POLICY INNOVATION AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAGMENTATION*

This article argues that fragmented and decentralized policy making structures can generate major Policy innovation as well as can centralized structures. The fragmented committee structure of Congress is shown to facilitate innovation in the example of federal water pollution control legislation. Thorough consideration of four dimensions of costs and benefits strengthens the case for disjointed Innovation since it “promotes entrepreneurship, encourages competition, minimizes the costs of change, and promotes legitimacy….”     

Recent research in west Mexican archaeology

The last decade has seen the greatest increase in archaeological research in western Mexico since the 1940s. Unlike previously heralded renewals, this one is accompanied by widespread skepticism of the dominant culture-historical paradigm linking west Mexico to the rest of Mesoamerica, to the American Southwest, and to South America. Current research offers substantive new data and interpretations bearing on issues such as the definition of Mesoamerica, the role of South American long distance contacts, the human ecology of highland lakes, the role of river systems in Mesoamerican prehistory, and the nature/role of prehispanic elite exchanges.     

Publications briefly noted

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (QUEENSLAND BRANCH) and CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF AUSTRALIA‐;ASIA RELATIONS. Australia and the Asia‐Pacific Challenge: Queensland Business in Asia. Brisbane: Griffith University, Australia‐Asia Papers no. 77, 1996. 24 pp. A$10.00, paper.

EDMUND S.K. FUNG and CHEN JIE. The Attitudes of the PRC Chinese Towards Australia and China, 1989–1996. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐;Asia Relations, Australia‐Asia Papers no. 78, 1996. 29 pp. A$ 10.00, paper.

HAROLD MARSHALL. Ignorance to Enlightenment: fifty Years in Asia. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australians in Asia Series no. 18, 1997. xii, 120 pp. A$16.00, paper.

O.H. ISAKSSON. Encounters in Asia: a Soldier's Story. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australians in Asia Series no. 19, 1997. x, 67 pp. Af 14.00, paper.

CURTIS ANDRESSEN and KEICHI KUMAGAI. Escape from Affluence: Japanese Students in Australia. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australia‐Asia Papers no. 79, 1996. 116 pp. A$16.00, paper.

HANS ANTLOV. Exemplary Centre, Administrative Periphery, Rural Leadership and the New Order in Java. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Monograph Series no 68, Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995. xi, 222 pp. A$25.00, paper.

CRAIG BAXTER and SYEDUR RAHMAN. Historical Dictionary of Bangladesh (Asian Historical Dictionaries, ed.Jon Woronoff, no. 2 ), 2nd ed. Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1996. xvii, 285 pp. Foreword, list of acronyms, chronology, map, introduction, dictionary, appendices, bibliography. US$49.50, hardcover.

HARUMI BEFU (ed). Japan Engaging the World: a Century of International Encounter. Denver, Colorado: Teikyo Loretto Heights University Center for Japan Studies, 1996. 120 pp. US$15.00, paper.

MARY ELIZABETH BERRY. The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. xxxii, 373 pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

BRIAN BOCKING. A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1996. 251 pp. £35.00, hardcover

MARCEL BONNEFF, translated by Rahayu S. Hidayat. Komik Indonesia. Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 1998. x, 226 pp. No price given, paper.

MALCOLM CHALMERS. Confidence‐building in Southeast Asia. Bradford Arms Register Studies no. 6. Trowbridge: Westview Press, 1996. 279 pp. £19.95, paper.

HARUKO TAYA COOK and THEODORE F. COOK. Japan at War: an Oral History. New York: The New Press, 1992. 479 pp. US$39.95, hardcover.

ROMAN CYBRIWSKY. Historical Dictionary of Tokyo. Lanham Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1997. 212 pp. US$49.00 hardcover.

GORDON DANIELS. Sir Harry Parkes: British Representative in Japan 1865–83. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1996. 239 pp. £40.00, hardcover.

PHILIP DORLING and DAVID LEE (eds). Australia and Indonesia's Independence, The Renville Agreement: documents 1948. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1996. xxvi, 603 pp. A$34.95, paper.

MONIKA DREXLER. Daoistische Schriftmagie: interpretationen zu den Schrifta‐muletten "fit" im "Daozang". Munchener Ostasiatische Studien vol. 68 Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1994. 241 pp. DM 96, paper.

J. C. EADE. The Thai Historical Record, A Computer Analysis. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco, 1996. xix, 265 pp. No price given, paper.

EDWARD FOWLER. San'ya Blues: laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo. New York: Cornell University Press, 1996. xxi, 262 pp. US$29.95, hardcover.

RICHARD M. W. HO. Ch'en Tzu‐ang: innovator in T'ang Poetry. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1993. 233 pp. (including a 30‐page Chinese translation). No price given, hardcover.

PIERRE HUTTON. After the Heroic Age and before Australia's Rediscovery of Southeast Asia. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australians in Asia Series no. 20,1997. x, 99 pp. A$16.00, paper.

