Book reviews

M. P. Skirdo: The People, The Army, The Commander: A Soviet View. United States Air Force, Washington, 1978, pp.166. No price given.

Harold Crouch, The Army and Politics in Indonesia. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1978.

Brian May, The Indonesian Tragedy. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, Henley and Boston, 1975.

Helge Hveem, The Political Economy of Third World Producer Associations. Monographs from the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 1977.

E. L. Wheelwright and Ken Buckley, eds., Essays in the Political Economy of Australian Capitalism. Sydney: Australia and New Zealand Book Company Pty Ltd, 1978. Volume 2: pp.206. Volume 3: pp.210. $6.95 each.

Jim Hyde, Australia: The Asia Connection. Kibble Books, Melbourne, 1978, pp.140. $4.50.

David Pettit and Anne Hall, eds., Selected Readings in Australian Foreign Policy. Third edition. Sorrett, Melbourne, 1978.

B. Chakravorty, Australia's Military Alliances. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 1977, pp.292.

Malcolm Booker, Last Quarter: The Next Twenty‐five Years in Asia and the Pacific. Melbourne University Press, 1978, pp.228. $14.80.

Martin Wight, Power Politics. Ed. Hedley Bull and Carsten Holbraad. Leicester University Press for Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1978.     

Effects of place attachment on home return travel: a spatial perspective

Recent studies on place--mobility relationships suggest an increasing possibility that people can have multiple place attachments at varied spatial scales. Yet, our understanding of how place attachment in different spatial scales affects mobility remains limited. This study investigates home return visits by Chinese diaspora tourists from North America who have made multiple trips to China. A total of 27 in-depth interviews with repeat home return travellers were conducted. Four different types of return movements were identified: local; dispersed; local & dispersed; and second-migration locale focused. A relationship was found between the participants’ sense of place, place identity, and home return travel. The findings suggest that home return travel is more complex than previously thought. More focused sense of place and strong personal connection to ancestral homes may lead to more localized return, while a more generic sense of place (i.e. to ‘China’) and collective personal identity would result in a more dispersed travel pattern. Family migration history and strong attachment to family's first-migration destination also lead to focused return to the place. The study highlights the fact that place and place attachment are deeply personal and can evolve over time and space.     

The Role of Networking in the New Political Economy of Regional Development

During the last 25 years there have been some fundamental changes to the international political economy. The decline of Fordism, globalization and technical innovations have altered the ways in which firms operate and interact with each other and other economic agents. Corporate strategy and organization and public policy have all been affected. Of particular relevance has been the development of a new form of governance viz. networking. Although often seen as a new phenomenon, it has in fact a long history going all the way back to Marshall. What is new however, are attempts by development agencies to capture the advantages presented by these externalities as a deliberate objective of regional development policy. This paper examines the case of Wales in some detail and concludes that although such a policy does work with the grain of modern political economy, it is only really scratching the surface of the problem and in fact contains an inherent contradiction in terms of market behaviour.     

Displayed or Concealed? Cross Cultural Evidence for Symbolic and Ritual Activity Depositing Iron Age Animal Bones

Although Iron Age rituals involving the depositing of animal bones in pits have been discussed intensively in the literature, possible cross-cultural and ethnographic parallels for the symbolism of such activity have been neglected. This paper begins to remedy this deficiency. Archaeological and ethnographic examples occur world-wide, especially relating to the symbolism and treatment of animal heads and crania. They support previous arguments that at least some Iron Age bone deposits involved the renewal and protection of fertility, for example those associated with grain storage pits and other archaeological features, perhaps also foundation deposits, especially at later periods.     

South Carolina's Harvest Festivals: Rural Delights for Day Tripping Urbanites

Crop harvests, livestock and poultry products, and hunting and fishing activities provide the themes for 18 annual festivals staged by rural South Carolina communities on weekends and holidays during the April-December festival season. Drawing 5,000 to 25,000 participants, the typical harvest festival mixes the promotion of visitor industry with the friendly spirit of a community gathering. Urbanites are attending South Carolina's harvest festivals in large and growing numbers. They are attracted by their ready accessibility, novelty and emphasis on something-for-everbody family fun with a distinctive "down home" country flavor. For the sponsoring communities, the festivals provide not only an excuse to get together and have fun, but also a morale boost and an important source of funds for much-needed civic projects. In the years to come it is likely that the state's harvest festivals will increase in number, and that the attendant rise in competition will on the one hand lead to improvements in management and on the other increase the incidence of gimmickry designed to boost attendance.     

Zedekiah,Josephus and the Dating of the Books of Chronicles*

ABSTRACT

The Bagoses story from Josephus, Antiq. XI 297-301 turns out to be helpful for two riddles. Rainer Albertz has argued that the events narrated in that story fit very well the developments in Jerusalem in the final decade of the fifth century BCE. I will argue, that the report on the conquest of Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles 36,11-21 can be seen as a key that matches the historical lock that is evoked by Josephus. As a result, I would argue that this report was composed in that very period as a mirror for the infidelity of some priests. In generalizing the proposal: if the entire Books of Chronicles were composed at that time, a good argument for the silencing of Samaria is found.     

An economic assessment of informal recreation policy in the Scottish countryside

Countryside recreation policy in Scotland is currently delivered through numerous ad hoc arrangements. This paper assesses the economic effectiveness of these arrangements using cost‐benefit analysis. The benefits associated with recreation enhancements are measured using the contingent valuation method, while the costs are assessed through a survey of public and voluntary section expenditure on informal recreation. The analysis demonstrates that recreation policies are generally economically efficient in that they target enhancement programmes that are shown to generate high economic benefits. The exception to this is related to investments in visitor centres. The paper concludes that the cost‐benefit methodology adopted in this research can provide useful information for the strategic analysis of countryside recreation policy.