Book reviews

AUSTRALIA IN NEW GUINEA. L. P. Mair. Melbourne University Press, 1970 (2nd ed.). 254 pp. $6.75 hard cover.

DENIS HEALEY AND THE POLICIES OF POWER. Geoffrey Williams and Bruce Reed. Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd., London, 1971. 286 pp. £3.50 stg.

THE PHILIPPINES AND TAIWAN: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND TRADE POLICIES. John H. Power, Gerardo P. Sicat and Mo‐Huang Hsing. Oxford University Press for the Development Centre, OECD, 1971. 324 pp. $7.00 (Paper).

TRADE AND GROWTH IN THE PHILIPPINES. AN OPEN DUAL ECONOMY. George 1. Hicks and Geoffrey McNicoll. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1971. xi, 244 pp. US.$8.50.

THE NEW CHINA. J. A. Johnston and Maslyn Williams (ed.). A. H. & A. W. Reed, Sydney, 1971. 127 pp.

STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY: SUNG CHIAO‐JEN AND THE 1911 CHINESE REVOLUTION. K. S. Liew. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1971. 260 pp. $7.50.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT FIJI. E. K. Fisk. Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1970. 89 pp. $1.95 paper.

THE MAKING OF INDIA'S FOREIGN POLICY: DETERMINANTS, INSTITUTIONS, PROCESSES, PERSONALITIES. J. Bandyopadhyaya. Allied Publishers, Bombay, 1970, xi, 286 pp. Rs 20.

SOVIET RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICA, 1918–68. Stephen Clissold (ed.). Oxford University Press, 1970. 313 pp. $11.60.

OIL AND THE ROUMANIAN STATE. Maurice Pearton. Oxford University Press, 1971. 361 pp. $12.50.

BRASSEY'S ANNUAL: DEFENCE AND THE ARMED FORCES 1971. Major‐General J. L. Moulton (ed.). William Clowes and Sons Ltd., London, 1971. 517 pp. £5.00 (stg.)

THE TEMPEST WITHIN. AN ACCOUNT OF EAST PAKISTAN. Dom Moraes. Vikas Publications, Delhi, 1971. x, 103 pp. Rs. 12.50.

POLITICS IN A PLURAL SOCIETY. A STUDY OF NON‐COMMUNAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN WEST MALAYSIA. R. K. Vasil. Oxford University Press for the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Kuala Lumpur, 1971. 338 pp. $6.00 paper, $11.20 hard cover.

THE STRUGGLE OF ISLAM IN MODERN INDONESIA. B. J. Boland. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971. 283 pp. 28 guilders.

ZIONISM, ISRAEL AND ASIAN NATIONALISM. G. H. Jansen. The Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut, 1971. xv, 347 pp. US$2.00 Paperback.

WESTERN ECONOMICS IN NON‐WESTERN ECONOMIES. L. G. Reynolds. University of Western Australia Press, 1970. 37 pp. $1.00.

THE INDIGENT RICH: A THEORY OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM IN A KEYNESIAN SYSTEM. J W. C. Cumes. Pergamon Press, Australia, 1971. 218 pp. $5.95.     

Health geography in New Zealand and Australia: global integration or Antipodean exceptionalism?

This paper examines the hallmarks of an emergent and distinctive Australian and New Zealand health geography over the last 30 years. Building on an assessment of the early development of the sub‐discipline in the two countries, a review of published work reveals the co‐presence of local themes alongside connections to more global perspectives associated notably with health behaviour. Further common themes are the influence of year‐round exposure to outdoor spaces and the proximity of “blue spaces” to urban centres. However, there are divergences in the evolution of the sub‐discipline. A comparison of attendance at the biennial International Medical Geography Symposia (held since 1985) with publications in the journal Health & Place reveals differentially globalised characters. A steady flow of international visitors and appointments to New Zealand universities as well as more apparent connections to the wider discipline of geography contrast with more applied geospatial and public health connections in Australian health geography.     

Remote Runways: Air Transport and Distance in Tonga

Air transport brings areas 'closer together'. But it leaves some places relatively more isolated than when all depended on other modes of transport. Improved technology accentuates this tendency. Where traffic is low and distance long, the maintenance of links is costly. These issues are examined at both international and national scales in the case of Tonga, using several measures of distance and relative accessibility.     

