Civil Society in African Contexts: Reflections on the Usefulness of a Concept

This article considers the usefulness of the concept of civil society — both as an analytical construct and as a policy tool — in non–Western contexts, drawing on a selected review of literature on Africa from anthropology and development studies. Rejecting arguments that the concept has little meaning outside its Western origins, but critical of the sometimes crude export of the concept by Western development donors seeking to build ‘good governance’, the author examines different local meanings being created around the concept as part of an increasingly universal negotiation between citizens, states and markets. The article seeks to clarify different theoretical traditions in thinking about civil society, and suggests distinguishing the use of civil society as an analytical term from the set of actually existing groups, organizations and processes which are active on the ground. The concept is therefore useful in the analysis of contemporary politics, but is also important because it has a capacity to inspire action.     

Parties,Gender Quotas and Candidate Selection in France

Almanach des Français, 2 vols (Encyclopaedia Universalis, 1994), 319pp. and 316pp., 544F.

Charmasson T., Lelorrain, A.‐M. and Sonnet, M., Chronologie de l'histoire de France (PUF, 1994), 876pp., 179F., ISBN 2 13 046139 5

Conseil national de la vie associative, Les Associations à l'épreuve de la décen‐ . tralisation: Bilan 1991–1992 (La Documentation Française, 1993), 245pp., 145F., ISBN 2 11 002974 9

Council of Europe, Population: French‐English glossary (Strasbourg, 1994), 500pp., 224F., ISBN 92 871 2506 6

Delporte, C., Histoire du journalisme et des journalistes en France (PUF, 1995), 127pp., 40F., pbk, ‘Que sais‐je?’

Deutschland‐Frankreich. Internationale Beziehungen und gegenseitige Verflechtung. Bine Bibliographie 1983–1990 ‐ France‐Allemagne. Relations internationales et interdépendances bilatérales. Une bibliographie 1983–1990 (Saur, München, 1994), 422pp., 148 DM.

Durant, S., Palais des Machines (Phaidon, 1995), 60pp., £19.95

Forrest, A., The French Revolution (Blackwell, 1995), 191pp., £6.99 pbk, and £25 hbk, ISBN 0 631 18351 5; 0 631 18107 5

Girault, R., and Bossuat, G., eds., Europe brisée, Europe retrouvée (Publications de la Sorbonne, 1994), 431pp., 180F., ISBN 2 85944 255 3

Greenfeld, L., Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity (Harvard University Press, 1992), 581pp., ISBN 0 674 60318 4

Hall, P., Hayward, J. and Machin, H., eds., Developments in French Politics (Macmillan, 1994), 340pp., £12.99, ISBN 0 333 61563 8

Hemtnings, F., The Theatre Industry in Nineteenth‐Century France (Cambridge University Press, 1993), xiv + 319pp., £35, ISBN 0 521 44142 0

Jordi, J.‐J., De l'exode à l'exil: Rapatriés et Pieds‐Noirs en France (L'Harmattan, 1993), 253pp., 140F., ISBN 2 7384 2305 1

Lamoureux, C., La Grande Parade du catch (Presses Universitaires de Mirail, 1993), 368pp., 175F., ISBN 2 85816 207 7

Makward, C., and Miller, J., eds., Plays by French and Francophone Women: A Critical Anthology (University of Michigan Press, 1995), 345pp., £15.20, ISBN 0 472 08258 2

Rebérioux, M., Jaurès, la parole et l'acte (Gallimard, 1994), 160pp., pbk

Schifres, A., Les Hexagons (Laffont, 1994), 494pp., 149F.

Tandem: Franco‐British arts review (Institut français du Royaume‐Uni), to be published three times a year (first issue: January‐August 1995)

Wieviorka, O., and Prochasson, C., eds., La France du XX^e siècle. Documents d'histoire (Seuil, 1994), 745pp., pbk, ISBN 2 02 013224 9     

Authority,Gender and Knowledge: Theoretical Reflections on the Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods are increasingly taken up by public sector organizations as well as NGOs among whom they have been pioneered. While PRA methods are successfully employed in a variety of project planning situations, and with increasing sophistication, in some contexts the practice of PRA faces constraints. This article examines the constraints as experienced in the early stages of one project, and suggests some more general issues to which these point. In particular, it is suggested that, as participatory exercises, PRAs involve ‘public’ social events which construct ‘local knowledge’ in ways that are strongly influenced by existing social relationships. It suggests that information for planning is shaped by relations of power and gender, and by the investigators themselves; and that certain kinds of knowledge are often excluded. Finally, the paper suggests that as a method for articulating existing local knowledge, PRA needs to be complemented by other methods of ‘participation’ which generate the changed awareness and new ways of knowing, which are necessary to locally-controlled innovation and change.     

Presidential Coequality: The Evolution of a Concept

The assertion that the presidency is coequal in power to the other branches in the American system of government is often heard, has been suggested by all recent presidents, and has even made its way into political science. But tracing the history of the concept demonstrates that this assertion is an invention of quite recent vintage. Those who wrote and favored the Constitution did not make such claims, nor did early presidents. Even Andrew Jackson's famous and, to his generation, shocking assertion of coequality coincident with his censure was not really a claim of equal power between branches. According to our systematic analysis of presidential rhetoric it was Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford who initiated and popularized the idea of interbranch coequality. They did so to defend themselves in two episodes of substantial presidential vulnerability: Watergate and the ensuing midterm elections. Subsequent presidents have elevated something that would have seemed wrong and absurd to any founder into a blithe truism. This belief harms governance by creating both artificially high expectations for the president and a presumption of institutional stasis. The “second constitution” based on popular beliefs about interbranch relations continues to evolve, as much a product of happenstance as of rational design.     

Reflections on a Geographic Dichotomy: Archipelago Russia

A noted economic geographer and Sovietologist conceptualizes Russia's current economy as an archipelago, consisting of widely scattered nodes of viable, integrated activity separated by an enormous expanse of "dead space." The dichotomy between metropolitan Russia and its hinterland is developed through an examination of contrasts in such major indicators of well-being as natural gas consumption, access to education, the middle class, retail trade and services, undeclared income, and port-hinterland multiplier effects. Also discussed are the major types of hinterland (classical, or resource frontier, versus backwater), the special case of the Russian Far East and Transbaykalia, and contrasts with developments on the North American continent. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O10, O18, O50. 38 references.     

The Queen and her ‘Minister of Fashion’: Gender,Credit and Politics in Pre–Revolutionary France

This article examines the economic, cultural, and political role of credit in Old Regime France through the career of the fashion merchant Rose Bertin. It addresses three aspects of Bertin’s credit practices: her involvement in networks of trade credit, her use of reputation as a form of credit, and the way critics used her credit relations with Marie–Antoinette to discredit the political economy of the Old Regime. Using Bertin as a case study, the article reveals women’s involvement in multiple facets of credit and underlines the practical and conceptual links between credit and other gendered forms of circulation, such as fashion and sex.