the critical social problems of the big American cities.
It
may
be that faced with crisis the State may
turn
to the forward-looking urban thinkers
whose ideas sparkle through this volume.
JOURNAL
OF
ADMINISTRATION
OVERSEAS
Apartheid - its effects on education, science, culture and
information. U.N.E.S.C.O., Paris, pp. 2°5; 8s.
This
study was undertaken by U.N.E.S.C.O. at the request of the Secretary
General of the United Nations.
The
unedifying, sordid story of discrimination is told in clear factual and unemotional
terms and it will suffice here to quote two passages:
From
the Introduction -
"In
spite of the ideology of apartheid, in spite of the uprooting of thousands
of
families, the complete separation of peoples into tribal and ethnic groupings in
South Africa has proved impossible.
The
closely integrated economic structure,
the location of all the major industries, all the mineralwealth, all the important harbour
facilities and all the best arable land in that part of South Africa which was outside
the reserves, in White ownership meant that Africans - as well as Coloureds and
Asians - remain dependent on the town and farming complex of White South
Africa for a livelihood. Even the government's attempt to encourage African-owned
small-scale industries in the Transkei has come up against the relative poverty of
the area, the comparative lack of natural resources and the lack of accumulated
capital.
For
good or ill, White and non-White South Africa remain economically
interdependent".
And from the Conclusion -
"This
report concludes most explicitly that in education, science, culture and
information, apartheid violates, both in principle and in practice, the United
Nations Charter, the Constitution of U.N.E.S.C.O., the United Nations Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights, as well as the standards which have been set by the
international community in conventions, recommendations and declarations which
have been adopted within the United Nations system".
"The
image of man - to
whatever ethnic group he belongs or is made a
part
of - which results from the
policy
of
apartheid in South Africa, is an image which is clearly opposite the one
to which the community of nations is ethically and legally dedicated".
"It
is with the knowledge of such a danger"(of racial conflict in South Africa
generating grave international repercussions)"and with the full consciousness of
U.N.E.S.C.O.'s dedication to the dignity of man and peace" that the report has
been drawn up.
Race Relations, by MICHAEL BANTON; Social Science Paperbacks,
Associated Books Publishers, London, E.C.4. 1967; index; pp. 393; 355.
From
Aristotle to Darwin and on to Max Gluckman and
Gunnar
Myrdal, Michael
Banton provides a wide coverage of philosophical thinking on race relations. His main
theme, however, is concentrated on developments in Africa, Britain and the United
States. In this context it needs to be remembered when slavery is discussed that
the odious state of slavery was endured (and, alas, is still endured) far beyond the
confines of the New World.
Policy makers would do well to study the pages on racial patterns in crowded cities
where contemporary
human
contacts provide the most dangerous explosive material.
Law
In
Mrica
-
Criminal
law
in East and Central
Mrica,
by J.J.R.
COLLINGWOOD; Sweet and Maxwell, London, 1967; index; pp. 313;
£r 17S•6d. (Paperback for sale in Africa only: £r
2S.
6d.)
This
Volume is No. 23 in the admirable series on Law in Africa sponsored by the
publishers.
The
criminal laws of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia are
discussed and explained. Significantly are the British-based criminal codes albeit
containing divergencies,
but
sufficiently similar for comparative study and joint
exposition.
Mr.
Collingwood explains his use of "Tanganyika" in 1967 - there are occasions
however, in Preface and Index for example, when
"Tanzania"
should certainly have
been used instead.
This
book will be invaluable to Bar, Bench and Law School.
Nigerian Practice Notes - A guide to
Stamp
Duties, by P. G.
WILLOUGHBY; Sweet and Maxwell, pp. 89; 215.
This
is the first text book to be published on the Nigerian law
of
Stamp Duties and
should prove of considerable practical value both to law students and to solicitors.
OTHER
BOOKS
RECEIVED
The
Art
of
Judgment
- A
study
of
Policy Making, by Sir
GEOFFREY VICKERS; Methuen, London (University Paperbacks, 1968);
pp. 242; 15s.
Originally published in 1965
and
now available as a paperback, Sir Geoffrey Vickers'
felicitously written essays on judgement make profitable as well as pleasurable reading
for those concerned with policy making, be their roles in public or private enterprise,
In
central or local government.
Sir Geoffrey includes aquotation from
T.
H. Huxley
when
explaining
what
policy
making
means:
"as
policy makers we aspire
...
to maintain
and
improve, in opposition
to
the
state of
nature,
the
state of Art
of
an organized
polity.
..
And
when
we are
not wholly absorbed in averting
the
perils which we have generated, this is
the
dream
which absorbs us.
It
'is a dream'
born
of
human values, a dream
born
of the fact
that
the
planet is still 'dominated 'by
men,
not cockroaches;
and
we deem it a noble
dream, because we value it so with the best value
judgment
we can achieve".
The
reader will find no pettiness or
undue
solemnity,
but
much
that
is stimulating
and
provocative.
New
Education
Media
in
Action, U.N.E.S.C.O.: International Institute
for Educational Planning, Paris; Vol.
II;
pp. 226, Vol.
III;
pp. 198;
each Volume 9s.
These
volumes contain 17 case studies largely concerned with education by
television now in use: in Africa -Algeria, Ivory Coast, Niger
and
Nigeria: in
South
America -Columbia
and
Peru:
in Chicago
and
in six midwest States of
the
U.S.A.;
in
Europe
-Italy. RadiovisionjRadio clubs in Niger,
Togo
and
Honduras,
radio use
in correspondence schooling in
New
Zealand,
and
Inservice training for
U.N.R.W.A./U.N.E.S.C.O.
teachers are also
the
subjects
of
studies reported.
