Books in brief

Books—Overseas Texts

Alexander Passerin d'Entreves: The Notion of the State: an introduction to Political Theory, Oxford University Press, London, 1967, pp. 233, $5.80.

Robert A. Dahl and Deane E. Neubauer, eds.: Readings in Modern Political Analysis, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1968, pp. 424, $5.00.

Aaron Wildavsky, ed.: American Federalism in Perspective, Little Brown, Boston, 1967, pp. 277, $4.35 (paperback).

Edgar Litt, ed.: The Political Imagination, Scott, Foresman & Co., Glenview, 111., 1966, pp. 532, $U.S.4.25.

H. V. Wiseman: Political Systems: Some Sociological Approaches, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1966, pp. 254, $5.65; David Easton, ed.: Varieties of Political Theory, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1966, pp. 154, $7.00; James C. Charlesworth, ed.: Contemporary Political Analysis, Collier‐Macmillan, London, 1967, pp. 380, $4.60 (paperback); Eugene J. Meehan: Contemporary Political Thought, Dorsey Press, Homewood. 111., 1967, pp. 437, $7.40; W. J. M. Mackenzie: Politics and Social Science, Pelican, pp. 424, 75c; Oran R. Young: Systems of Political Science, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1968, pp. 113, $2.20 (paperback); William C. Mitchell: Sociological Analysis and Politics: The Theories of Talcott Parsons, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1967, pp. 222, $7.30; Roy E. Jones: The Functional Analysis of Politics: an introductory discussion, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1967, pp. 101, $1.30 (paperback).

Inis L. Claude, Jr.: The Changing United Nations, Random House, New York, 1967, pp. 140, $2.25.

Samuel Hendel and Randolph L. Braham, eds.: The USSR After 50 Years: Promise and Reality, Knopf, New York, 1967, pp. 299 + vi, $4.55.

Ernest Barker: Reflections on Government, Oxford University Press, London, 1967, pp. 424 + xvii, $2.15.

Alfred G. Meyer: Communism, 3rd ed., Random House, New York, 1967, pp. 241, $2.25.

Isaac Deutscher: The Unfinished Revolution: Russia 1917–1967, Oxford University Press, London, 1967, pp. 115, $3.60.

Karl Jaspers: The Future of Germany, translated and edited by E. B. Ashton, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1967, pp. 173, $U.S.4.95.

Martin Gilbert and Richard Gott: The Appeasers, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1967, pp. 444 ‐+‐ xvi, $3.85 paperback, $7.80 bound.

Lewis J. Edinger, ed.: Political Leadership in Industrialized Societies, John Wiley, N.Y., 1967, pp. 376, $4.95.

Books—Australian

Alan Birch and David S. Macmillan, eds.: Wealth and Progress, Studies in Australian Business History, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1967, pp. 190, $4.25.

M. I. Jennings, comp. and ed.: Federation: A collection of contemporary documents. Hill of Content Archive Series, Melbourne, 1967, $3.75.

J. R. Odgers: Australian Senate Practice, 3rd ed., Government Printer, Canberra, 1967, pp. 511 + xiv, $4.50.

Margot Beever and F. B. Smith, comps.: Historical Studies: Selected Articles, Second Series, Melbourne University Press, 1967, pp. 293 + x, $2.30 (paperback).

T. R. Luscombe: Builders and Crusaders: Prominent Catholics in Australian History, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1967, pp. 453, $4.50.

Craig McGregor: People, Politics and Pop: Australians in the Sixties, Ure Smith, Sydney, 1968, pp. 221, $1.50.

Zelman Cowen: Isaac Isaacs, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1967, pp. 261 + xiii, $6.00.

Allan Dalziel: Evatt the Enigma, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1967, pp. 186, $5.50.

Tom Mann's Memoirs, with a Preface by Ken Coates, Macgibbon & Kee, London, 1967, pp. 278 + xiv, $5.45.

