Review: Third World: Superpower Rivalry in the Indian Ocean
| Published date | 01 June 1992 |
| Author | Arthur G. Rubinoff |
| Date | 01 June 1992 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209204700217 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
454
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
tems.
This
made them
felicitous
subjects for
Gause's
theoretical frame-
work,
in
which
it
is
precisely
domestic
political
systems
which
matter;
differences
in
government
structures
and
in
state-society
relations
allow
for
different
degrees
of
penetration,
and
largely
determine
the ability
of
external
powers
to
exert
influence.
The author
is
able
to
demonstrate
that
in
North
Yemen,
it
was
the
inability
of
the
government
to
collect
a
high
proportion
of
potential
tax
revenues,
and
in
general
the
enduring
dominance
of
tribalism and
tribal
cleavages,
that
gave
the Saudi
government
leverage,
which
it
used
to
contribute
to
the
maintenance of
a
weak
central
government
and
to
deflect
moves
towards
Yemeni
unity.
In
South
Yemen,
however,
the
state
structure
extended
its
control
over
the
whole
society.
While
tribalism
was
a
factor
in
inter-party
factionalism,
the state acted
to
suppress
extra-party
opposition;
thus,
despite
chronic
economic
weak-
ness
and major
political upheavals in
1969, 1978
(and
1986,
which
the
author
touches
on
in
his
concluding
chapter), the
Saudis
were never
able
to
find
a
local
client
on whom
they
could
count.
As
always
when
dealing
with
these
countries,
there
is
some
concern
at
the
reliability of
sources,
and recent
events
(the
achievement
of
Yemeni
unity and
the
failure
of
the
Saudis
to
force
a
change
in
Yemeni
policy
towards
the Iraq-Kuwait
crisis)
cast
doubt
on
some
of
the
author's
conclusions. However,
the
analysis
of
the
1970s
is
convincing
and
does
suggest
that
the 'strong state-weak
state' approach
offers
a
useful
way
of
looking
at
the
question of
influence
in
the
Third
World.
Stephen
Page/Queen's
University
SUPERPOWER
RIVALRY
IN
THE
INDIAN
OCEAN
Indian
and
American
perspectives
Edited
by
Selig S.
Harrison,
K.
Subrahmanyam
Don
Mills,
Ont:
Oxford
University
Press,
1989,
viii,
3o9pp,
$53.50
This
book
emanates
from
a
symposium
of
six
American
and
six
Indian
experts
who
met
in
New
Delhi
in
late
1984
to
discuss
regional
military,
political,
economic,
and
arms
control
issues
prior
to
Prime
Minister
Rajiv
Gandhi's
visit
to
Washington.
The
meeting
was
jointly
sponsored
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