DAMIEN KINGSBURY. Culture and Politics: issues in Australian Journalism on Indonesia, 1975–93. Brisbane: Griffith University, Centre for the Study of Australia‐Asia Relations, Australia Asia Papers no. 80, 1997. xii, 161 pp. A$20.00, paper.

JULIE LANDAU. Beyond Spring: Tz'u Poems of the Sung Dynasty. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. 275 pp. No price given, paper.

SUIWAH LEUNG (ed). Vietnam Assessment, Creating a Sound Investment Climate. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1996. xiv, 122 pp. US$18.50, paper.

LINCOLN LI. The China Factor in Modern Japanese Thought: the Case of Tachibana Shiraki, 1881–1945. New York: State University of New York Press, 1996. x, 171 pp. No price given, paper.

W. H. McLEOD. Historical Dictionary of Sikhism (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies and Movements, ed. Jon Woronoff, no. 5). Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1995. xi, 323pp.

ATSUSHI MAKI. Postwar Private Consumption Patterns of Japanese Households: the Role of Consumer Durables. Canberra: Australian National University, Australia‐Japan Research Centre, Pacific Economic Papers no. 262, December 1996. 20 pp. A$15.00, paper.

SURJIT MANSINGH. Historical Dictionary of India (Asian Historical Dictionaries, ed. Jon Woronoff, no. 20). Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1996. xi, 511pp. Foreword, abbreviations and acronyms, glossary, chronology, maps, introduction, dictionary, bibliography, appendices. US$78.00, hardcover.

JAYANT MENON. Has Japan been “Opening‐Up”?: empirical Analytics of Trade Patterns. Canberra: Australian National University, Australia‐Japan Research Centre, Pacific Economic Papers no. 263, 1997. 21 pp. $A15.00, paper.

EDWIN E. MOISE. Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill, London: University of North Carolina Press, 1996. xviii, 304 pp. US$39.95, hardcover.

LUC NAGTEGAAL. Riding the Dutch Tiger, The Dutch East Indies Company and the Northeast Coast of Java, 1680–1743. Verhandelingen 171. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996. vii, 250 pp. / 50, paper.

HEIDI ROUPP (ed). Teaching World History: a Resource Book. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1997. xiii, 271 pp. US$66.95, hardcover; US$31.95, paper.

MITZIKO SAWADA. Tokyo Life, New York Dreams: urban Japanese Visions of America, 1890–1924. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. xvii, 268 pp. No price given, hardcover.

J. R. SIMPSON, Y. KOJIMA, R. KADA, A. MIYAZAKI and T. YOSHIDA. Japan's Beef Industry‐economics and Technology for the Year 2000. Wallingford, Oxon: CAB International, 1996. 207 pp. No price given, hardcover.

STEPHEN F. TEISER. The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. xvii, 275 pp. US$18.95, paper.

ELIZABETH ROCHAT DE LA VALLEE, and CLAUDE LARRE (trans). Su Wen: Les 11 premiers traites. Varitetes Sinologiques no. 70. Moulins‐les‐Metz: Maisonneuve (Editions medicales), 1993. 408 pp. 470 FF, paper.

RICHARD T. WANG. Area Bibliography of China. Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1997. xiii, 334 pp. US$59.00, hardcover.

NG CHEE YUEN, NICK J. FREEMAN and FRANK H. HUYNH (eds). State‐owned Enterprise Reform in Vietnam, Lessons from Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1996. viii, 170 pp. No price given, paper.     

Reviews

ARMS CONTROL AND THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE. Karl W. Deutsch. John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Pp. 167. $5.95.

THE STRATEGY OF CIVILIAN DEFENCE. NON‐VIOLENT RESISTANCE TO AGGRESSION. Adam Roberts (ed.). Faber and Faber, 1967. Pp. 320. £Stg. 2.2.0.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A GENERAL THEORY. J. W. Burton. Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1967. Pp. 288. £Stg. 0.12.6.

GOVERNMENT AND REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM. Denis J. Duncanson. Oxford University Press for R.I.I.A., 1968. Pp. 442. $9.50.

BIG VICTORY: GREAT TASK. Vo Nguyen Giap. Introduction by David Schoenbnm. Pall Mall, 1968. Pp. xvii + 120. $6.15.

PAPERS ON MODERN JAPAN 1968. D. C. S. Sissons (ed.). Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, 1968. Pp. 137. $2.10.

THE JAPANESE SOCIALIST PARTY AND NEUTRALISM. A STUDY OF A POLITICAL PARTY AND ITS FOREIGN POLICY. J. A. A. Stockwin. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. xv + 197. $6.50.

JAPAN'S RADIO WAR ON AUSTRALIA 1941–45. L. D. Meo. Melbourne University Press, 1968. Pp. 300. $6.75.

AUSTRALIA SINCE FEDERATION. Fred Alexander. Nelson, 1967. Pp. 323; 46 illustrations and 4 maps. $4.95.

RUSSIA 1917. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION. George Katkov. London, Longmans, 1967. Pp. 489. $6.30.