Book reviews

Karl Kaiser, Winston Lord, Thierry de Montbrial, David Watt, Western Security: What Has Changed? What Should be Done? Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. (New York) and Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), 1981, pp. 48. No price given.

Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, The Political Economy of Human Rights. Two volumes, Black Rose Books, Montreal, 1979. Volume I, The Washington Connection and Third World Facism, pp. xvii + 441; Volume II, After the Cataclysm: Postwar Indochina and the Reconstruction of Imperial Hegemony, pp. xx + 392.

Vanuatu. Institute of Pacific Studies, The University of the South Pacific and The South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1980, pp. 291. $Fiji4.50

Walter Lini, Beyond Pandemonium. From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu. Asia Pacific Books, Wellington in association with the Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, 1980, pp. 64. $NZ6.95 (cloth), $NZ4.50 (paper).

Jeremy MacClancy, To Kill a Bird with Two Stones. A Short History of Vanuatu. Vanuatu Cultural Centre Publications No. 1, 1980, pp. 158. 300 Vatu (plus postage).

Richard Shears, The Coconut War. The Crisis on Espiritu Santo. Cassell Australia, North Ryde, pp. 210. $6.95.

G. J. Crough, Foreign Investment and Transnational Corporations in Australia: An Annotated Bibliography. Alternative Publishing Co‐operative, Sydney, 1977, pp. xiii + 200. $14.95.

Michael T. Skully (ed.), A Multinational Look at the Transnational Corporation: An International Collection of Academic and Corporate Views on the Future of Transnational Enterprise. Dryden Press Australia, Sydney, 1978, pp. iv + 278. $24.95.

Francien van Anrooij et al., Between People and Statistics: Essays on Modern Indonesian History. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1979, pp. 315. D.fl.39.50

Michael Brecher, with Benjamin Geist, Decisions in Crisis. Israel. 1967 and 1973. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980, pp. xvii + 479. $34.95.

Desmond Ball, A Suitable Piece of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia. Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1980, pp. 180. $19.95 (cloth), $10.95 (paper).

W. J. Hudson, Billy Hughes in Paris. The Birth of Australian Diplomacy. Nelson in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1978, pp. 147. $8.95.

Charles R. Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations. Princeton University Press, 1979, pp. 199. $US21.00 (cloth), $US5.00 (paper).

J. H. Leurdijk (ed.), The Foreign Policy of the Netherlands, Sijthoff and Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1978, pp. ix + 356. D.Fl.85.00.

Shashikant Nair, Rural‐born Fijians and Indo‐Fijians in Suva: A Study of Movements and Linkages. Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 24, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. 97. $8.00.

Goran Hyden. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry Heineman Education Books, London, 1980, pp. 270. £3.50.

Elizabeth Vallance, Women in the House: A Study of Women Members of Parliament, Athlone Press, London, 1979, pp. 212. $9.70.

G. H. Jansen, Militant Islam, Pan Books Ltd, 1979, pp. 224. $4.25.

David Elliott, Thailand: Origins of Military Rule, Zed Press, London, 1978, pp. 190 £5.95 (cloth), £2.95 (paper).

Joseph A. Camilleri, Australian‐American Relations: The Web of Dependence, Macmillan, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 167, $29.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

Ross Terrill, Mao: A Biography. Harper and Row, New York, 1980, pp. 481. $19.95     

CELL-CORRECTED RAS METHOD (CRAS) FOR UPDATING OR REGIONALIZING AN INPUT–OUTPUT MATRIX

ABSTRACT.  The RAS method is used to update or regionalize a single matrix such that it conforms to new row and column totals. This paper presents a correction of the RAS method (CRAS) that uses cell variation distributions calculated from multiple matrices of different periods or different regions. After the solution of the regular RAS, an additional optimization problem is solved that produces the most likely cell-corrections to the regular RAS solution. To test the behavior of CRAS, several simulations with a time series of input–output tables for The Netherlands for 1968–1986 are made. They show that—in situations of structural change—applying CRAS improves the regular RAS estimate. The method will also be applicable to traffic, trade, and migration matrices.     