Arthur Manning: Larger than Life: The Story of Eric Baume, A. H. and A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1967, pp. 184, $3.25.

Cyril Pearl: Morrison of Peking, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1967, pp. 431, $6.95.

Peter Coleman and Les Tanner: Cartoons of Australian History, Thomas Nelson (Australia), Melbourne, 1967, pp. 195, $3.95.

A Guide to Book Contracts, published for The Australian Society of Authors by The Australasian Book Society, Sydney, 1967, pp. 49, $2.10.

Pamphlets

Royal Institute of Public Administration, Victorian Regional Group, Bibliography of Administrative History, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 60, roneoed. $1.00 + postage from: Mr. K. R. Jones, Royal Institute of Public Administration, 4 Bolinda Street, Bentleigh, S.E.14, Victoria.

R. L. Wettenhall: Evolution of a Departmental System: A Tasmanian Commentary, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1967, pp. 50. 50c and postage, from the Union Bookroom, University of Tasmania.

Victorian Labor College, Jubilee 1917–1967, V.L.C., Melbourne, 1967, pp. 30. 30c + postage, from Victorian Labor College, Box 39, Trades Hall, Melbourne 3001.

Council for Civil Liberties: If you are arrested, C.C.L., Sydney, 1968, pp. 14, 20c.

J. M. Geraghty: The Citizen and the Police, Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, P.O. Box 33, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, 4067; 1967, pp. 16, 10c + 5c postage.

The Australian League of Rights: Objectives, History, Organisation, Journals, Basic Books, Melbourne, n.d. [1968?], pp. 16, 20c.

E. W. Peters, M.P.: A Financial Invasion: The Take‐Over of Australia (Comments on Overseas Capital Inflow), Gale Press, 342 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 1967, pp. 16, 25c posted.

Sydney University Liberal Club: Forgotten People, Sydney, 1967, pp. 24, 20c + postage.

J. D. B. Miller: Sir Winston Churchill and the Commonwealth of Nations, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 1967, pp. 28, 75c.

Julius Stone: The Middle East Under Cease‐Fire, Sydney, 1967, pp. 16.

K. S. Cunningham: The Social Science Research Council of Australia: 1942–1952, S.S.R.C.A., Canberra, 1967, pp. 34. Distributor: A.N.U. Press. 90c.

D. E. Butler: Political Television, A.N.U., Canberra, 1967, pp. 14. Available free of charge from School of Political Science, University of N.S.W., Kensington, N.S.W. 2033.     

Human Agency and Impersonal Determinants in Historical Causation: A Response to David Lindenfeld

Lindenfeld's proposed reclassification of causes—offered in lieu of a chaos theory applicable to history—yields paradoxical results when applied to the developments that installed Hitler in power, since these would have to rank as "constraining" rather than "empowering" because of his lack of control over them. The "principle of sensitive dependence," while an admirable aspiration, proves a counsel of perfection beyond reach of the historian when applied to those same events. As to historical explanations in terms of structural, impersonal determinants, these remain ascendant, to the neglect of human agency. Narrative history, which alone can account for both remote and immediate causes, continues to be unfashionable. Explanations in terms of structures and impersonal forces, which can only imply causation, are attractive because they offer historians wide scope for exercise of erudition and arrive at determinants that appear larger and more powerful than mere actions of humans. Where profound developments are to be explained, such interpretations conform to the assumption that their causes must have been profound. Yet countless turning-points in history, including Hitler's installation in power, were decisively shaped by acts of a few persons. The frustrating difficulty of accounting for individual behavior contributes to the appeal of impersonal, structural explanations. These tend, however, toward a deterministic view of the past which awakens the impression that what happened had to happen. That obscures the openness of past situations and rules out assignment of personal responsibility to individuals, who seem mere pawns of forces beyond their control. A remedy for such deterministic tendencies lies in counterfactual analysis, which, by drawing attention to feasible, but unrealized, alternatives to what happened, can convey the open-ended qualities of past situations and the importance of contingency.     