The Tertiary Turn: Locating “The Academy” in Autobiographical Accounts of Activism in Manchester,UK and Auckland,Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract: Activists often strategically negotiate sectoral boundaries by switching between public, private and voluntary sectors over the life course in order to pursue their aims. This paper draws on a cross‐national study that explored the extent of this inter‐sectoral movement and the specific “career pathways” activists developed in relation to governmental, private and voluntary/community sector organisations. Using an analysis of 46 biographical narratives gathered from activists in Manchester, UK and Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand during 2007 we situate “the academy” in these life stories of activism. Teasing out from these accounts the motivations behind a turn towards tertiary education at particular moments we examine how “academia” supports and sustains individual activists while legitimising and professionalising their activism. In so doing, we track the tactical transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise effected by contact with “the academy” to make substantive and conceptual claims around the future role universities might play in the knowledge economy.     

Complexities in the spatial scope of agglomeration economies

This paper argues that the spatial scope of agglomeration economies is more complex than is often assumed in the literature. We provide insight into this issue by showing that agglomeration on short distances (<5 km) does not significantly affect wages, whereas it has a significant and positive effect on medium distances (5–10 km). This effect attenuates rapidly across geographic space, becoming insignificant after 40–80 km. We offer several explanations for this observed distance decay pattern. The results do not imply, however, that nearby agglomeration is irrelevant to the wage formation: only highly urbanized areas benefit from agglomeration on longer distances. Furthermore, this article finds no evidence that foreign economic mass affects wages in the Netherlands, which suggests that national borders are still a substantial barrier for economic interaction.     

Who identifies with the “Russian World”? Geopolitical attitudes in southeastern Ukraine,Crimea, Abkhazia,South Ossetia,and Transnistria

Abstract

The concept of the Russian world (Russkii mir) re-entered geopolitical discourse after the end of the Soviet Union. Though it has long historical roots, the practical definition and geopolitical framing of the term has been debated and refined in Russian political and cultural circles during the years of the Putin presidency. Having both linguistic-cultural and geopolitical meanings, the concept of the Russian world remains controversial, and outside Russia it is often associated with Russian foreign policy actions. Examination of official texts from Vladimir Putin and articles from three Russian newspapers indicate complicated and multifaceted views of the significance and usage of the Russkii mir concept. Surveys in December 2014 in five sites on the fringes of Russia – in southeastern Ukraine, Crimea, and three Russian-supported de facto states (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria) – show significant differences between the Ukrainian sample points and the other locations about whether respondents believe that they live in the Russian world. In Ukraine, nationality (Russian vs. Ukrainian) is aligned with the answers, while overall, attitudes toward Russian foreign policy, level of trust in the Russian president, trust of Vladimir Putin, and liking Russians are positively related to beliefs about living in the Russian world. In Ukraine, the negative reactions to geopolitical speech acts and suspicions about Russian government actions overlap with and confuse historical linguistic-cultural linkages with Russia, but in the other settings, close security and economic ties reinforce a sense of being in the Russian “world.”     

Memorialisation and remembrance: on strategic forgetting and the metamorphosis of psychiatric asylums into sites for tertiary educational provision

This paper builds on earlier investigations of psychiatric asylum closure by focusing on their not infrequent successor role as educational facilities. We ask two questions: what conditions underpin a transition to educational re-use, and how is former asylum use remembered and memorialised in the successor context? Through recounting and interpreting the histories of acquisition and adaptation at two sites (Carrington, Auckland and Lakeshore, Toronto), we build a narrative that suggests a variable response to the shadows cast by stigma and the vilification of asylum. We distinguish between memorialisation (material reminders on site) and remembrance (narratives of past use). Former asylum sites, we contend, are attractive for educational users for their campus-like settings, range of buildings and (now) suburban locations. For city residents and planners replacing one institutional use with another keeps the site green, brings employment, and retains semi-public access. Memorialisation is often strategically low-key and remembrance more personal and individual. The net result is a relict landscape that speaks to the transcendence of stigma despite the relatively recent demise of the asylum.     

Feeling for the coast: the place of emotion in resistance to residential development

This paper considers the feelings that are evoked in, and by, coastal places. We are particularly interested in how emotional connections with the coastal environment can be a resource and motivation for place-protective action. We draw on stakeholder interviews undertaken in the northern New Zealand locality of Ngunguru in 2008–2009. This site was a ‘hot spot’ of community concern around a proposed major residential development. Our data reveal the depths of feelings for the character of the coastline, as well as the capacity of such feelings to generate mobilisation against change. These feelings encompassed general anxiety about coastal development in New Zealand and outrage at its motivations. Respondents also articulated a particular love for the Ngunguru coast, encompassing feelings of connection, sacredness and reverence. We conclude that concern for feelings is critical to understanding what is at stake in contests around coastal development. While these contests also entail the more readily quantified issues that tend to be highlighted in both planning and academic contexts, the nature of human affection for the coast means that emotions can play a formative role in shaping local understandings and motivating actions.