Trade and the location of industries in the OECD and European Union

Trade and location theory identifies forces that could leadto locational dispersion (comparative advantage) or locationalconcentration (scale economies) in the face of globalizing markets,each with different consequences for specialization and theadjustment costs associated with integration. However, theseforces can play themselves out in very complex ways if locationalchange principally affects intermediate production. Moreover,effects of history may be important, if locational patternswhich exist prior to integration reflect either strong externaleconomies or, as we argue, strong institutionalized capacitiesto respond to more open markets. This could especially be thecase in the context of Europe, whose territories are generallyless specialized than the states of the USA. To see how thesedifferent effects are operating today, empirical measurementis required. Using a data set which allows changes in locationaldistribution of manufacturing industries in the OECD to be measured,we show that Europe does not seem to be ‘Americanizing’its economic geography. Many sectors are actually spreadingout in Europe, implying that the effects of history have remainedstrong up to this point. Specialization increases are weak inmost European economies as well. The OECD has a more complexpicture of spread and concentration. Some of the implicationsfor further research on agglomeration, intra-industry trade,and integration are brought out in the conclusion.     

Scaling down or scaling up? Local actor decisions and the feasibility of decentralized environmental governance: a case of Páramo wetlands in Southern Ecuador

In Latin America and the Global South, policy-makers are adopting community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) principles for local governments. The idealized emphasis on ‘local’ collaborative approaches is known to neglect human geographic contexts and issues of capacity, power, and human drivers of change at larger scales. However, critiques lack empirical evidence of policy implementation decisions. How do local government and community actors choose to use decentralized environmental governance policies in relation to a threatened cultural and natural landscape across their jurisdictions? This question is explored in an ethnographic case of a high Andean wetland region in southern Ecuador by focusing on the context and micro-politics of two seemingly contradictory local government decisions: proposals to nationalize a local community protected area and to work with other local governments to construct a road across the wetlands that could threaten protected area status. When different sectors are devolved to different local actors without strong sub-state institutions for conflict management, decentralization may create incentives for conflict rather than conservation. Governance design depends on understanding how and why diverse local actors engage in boundary-spanning regional strategies, calling for additional contributions from political geographers.     

Experimental analysis of rubble stone masonry walls strengthened by transverse confinement under compression and compression-shear loadings

Stone masonry walls of ancient buildings have reasonable resistance to vertical loads but lower resistance to shear forces and reduced tensile strength. However, to achieve such compressive strength the masonry must not disaggregate when subjected to loading. This can be achieved if during the construction of the walls larger stones, usually referred as “through stones”, are used, spanning the thickness of the wall, making it possible to improve the transverse confinement of the masonry. For rehabilitation projects and structural reinforcement of such buildings, the transverse confinement can be achieved by fixing steel elements perpendicular to the wall. This confinement technique is often part of a more comprehensive rehabilitation solution, which includes the application of mortar or concrete reinforced layers applied to the wall surface.

This article presents results of an experimental research on material properties and mechanical characterisation of stone masonry specimens strengthened by two transverse confinement solutions (independent steel reinforcing rods and continuous steel ribbons wrapping the specimen). Specimens were tested under compression and compression and shear loadings.

This experimental work is part of a major research project to study the mechanical behavior of URM and strengthened walls, and the characteristics of the building materials of such specimens.     

Migrations and the Rise of African Lisbon: Time-Space of Portuguese (Post)coloniality

Portugal is arguably the European nation with the longest experience with “colonialism” in a variety of configurations, historical moments, and geographical contexts. Yet, given its perennially peripheral status from a geopolitical and economic standpoint, the Portuguese (post-)colonial experience has not been an object of attention outside of the field of Lusophone Studies. This essay provides a brief historical overview to understand the breadth and depth of the Portuguese (post)colonial experience; offers a conceptual map of Portuguese postcoloniality where ideologies of affect and exceptionalism such as Lusotropicalism play a key role; highlights the centrality of immigration for an understanding of Portuguese society — particularly African immigration and its nexus with the history of colonialism and racism that reverberates in national debates around race, ethnicity, and interculturality; provides a brief account of the rise of an Afro-Portuguese culture; and presents short readings of Portuguese cinematic texts that exemplify ethical and aesthetic praxes bringing marginalized black subjects to the center of representation in the quest for social and cultural citizenship.