The Rising Agenda of Physician-Assisted Suicide: Explaining the Growth and Content of Morality Policy

Employing theories and methods of agenda-setting analysis, this article explains the rapid rise of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) on the national political agenda based on its status as a morality policy. PAS reached the mass agenda before the professional agenda, probably because PAS is an outgrowth of previous right-to-die policies and Dr. Jack Kevorkian's assisted suicides provided major focusing events. As in other morality policies, competing groups fight for the last word, but PAS has been blocked on most governmental agendas because its image and media tone has been mostly negative and public opinion is divided. Groups in a few generally liberal states have tried to enact policy through referenda when legislators failed to address the issue. We speculate that competing interest groups will become more active and that state courts will become a venue of choice in the future.     

‘Smoke in the Hills,Gunfire in the Valley’: War and Peace in Western Highlands,Papua New Guinea

The paper discusses accounts of recent tribal fighting and peacemaking processes in the Nebilyer Valley, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea. My analysis is based on interviews conducted in January 2000 with Ganiga, and other peoples, who featured in Connolly and Anderson's film ‘Black Harvest’. I examine different strategies of peacemaking and peacekeeping employed in relation to the Nebilyer war, particularly the efforts of local Christian church representatives. I also explore how people in the Nebilyer Valley, construct particular events as significant, and the relevance of these constructions in processes of peace making.     

Force Reduction, Base Closure, and the Indirect Effects of Military Installations on Local Employment Growth

Abstract This study examines the indirect effects of military installations on county–level private employment, and specifically the special cases of base closure under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) proceedings of 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995. Local employment impacts are considered within a partial adjustment construct of the changes model, a specification that facilitates the decomposition of defense personnel changes into their positive, negative, and BRAC–related components. The latter two components are subsequently examined for asymmetric effects attributable to ordinary force drawdown on the one hand, and base closure on the other. Also considered are the specific effects of direct federal assistance as well as facilities conversion and reutilization within BRAC communities.     

From 'industrial districts' to 'knowledge clusters': a model of knowledge dissemination and competitive advantage in industrial agglomerations

This paper integrates knowledge-based theories of the firm withgeograph-ical studies of industrial agglomeration to producea model that helps explain the competitive advantages enjoyedby proximate firms located in geographical clusters. We proposea hierarchy of specialized knowledge stocks at both firm andcluster levels and suggest that the comparative advantage conferredby knowledge resources at each level is protected, in part,by asymmetries in knowledge flows from level to level. The paperargues that codified component knowledge is more easily spreadthan firm-specific architectural knowledge. Nevertheless, overtime, agglomerations may develop a cluster-specific form ofarchitectural knowledge that facilitates the rapid disseminationof knowledge throughout the cluster by increasing the learningcapacity of proximate firms and thereby conferring cluster-specificcompetitive advantages.     

A new approach to recording and monitoring wet-preserved archaeological wood using three-dimensional laser scanning

The analysis and preservation of organic materials preserved within wetland environments represents one of the most costly parts of any post-excavation strategy. This paper outlines the application of high-resolution terrestrial laser scanning to one class of preserved material, worked archaeological wood. Scanning allowed the recording of the artefacts in three dimensions and the identification of features such as toolmarks. Features can be measured and volumetrically modelled within the digital environment, which may not always be possible for these often fragile materials using conventional techniques. Repeat scanning of the artefacts provided an opportunity to use comparative analysis software to investigate changes in the morphology of artefacts under contrasting conditions of short-term storage. The results suggest that immersion in water results in the least deterioration, whereas both freezing and air-drying caused distortion and degradation. This paper demonstrates that laser scanning provides a viable alternative post-excavation method for the recording, analysis and long-term ‘virtual archiving’ of organic archaeological materials, which may be more cost-effective in some instances than other methods of preservation.