Review: Middle East and Asia: The Politics of Afghanistan
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207402900431 |
| Date | 01 December 1974 |
| Published date | 01 December 1974 |
| Author | Philip Studien |
| Subject Matter | Review |
REVIEWS/MIDDLE
EAST AND
ASIA
683
Spooner,
in
his
chapter,
'Religion
and
Society
Today,'
has
gone
to
unnecessary
lengths
to
emphasize
the
by
now
generally
accepted
dis-
tinction
between
'high'
Islam
and
'folk'
or
'popular'
Islam,
and there
seems
no
need
to clothe
these
concepts
in
such
elaborate
jargon;
some
of
his conclusions, too,
are highly
debatable.
J.C.
Hurewitz,
in
his
able
summary
of
Iran's
role in regional
and
world
affairs
during
the
I96Os,
still
cannot
quite rid
himself
of
the
delusion
that
Iran's
outstand-
ing
economic
and
social
progress
during
the
last
decade
might
have
been
possible
under
some
other
kind
of regime.
Hafez
Farman-Farmayan
gives
an
excellent
analysis
of
political
events
during
the
critical
decade
of
the
i96os
which
is
enhanced
by
his
personal
knowledge
of
the
personalities
involved,
and
Yar-Shater
has
contributed
an
interesting
account
of
modem
literary
developments.
Amin
Banani,
understandably
de-
pressed
at
the
extent
to
which
Iranian
television
in
its
early days
filled
its
programme
time
with
low-grade
United
States
shows,
may
take
comfort
from
the
fact
that
the
promise
he
saw
in
the
nascent
(established
in
1967)
national.
television
network
has
in
fact been
fulfilled.
Despite
the
frightening
pace
of
change
in
Iran
today,
despite
the
actual
problems
and potential
dangers
which
the
country
faces,
the
majority of
the
contributors
to
this
volume
strike
an
optimistic
note,
although,
as
J.C.
Hurewitz
truly
says,
'in
the
volatile Middle
East,
it
is
always
prudent
to
hedge
your
bets'
(p
142).
R.M.
Savory/University
of
Toronto
THE
POLITICS
OF
AFGHANISTAN
Richard
S.
Newell
Ithaca:
Cornell
University
Press,
1972,
xiv,
236pp,
$9.50
Professor
Newell's study,
The
Politics
of
Afghanistan,
would
have
been
a
welcomed
contribution
as
one
of
the
series
of
South
Asian
political
systems
under
ordinary
circumstances.
However,
appearing
a
few
months
prior
to
the
political
coup
of
17
July
1973,
which
resulted
in
the
overthrow
of
His
Majesty
Mohammad
Zahir
Shah
-
the reigning
monarch of
Afghanistan
for the
past forty
years -
the book
becomes
a
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