Reviews

THE PEACEFUL ATOM IN FOREIGN POLICY. Arnold Kramish. For the Council on Foreign Relations. New York, Harper and Row, 1963. Pp. xi + 276. $5.50.

POWER AND THE PURSUIT OF PEACE: THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THE HISTORY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN STATES. F. H. Hinsley. Cambridge University Press, 1963. Stg. 40/‐.

THE HIDDEN FORCE. F. W. Godwin, R. N. Goodwin and W. F. Haddad (eds.) New York, Harper & Row, 1963, Pp. 203.

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS. Lord Robbins, London, Macmillan & Co., 1963. Pp. x + 231. Australian price 41/6.

STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY. J. M. Mackintosh. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. 332. Australian price 37/6d.

THE BOMBAY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION: AN ELECTION STUDY. B. A. V. Sharma and R. T. Jangam. Bombay, Popular Book Depot, 1962. Pp. x + 170. Rs. 10.

THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL ELECTION OF 1959: POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION IN A DEVELOPING POLITICAL SYSTEM. K. W. J. Post. Oxford University Press for the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, London, 1963. Pp. xi + 286. Australian price 76/6d.

INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN: A STUDY IN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS 1876–1907. D. P. Singhal. Brisbane, University of Queensland Press. Pp. 216. Australian price 55/6d.

SOUTHERN EUROPEANS IN AUSTRALIA. Charles A. Price. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1963. Pp. xvi + 342. Australian price 59/6d.

THE METHOD AND STATISTICS OF ‘SOUTHERN EUROPEANS IN AUSTRALIA’. Charles A. Price. Canberra, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University, 1963. Pp. viii + 125. Australian price 27/6d.     

Book Reviews

THE REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC. Ferdinand A. Hermens. University of Notre Dame Press; Notre Dame, Indiana, 1958, 578 pp.

JAPAN AND HER DESTINY—MY STRUGGLE FOR PEACE. Mamoru Shigemitsu. Hutchinson; 1958, 392 pp.

SOCIALISM IN ONE COUNTRY 1924–1926. Volume I. E. H. Carr. Macmillan, 1958, pp. viii + 557. Australian price 64/9.

A HISTORY OP SOCIALIST THOUGHT: VOLUME IV: COMMUNISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 1914–31. G. D. H. Cole. (In two parts: pp. x + 940), Macmillan, 1958. Australian price 75/6.     

An Empirical Assessment of Devolution's Policy Impact

This article evaluates the influence of devolution on perceived and actual policy outcomes at the local level in the United States. Proponents of devolution often argue that the transfer of policymaking authority to a lower level of government allows subnational officials to more effectively address problems on the government's agenda. We provide one of the first empirical evaluations of this implicit assumption of devolution. We utilize data from 100 counties in one state, North Carolina, that were the recipients of additional welfare policymaking authority in 1997 to provide a preliminary assessment of devolution's consequences and policy impact. We then investigate the recipient governments' ability to bring about positive change using three prominent indicators associated with welfare policy. Our findings provide evidence that devolution matters quite significantly to the perception of policymaking effectiveness; however, devolution's actual impact on policy outcomes is mixed.     

Tibetan Range Wars: Spatial Politics and Authority on the Grasslands of Amdo

This article focuses on one of the most disturbing features of life on the Tibetan grasslands today: intractable, violent conflicts over pasture. The author argues that understanding spatial and historical dimensions of the process through which Amdo was incorporated into the People's Republic of China (PRC) helps us make sense of these conflicts. State territoriality attempts to replace older socio–territorial identities with new administrative units. However, histories remain inscribed in the landscape and lead to unintended consequences in the implementation of new grassland policies. The author draws on Raymond Williams’ insight into residual formations to theorize the relationship between range conflicts and secular state officials’ lack of authority. At the same time, dispute resolution by religious figures challenges both triumphalist readings of state domination and romantic notions of Tibetan resistance.