There
is
much
of
very real
and
practical interest to attract
the
attention
of
educational
planners.
There
are examples
of
new media which involve no heavy financial strain,
and
for
the
wealthy there is
the
example
of
the
American
M.P.A.T.!.
system of airborne
educational television.
The
Relation
of
Educational
Plans
to
Economic
and
Social
Planning,
by R.
POIGNANT;
U.N.E.S.C.O.; pp. 51; 5s.
Mr.
Poignant sets
out
to explain how education
and
training are integrated
into
economic
and
social plans. He deals first with the financial aspects
and
secondly
with
the objectives
of
educational expansion. In conclusion he emphasises
the
long-term
investment value of funds
spent
on education to
the
economic expansion of a developing
country.
Readings
in
the
Applied
Economics
of
Mrica.
Vol. I,
Micro-Economics;
Vol. D,
Macro-Economics;
edited by
EDITH
H.
WHETHAM
and JEAN I.
CURRIE;
Cambridge University Press, 1967;
pp.216
and 227 respectively, each Vol.
I2S.
6d. or $2.25.
These
two volumes are
intended
for use in African Universities.
They
contain
32.
papers selected by the Editors
from
sundry
publications dating
from
1955 to 1966,
covering
many
aspects
of
public accounting
and
economic development, together with
the
agricultural
and
industrial use
of
resources, prices
and
markets.
The
student
will
need
to watch with care for
that
which is
of
contemporary relevance
and
that
which is
of
historical background interest only. Commercial banking is no
longer relevant to
Tanzania
nor
pre-1963
"recent"
budgets in
Ghana;
the Ngoni
labour
migration
studied
by
Dr.
Gulliver is now
of
academic interest only. While
the
collation of so
much
material in two small volumes will be
of
real value to those studying
African economics,
their
reading should
not
be regarded as an excuse for avoiding
much
recent literature, particularly
that
on agriculture development which is now readily
available.
JOURNAL
OF
ADMINISTRATION
OVERSEAS
Imperial Japan's Higher Civil Service Examinations, by
ROBERT
S.
SPAULDING
jnr.;
Oxford University Press, London; Princeton
University Press,
U.S.A.;
appendices, bibliography, index; pp. 416;
£4
ISS.
The
Dragon Gate is the metaphor applied in Japan to the state examinations that
provide access to the elite profession of the higher civil service. Dr. Spaulding suggests
that the efficacy of her top bureaucracy had much to do with the successful modernisa-
tion of Japan - the achievement of rapidly gained high levels of political, economic and
social development, that promotion to senior posts on the
"merit
principle" was the
means of moulding the bureaucracy into the highly competent shape that was needed
and obtained.
Covering the period 1868-1945, the formulative years of modern Japan,
Dr.
Spaulding writing in lively style, provides a historically-orientated study which should
have wide appeal to those interested in the remarkable progress of Japan as a world
power and also
to
those who seek a key to similar developments in other countries
now striving for development.
Western Interests in the Pacific Realm, by
THOMAS
R.
ADAM;
Random House, New York; notes, bibliography, index; pp. 246; $2.95.
Professor Adam ranges in this political study over the wide extent of the Pacific,
with a felicitous, jargon-free pen. Strangely most
of
Malaysia and Indonesia is off the
map and in the book, while
Nauru
is without mention in either. Professor Adam is
clearly something of an idealist and he will doubtless have suffered disillusion from
Britain's recent announcement of withdrawal East of Suez - a decision which he does
not appear to have foreseen. His skill at light thumbnail sketches is well illustrated
in the few paragraphs that sum up the march
of
historical events in Tonga.
Books on the British Empire and Commonwealth, by
JOHN
E.
FLINT; Oxford University Press,1968; pp. 66;
12S.
6d.
Professor Flint has produced for the Royal Commonwealth Society an excellent
bibliography - covering historical and political literature together with a selection of
descriptive, geographic, economic and literary works.
This
guide should prove most valuable
not
only to students
but
also to the generality
of readers interested in the history
of
the Commonwealth.
The Colorado Pre-Primary System, by R. JOHN
EYRE
and CURTIS
MARTIN;
Bureau of Government Research and Service, University
of
Colorado, 1967; pp. xii, 166, bibliography, appendix and index; paper
$3.50. hard cover $6.
00.
The
Colorado Pre-primary Convention System and its variants function in more
than half a dozen American States, and provides the State Government mechanism
for dealing with nominations and elections of officials; the authors explain the system
with particular reference to high elective offices (to Congress, Governorship and State
legislature). It is a system that tends to choke the chances of independent candidates
and to strengthen Party control over
nominations-but
it does provide for the Voter
achoice between several candidates of his own party and so can be said to encourage
democratic practice.
The Politics
of
Conformity in Latin America, edited by CLAUDIO
VELIZ;
Oxford University Press; index; pp. 291; 45s.
Eight contributors drawn from
North
America and Europe, as well as Latin America,
each provide achapter to this volume which has been issued under the auspices of the
Royal Institute of International Affairs.
The
diverse elements that exercise political power are examined; from soldiers to
students, from peasants and immigrants to industrialists and the church. An appendix
lists some 80 successful Latin American military coups in the short span of 40 years up
to 1966. Mexico and Uruguay are distinguished by their omission from the list (and
Chile since 1932);
Mr.
Nun
seeks to interpret this phenomenon but, perhaps inevitably,
he cannot offer any basic guidelines for those who seek stability instead
of
revolution
by the military which itself so often claims to be acting for the maintenance of
social and economic stability.
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